Far be it from us to insinuate there’s some sort of conspiracy afoot, or even imply that every streaming series is obligated to carry on in perpetuity until audiences get bored of it, but Prime Video’s cancellations of sci-fi epic The Peripheral and episodic reboot A League of Their Own have contributed to a strange emerging pattern.
Both shows had previously been renewed for second seasons before Amazon changed its mind and ditched them instead, leading to widespread fury that Citadel has been rewarded with not just new episodes, but an additional pair of spin-offs as well. There’s no correlation other than coincidence, but it’s curious to note that a raft of one-season wonders have all bitten the dust since the beginning of last year, with the majority of them featuring a female protagonist and strong reviews from both critics and audiences.
The Peripheral had Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role and netted 79 and 86 percent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, while A League of Their Own‘s 10 top-billed stars were all women, and it secured respective 95 and 87 percent rankings on the aggregation site. Comic book adaptation Paper Girls boasted a central quartet of teenage girls and nabbed a 90 and 89, with The Wilds and its seven female protagonists at least managing a second season before it was canned in spite of 89 and 84 percent scores.
Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek took first place in the credits ahead of fellow Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons in Night Sky, which was also booted after eight episodes after notching 74 and 83 percent approval ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and there’s even the exception that proves the rule following the widely-panned I Know What You Did Last Summer show fronted by Madison Iseman getting the boot.
It’s entirely coincidental, but it’s no less bizarre that a string of acclaimed and female-led originals have been sent to the streaming scrapheap by Prime Video, and only one them managed a second bite at the apple before being cast aside.