Remember when Netflix was known as the place to go for shows unfairly canned by network TV to be granted a new life? The streaming giant has slowly eroded its positive reputation in favor of becoming the merciless, cancellation-happy content machine which frequently kills acclaimed or promising shows after just one or two seasons.
It’s tragic that Netflix has gone down this dark path, as when it does take a leap and decides to pick up a cult favorite show that died a premature death on network TV the results tend to be stratospherically successful. Think Lucifer, which Fox was foolish enough to cancel and ended up becoming one of Netflix’s biggest ever originals. The same goes for a popular NBC series, one of the rare instances of Netflix picking up a network series this decade. And it definitely paid off.
This high-concept NBC drama is among the most-watched Netflix series around the globe
What popular NBC series am I talking about? It’s Manifest, the supernatural drama that kicked off in 2018 to much fanfare. Starring an ensemble cast, including Once Upon a Time‘s Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh (Valor), and J.R. Ramirez (Jessica Jones), Manifest follows the passengers of a flight traveling from Jamaica to New York who discover that, after going through a spot of turbulence, they have now jumped five years into the future.
With the character arcs and overarching mysteries only spiraling and deepening as the series went on, viewers were crushed when NBC junked the series after three seasons in 2021. So it was a giant relief when Netflix swooped in and granted Manifest a full 20-episode fourth and final season. As it happens, fans weren’t the only one glad about this decision as the move proved to be a boon for Netflix when it released in two parts in November 2022 and June 2023.
According to Netflix’s 2023 engagement report, Manifest season 4, part 2 was the 11th most-viewed TV title on the platform last year, with a total 262.6 million hours viewed. This follows on from season 4, part 1 proving equally addictive the previous year, with Netflix users streaming it for a total of 1.37 billion minutes upon its release in November 2022. The full season is also known to have among the highest completion rates of a Netflix original, with 73.1% of users watching until the end.
You see the good that can come from renewing shows instead of axing them, Netflix? Maybe do more of that, huh?