In the world of streaming platforms, some sites have been around for a very, very long time. One of them is Netflix, which has had a slew of original shows come and go. Some have been incredibly well received, others not so much. But you want to know what’s happened a few times? Shows that lasted far too long
Longer than they reallyneeded to.
From shows based on one book to sequel series that no one really asked for, here are four shows that we think lasted far too long on Netflix.
Orange Is The New Black
As much as it pains me to put this down here, Orange Is the New Blackabsolutely lasted far too long.
It is originally based on the memoirOrange Is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prisonby Piper Kerman. It was the real experience of a young woman who went to jail after a life of pretty much not doing anything remotely close to criminal. But that all changed when she became a part of a money laundering and drug trafficking ring.
The series itself was really great during its first season. Honestly, I loved it all the way up to about the end of season 4. If you watched the show, you know what happens at the very end of season 4 (which I will not get into because it still breaks my heart). But now, years later, I can look back and openly say that the show…really should have ended before that.
Don’t get me wrong, the performances from the entire Orange Is the New Blackcast were great. I still get chills watching Danielle Brooks as Taystee as she slowly evolved over the series. The same goes for many, many other cast members.
But at a certain point, this show stopped being an adaptation of a memoir and just ended up becoming a drama fest full of stories that really didn’t make sense and characters that I couldn’t care less about. I remember that when the show ended, I was quite sad because it was one of the first streaming series I really devoted myself to. But now? I know it was meant to finish far earlier. It is very rewatchable, but not my cup of tea that much anymore.
Stranger Things
I want to clarify that I know Stranger Thingshas a huge fandom. I am a part of it. And I was honestly really glad that it ended. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Stranger Thingsending, but at least it was better than what I was given with several other major television shows I’ve followed.
But Stranger Things’ending should have arrived about five years ago. Not nearly ten years after it premiered.
There was absolutely no reason why we had to wait years between all five seasons of this show. Sure, the monsters were well-created and developed, but honestly, in today’s day and age, you can create those types of effects and simulations in under a year. The strike in Hollywood certainly played a part, but even then, we still had to wait a full two years before the final season came out.
These aren’t children anymore. Millie Bobby Brown was married and had adopted a child. She was a motherby the time season 5 was released, and she was still playing a teenager. I can’t get behind that.
I’m happy it’s over now, but we all know there will be some inevitable Stranger Thingsreturn because the show was so popular. It’s only a matter of time.
13 Reasons Why
Four seasons were far too long for 13 Reasons Why.
This series survived on shock value alone, and I stand by that. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Jay Asher, and if you don’t know what it is, it follows the story of Hannah Baker, a student who took her own life and gave thirteen reasons why on tape recordings.
The series was very triggering for most viewers, and if you’re part of the early crew, you most likely saw the bathtub scene before it was removed. However, because of ratings, the series kept going for three more seasons, where each season felt like the writers were trying to take bigger gut punches to make the audience hurt. What we got was a messy, complicated story we didn’t need.
Fuller House
I grew up watching Full House.When I heard about Fuller House,I was at least eager to see where it would go.
And it wasn’t great.
It’s just a sequel to the original series, where it’s essentially the same premise—a widowed mother of three sons who gets her sister and her best friend to help her out with her children. But it’s less funny and more… I guess time-appropriate?
I don’t know; the jokes don’t hit the same, and it’s really not even close to the chemistry of the original core trio of Bob Saget, John Stamos, and Dave Coulier. It was five seasons too long, and it’s a show I won’t be rewatching.
