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I’m sad cause I feel like Away was something the world really needed right now. Showing what we can accomplish if we actually worked together as countries. Since every country seems to be mad at every other country currently.

And within each country mad at each other. Yeah, buddy, it sucks. But you know, the people who most need to watch wouldn’t be in the first place, so. And there’s so much other popular media where people overcome their differences and unite and it hasn’t seemed to have taught them a damn thing. 

But I do hope we’ll see more ambitious projects like this, so diverse and multinational. I think even with everything, large swathes of so many countries veering toward the right, other parts will still continue progressing, and while media in the next year’s going to have to curb itself for covid, we’ll still see more interesting projects in the near future.

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What’s your fave thing about Lu and Mei?

Oh, hmm. You know, as much as I have a hard time picking favorite things in general, this kind of thing I can immediately pinpoint for ships. 

For these two it’s gotta be how much they truly respect each other? Not in this shallow, subservient way but where they truly know and understand the other and the way they respect them extends to caring about what’s important to them, too. 

When you look at them from the outside you’d have no idea of the depth of their feelings, oh, they spent two years not acting on their feelings, oh, Lu went off to space without doing anything but like, the restraint and adherence to duty and sense of responsibility is part of what they love. We get the inside look and know it wasn’t easy at all to hold themselves back or for Lu to leave like that, but there’s just this like…understanding of what they both want and even as it shifts and grows, they make sure to be on the same page, all while having to factor in the major external factors that they care about and know the other cares about too. 

There’s this trust, always rewarded, that they can request things of the other and know it’ll be listened to and taken seriously. Even from the start, Lu asking Mei how she learned to speak English so fluently, Mei asking Lu for the calligraphy demonstration and lessons, but even the serious things like Lu saying they couldn’t be together, Mei asking to stay the night, and then most crucially, Lu asking for a future together and it’s just…so mutual and open and trusting and thoughtful. :’)

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They really renewed Space Force but cancelled Away……………………………………………………………

And another anon:

I think Netflix is probs going for the lesser diverse stuff with the most famous actors. Like Space Force had zero hype online but it has Steve Carell and Lisa Kudrow. So while Away was extremely popular it’s probably too diverse for Netflix or something or doesn’t have enough big actors that are famous in North America.

Haha, first anon, you are so valid in your offended disbelief. Given one of the biggest guesses people have offered for Away’s cancellation is Swank’s salary, how can that be so much more than Carell/Kudro/Malkovich… And like, it was legit bad, how much more successful could it have been? 

I don’t think Space Force had zero hype, not less than Away, it seemed to make a much bigger noise when it dropped, but that was for different reasons, the actual connection to the real Space Force, it was near the beginning of the lockdowns so everyone was watching anything new, and it just seemed to have so much more coverage that was effectively promo. I dunno if a second season’ll have all that, especially when it was not really that well received when people watched.

It would be pretty sucky if diversity hurt it, and I don’t think it does in itself, but I think they much prefer diversity that leads to increased views in other countries and I dunno that this cast did that, with Netflix not technically available in China, and the Indian actor actually being an British Indian TV actor, not really a blockbuster performer.

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I mean if they do treat successful shows like that I would enjoy a heads up from Netflix so I know agh I miss cable. Streaming networks while convenient sometimes have all these different annoying rules and shit and they either don’t release or lie about their ratings and you can’t live tweet and just ughhhhh

Yeah, there’s some things I appreciate about Netflix’s model but there are a lot of downsides too. I’m pretty glad, for example, that after dropping the whole of The Expanse s4 at once when it first moved to Prime, this year they’ll do it weekly. Some shows you want to sit and absorb. 

And again, I do like that we at least get a full season before they decide not to continue with something, like I’d rather have the first seasons of Desenfrenadas, TBH, and Away than just as pilots hidden away. And I think this is the way to approach them going forward, a season at a time, both for us and writers, I don’t think they can force Netflix to renew by ending on cliffhangers. But of course ideally I wish they’d give these more of a chance than often one badly promoted season. And maybe more of…an even chance, considering what seems to be promoted and successful.

And another anon:

Apparently 17 of Netflix’s most recent cancellations are Female led or have queer characters or people of color

That’s…not a good look. Like, fine, part of it is because they’re including more of that in general, it’s just how proportion works, but still. And if you dive in deeper into which of the shows with that did get renewed and which didn’t, the showrunner and target audience, it still feels like there’s some content that’s acceptable and some that isn’t. Emily in Paris vs TBH, you know? Or even TBH vs Ratched. The latter two can both compare queer female white leads but eesh, the target audience of Ratched is quite different from TBH’s.

