This is true, but it's not my problem as the viewer. There are many more shows I'd probably enjoy than I'll ever have time to watch. I'm not going to prop up Netflix or other corporate backers that repeatedly fail to respect their viewers by not wrapping things up reasonably neatly.

If there was enough doubt about whether a show was popular enough to be renewed that the production team didn't know whether to wrap up neatly in a potential final season, there is probably enough popularity left to justify making a mini-series or "TV movie" to finish things off with some closure for viewers. I've known a few shows do this over the years, and IME it almost always gets a favourable reaction from fans and reflects well on the show and those behind it.

There is no catch-22. Usually those decisions are made well in advance. The OA from the article aired in March 2019 and was cancelled in August.

You appear to be saying that the cancellation decision was made in a vacuum, without considering viewership. I don't believe this to be true.

My point was that the viewership might have been low because nobody wants to watch the first season until they know the third season at least is being made to avoid being cliff-hung. That is the catch-22; third seasons are not being made because people don't watch shows until they have a third season.

>You appear to be saying that the cancellation decision was made in a vacuum, without considering viewership. I don't believe this to be true.

No. Viewership was low, so it got cancelled. If it got cancelled before airing then a low viewership would be a result from that. But that's usually not the sequence.

If that is the catch-22 you could apply this to a 4th season aswell. Or 5th.

Shows don't get renewed during or before a season. At least most of them don't, so it's always a gamble.