Netflix Cancels Recent Drama Series After One Season

Always their finger on the pulse, Netflix has apparently given the axe to one of their recent drama TV shows On the Verge and never even announced it. As noticed by TV Line, series creator and star Julie Delpy confirmed the news in an Instagram post after an inquisitive fan asked about the status of the drama. “Cancelled,” the Before Sunrise actress replied, “but they forgot to announce it was cancelled.” Fans flocked to the replies to express dismay at the decision by Netflix, not only the cancellation but that the streaming service never even made an announcement about it to fans.

On the Verge premiered its twelve episode first, and now final, season back in September of 2021. Delpy not only created and starred in the series, but had a hand in writing all twelve episodes and directed five of them. The series also starred  Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Jones, Alexia Landeau, Mathieu Demy, Troy Garity, Timm Sharp, and Giovanni Ribisi. A previously released synopsis of the series described it as follows: “Four women, a chef, a single mom, an heiress and a job seeker, dig into love and work, with a generous side of midlife crises, in pre-pandemic LA.”

At the time of its release the series only held a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the average rating being a 5.9 out of 10. Positive reviews for the series reflected on the show’s lead characters being middle-aged women, while also spotlighting the humor, while negative reviews noted how the series’ focus on “extremely privileged” was done to its detriment, and almost felt like something conceived in a boardroom setting. 

A reflection of the series’ poor viewership could have previously been noted in Netflix’s own weekly metrics that they debut. After calls for further transparency last year, Netflix began releasing weekly summations of the most popular movies and TV shows on the platform, revealing the minutes that each title was streamed in a week on Netflix. In that time On the Verge failed to make the Top 10 TV shows at any point, with data on the daily Top 10 Television Shows showing a debut at the #8 position, and a peak of #5 after nearly a week on the service. After 12 days on Netflix the show was no longer making it onto the daily Top 10. There is perhaps one major factor that can be attributed to the lack of interest in the show at the time of its debut, it managed to arrive on Netflix just before the global phenomenon Squid Game was released.