And another anon:

What I don’t understand is why so quickly? Away only premiered six weeks ago?

I think from previous decisions (like G*psy’s cancellation) it’s become clear that Netflix looks at the streaming results in the month and a half or so after release to make up its mind, that they can extrapolate interest in their shows from that time. Which isn’t entirely wrong, unless something goes unexpectedly viral, which is extremely rare, you’re not going to see a significant increase in interest months after, right. Even when people continue to watch, it’ll be at a steady rate much lower than right after release. In Away’s case, I think they looked at the budget and covid and were like, yeah, we’re done with that one. :/

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Just to add to the whole complexity of what covid has done to to filming. I know someone who was cast on a show for HBO in Jan, was filming the pilot in Mar and had to rush to finish everything because of how fast the shutdowns happened. They just got news that the show went from pilot, to picked up, to miniseries because of covid. Because they were tied to this series they couldn’t audition for anything else. HBO had to pay them to keep them along with all the crew and prod staff. 1/

2/3 Now times this by all the different shows the various streaming services have and all of them are paying hundreds of thousands for people that aren’t doing anything. For a business perspective I get it, personally it sucks and pisses me off, but I do understand which makes it suck more. It is better for them financially to cancel all these first seasons shows that while popular aren’t a big phenomenon and pay for the shows that they know will create hype. ST, Witcher, The haunting, etc.

3/3. My friend actually had to make the decision to leave the HBO series in order to audition for other things. The best thing that can hopefully happen is that the right people are paying attention and remembering the talented people both in front and behind the scenes. P.s. I happened to get the opportunity to meet Sydney earlier this year and she is badass and powerful in RL as she appears on the show. She also plays w/w in Fear the walking dead and might come back in the new spinoff FYI, 🙂

Hmm, interesting, and yeah, I think there were guesses that this would be what was happening when the first wave of previously renewed shows that would have been shooting now got cancelled instead. It did seem like it had to be a matter of costing just to delay, but…I dunno, can’t there be ANY other way around that? These are unprecedented times. Some of these shows won’t even tape for months yet. It bodes ill for their expectations of conditions in the US if they think that even into next year this won’t be resolved.

I remember there was a US soap, um…..Days of Our Lives. Last year it released ALLLLL its cast from their contracts and people were like, uh, is this a cancellation?? But it turned out they’d just shot way too many eps ahead and instead of keeping all those people around as they waited, they released them. I know it’ll be tough to renegotiate everything again later, but I’d prefer something like that and I feel like so would a bunch of the actors/writers. 😡

And oh, awesome! I had seen the gifsets of Sydney in FTWD but apparently it was pretty brief so I never got around to it and just spent the whole of Helstrom wondering why she seemed so familiar and then finally looked up her name and was like OHHHHH. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on her in the future!

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I saw an article that said that Netflix has cancelled 18 shows this year and 14 were on the first season. Like honestly why even bother making the shows if you’re not gonna renew even the successful ones.

That is a lot! Although of course there are extenuating circumstances, but that’s a bunch they didn’t really give a second chance to. However, I have heard that they treat these first seasons the way other networks do pilots, so this is just a one-off expense for them to see how a show is, except they can see its full first season and how it performs instead of just judging that one ep on their own. But yeah, some of these shows WERE good and successful, so…

And another anon:

Netflix was cancelling awesome successful shows even before the pandemic but yet they have enough fucking money for their fucking dumbass white ass movies

Lol, yeah, those movies. Have I watched any except Bird Box… But of course they’ll say that the budgets are still lower and they’re still successful for that cost. That’s the other part of this, that audiences are also generally more receptive to things that lack diversity. I’d love to have a one of their cheesy m/f romcoms for f/f, but it’s these straight movies that make easy money.

And another anon:

I didn’t try to get this attached to Away it just kinda happened *Sigh* and now I’ve been sad literally all day.

Aw, bud. At least we did get that first season, as I was saying above, on other networks it could have been just the pilot, if it was made at all. Even if there isn’t more, the goal of the season, getting to Mars, that was accomplished, we saw them all bond and get over their differences. I’d say to distract yourself by watching something else but that’s just opening yourself up to more possible heartache. I have scifi recs but this was more a family drama…maybe enjoy what there is Lost in Space (even if the final season of that gets retroactively cancelled)?

And another anon:

Yeah Away shot in Vancouver.

Ah, thanks for the confirmation! Then yeah, even with the way that would have helped, they still couldn’t continue…damn.

