When Inside Job-a brash, irreverent, and hilariously off the wall show-was canceled in January of 2023, it came as a shock not just to fans of the show, but to the creator as well. Shion Takeuchi, whose list of credits include such television icons as Gravity Falls and The Regular Show, posted a confirmation of the show’s untimely demise on Twitter back in January.
“I’m heartbroken to confirm that Netflix has decided to cancel season 2 of Inside Job. Over the years, these characters have become real people to me, and I am devastated not to be able to watch them grow up. Reagan and Brett deserved to get their ending and finally find happiness. And I would have loved to [have] been able to share what was in store with you all.”
Shows, even ones as funny and rapid-fire as this, get canceled all the time. So what makes this one any different and why should TV watchers be upset? Well, for one: Inside Job had originally been renewed by Netflix for a second season. In a spree of hasty cancellations that felt desperate to many viewers, Netflix axed many of their originals, including Fate: The Winx Saga, Warrior Nun, and Archive 81, among several others. Yet canceling a show that’s already been given the green light for a second season comes across as a sign of the times: streaming services are no longer interested in quality programming, or in viewer experience. The age of The Wild West of Streaming is over.
High-quality, experimental shows are being bulldozed in favor of stale, predictable programming, which generates certain profit. Big Mouth is essentially an uglier version of other shock-factor programs like Family Guy, South Park, American Dad, or any of the dozen others exactly like them. That isn’t to say there is anything wrong with enjoying these shows, rather that streaming executives have decided to prioritize formulaic, predictable, and mindless entertainment over more exciting and modern ones.
This is, of course, due to the profit multibillion dollar franchises like Family Guy rake in, year after year.
The revolutionary, explorative nature of the early Streaming Era is dead. Services are deleting entire catalogs of work from their platforms, many of which have never been released to the public and live exclusively on their home sites. With the majority of the market already captured, streaming executives are settling in to make a sure buck. In a series of events that feels ominously like the End Days of Cable, platforms are jacking up prices, destroying any show that doesn’t make a quick profit, and reverting to paid advertisements. All this comes in the wake of the economic downturn post-Covid, where studio execs are gettingimmense pressure from stakeholders to cut costs and raise profits.
