That may be true but network TV regularly killed TV shows early in their run too--often in the first season even.

True but networks have a severe time slot constraint, in addition to the same production costs as Netflix, so it's a lot more understandable. Maybe my perception is off but Netflix seems even worse about killing new shows after 1-2 seasons, which is pretty ridiculous IMO.

Netflix seems overly reliant on small scale KPIs at the expense of the overall experience. Of course it's possible that they know exactly what they're doing and I'm just far away from their target consumer.

Wired had an article about this a year or so back [0] that said shows get more expensive after the first two seasons, so Netflix is inclined to kill them in favor of new shows. It also said viewership during that initial window also heavily influences the renewal process. Netflix has a lot more data than network television ever has and I think it leads them to be a bit overzealous with their decision making. Most shows I've really enjoyed have a weak first season as they find their footing.

[0] -- https://www.wired.co.uk/article/netflix-originals-cancelled-...

I don't know the numbers but Netflix probably kills shows faster.

>Of course it's possible that they know exactly what they're doing and I'm just far away from their target consumer.

Maybe. So long as a show doesn't get canceled at a completely unnatural point, I'm actually fine with just a couple seasons a lot of the time--especially with the historical network model of 20 episodes per season or so. And, conversely, by the time a show hits 4 or 5 seasons I'm done with it even if it's still pretty solid. I'm just tired of it.

There are a bunch of network shows I liked that stayed pretty good but I just stopped watching them at some point.

And that is where we learned not to trust TV shows in the beginning, but at least TV stations can only carry so many shows.

Firefly fan forever.