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As someone who works in TV I can understand why Netflix are doing a cull of things. Even if they had a successful first series. The logistics of everything now is a nightmare. On top of the extra expenses for Covid testing/PPE/Cleaning equipment. There is ensuring correct transport that will keep passengers and drivers safe (all which have to be approved by a Covid supervisor). Additional rig days to ensure each department gets space to work (which is fine for light entertainment shows and just about manageable for sitcoms) but high end dramas? That’s so many additional days. If you add in potential weeks for shut downs which might occur if they have someone test positive, this then adds on an extension of costs for equipment and space. It wouldn’t surprise me if Netflix, Apple TV etc have sat down with a list of shows and gone through which ones they are willing to spend the money on. If shows are easy to make normally, then they will more likely be higher on the list to film during times of Covid because of the potential for them to cost less than a show which would normally require a larger budget. America is also very unionised so everything there takes longer anyway. So it wouldn’t surprise me if shows that film outside of the USA (take Warrior Nun as an example) get priority of those within the USA. It wouldn’t surprise me if shows also get filmed in the UK/Europe instead of the US

Okay, first, asks can be this long (again)?? What the.

But oooh, thanks for your expertise! From what I saw, that does sound spot on and it is…so much. I get it, and yet. Doesn’t make it feel any better, right. And can’t they just delay some of these? Shorter seasons?

Oh, and I think Away actually did shoot in Canada, but not sure if that’s relevant. Hopefully WN will be okay with the Europe cases rising again.

And another two anons:

Covid just fucking ruins everything huh

I know COVID has caused a lot of big shit but we can be mad at the small shit too right? Like all the shows it’s ruined for example

Lol, I was thinking that too, like of course, it’s actually killing so many and separating families and costing jobs (although these are jobs too), is it okay to be mad about this thing, since it’s mostly just us being upset at not getting certain shows… But I think we can be, we’re not saying it’s anywhere near that level of awfulness, it’s just one of many ways in which this has sucked. 😡

And another anon:

Lu and Mei deserved better

Truly, whatever else the show had going on, that was such a unique little gem in the middle, something I’ve legit never seen in American media, adult professional Chinese wlw who clearly cared about and understood their culture. There are so few at all, but they’re either teens or like, action-centric. And the more I look at characters played by actresses like Michelle Yeoh and Ming-Na Wen, the more I appreciate a character from that mold.

But representation aside, they deserved an explicitly happy ending!

And another anon:

I doubt they would have even had to like do a lot of COVID stuff? Just cut down on the mission control scenes and quarantine the five actors together near the Mars set?????

Btw that anger was directed at Netflix but you

I can’t remember if I said not or but in that last ask so I wanna clarify Netflix not you

Lmao, this made me burst out laughing. How dare you! But no worries, it was clear in context anyway. But from what the first anon above said, I do think there are a whole lot of very specific expenses that they can’t just can’t skimp on. And it wouldn’t be just the five actors, but all the crew that would interact with them. 

But yeah, I don’t think there’s any kind of exact algorithm they’re using, it’s not as if they judge profitability in the same way other businesses can, they’re at the point where interest doesn’t automatically translate to new subscriptions because so many people have subs already, so it’s a whole thing to figure out what actually is a success and what isn’t. It may be more a gut feeling thing, what they think is better rid off or not.

And another anon:

The showrunner of Away said he had a COVID plan already in place and that Away worked perfectly for it ugh didn’t even let him try

Do you mean Jessica Goldberg? I feel like I read something like that, but I guess it was still too expensive to them, and of course, she was still a showrunner trying to get her show renewed, anyone in the same situation would say the same.

And another anon:

Away was one of my fave shows ever *Sigh*

Ouch. Sorry, bud. Brave of you to get invested in a Netflix s1…though I guess it seemed like a safe bet at the time! Still pretty shocked at it, tbh. But at least they ended on a high note, overall? You could imagine the mission going well, with of course the technical and emotional hiccups, and then back on Earth as celebrities.

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I’m devastated that the show got cancelled :( It deserved so much more and I’m going to do a double take in terms of getting emotionally invested in any Netflix show now – I loved GLOW and Away and both were taken prematurely :( So many shows led by women are biting the dust and I’m so exhausted seeing this again and again :(

Yeah, I didn’t love the whole of Away as much as other shows but I admired its inclusion and of course Lu/Mei and honestly, just having Lu. I was willing to let it grow a bit. 

Each time we get news of more cancelations like this, I do feel this bit of unease, seeing it reinforced again how all this isn’t a meritocracy or rewarding the showrunners who try to run positive sets and create diverse media. It’s a matter of luck if a few of those take off but mostly it’s about appealing to the whims of people who tend to like straight and white and sensationalized, violent media.