I didn’t finish 1899, but I wanted to. I have two episodes left, but before I could finish them Netflix cancelled the show, and now I’m full of existential quandaries. 1899 was a new project from the creators of Dark, a German-language show from Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. Dark was a stretch for Netflix, being both the first German-language original on the service and an intricate puzzle box show. It ran from 2017-2020 and was allowed a full three seasons to tell its complex, fascinating, totally weird story. Somehow, it became both a critical and man-on-the-street success, so it wasn’t a total surprise when Netflix announced they had greenlit a new show from the pair. 1899 was weirder, involved more languages, more puzzles, and more unsolved mysteries; apparently, it didn’t hit.
Except, it did hit. Although critics didn’t laud 1899 to the same degree they did Dark, most critics found plenty to praise. It was on Netflix’s Top Ten list of streamed shows, in fact it remained at position 2 on Netflix’s list of most-viewed English-language shows (it’s mostly not in English, but you get it) for three weeks after its release. It has always been difficult to understand how Netflix measures success; a now infamous quote from CEO Ted Sarandos that “it’s 70 percent gut and 30 percent data” feels pretty true to their process. There’s a limited amount we know about that 30 percent, and as for the 70, with the recent shakeups within the company, that’s anyone’s guess.
1899 is only one of several unexpected recent casualties and critics everywhere are trying to figure out what links them. My favorite guess comes from a Forbes article that analyzed “completion data,” or what percentage of people who started a show finished it within a month. Many shows on Netflix that have a sub-50% completion rate end up cancelled, while shows that may not be as critically acclaimed or appear in top-10 lists still get renewed because they have higher completion rates. Apparently, 1899 had a 32% percent completion rate, which may have signaled to Netflix that the series could not hold viewers’ attention. I’m sure that’s not the only reason, but I could see that factoring in heavily.
And here I am at the very beginning of my review admitting that I am one of those viewers! But I didn’t stop watching the show because I didn’t like it- I stopped watching it because it was cancelled. 1899 premiered on November 17, 2022 and was cancelled in early January 2023. During that time, I was: travelling constantly, petting other people’s dogs, playing board games with my cousins’ children, trying to ski without killing myself, putting together a complex Lego architecture set, and generally trying to both enjoy and survive the holiday season. The deepest show I found time to watch was the 10th season of Married at First Sight, which I also didn’t finish. When 1899 premiered, I had heard a lot of critical buzz around it; I was excited about the concept and the creators, so I watched the first two episodes right away. Then the holidays intervened and I put it off; my brain wasn’t ready to try and decode its mysteries.
On the surface, I can understand why this show didn’t immediately grab people, for one it is mostly not in English. The creators made the laudable and brave decision to have each character mainly speak in their native tongue; since the story is set on a ship travelling from London to New York in 1899, that means there are usually around seven languages being spoken in each episode. I loved this, but it means you have to pay more attention. It is also a thoroughly puzzling show, deliberately so. Just like other puzzle-box shows before it (Dark, Westworld, Lost), it wants you to try and figure out what’s going on and doesn’t provide straightforward storytelling or linear timelines. Sometimes one is in the mood for a show like that and sometimes one is not.
Netflix clearly sunk a lot of investment into 1899 and it shows; it’s a beautifully filmed show and the acting is top-rate. 1899 is the most expensive German show of all time, with Netflix sinking a reported €48 million into the project, roughly twice what they invested in Squid Game. I think the aura of money the show gave off lulled me into a false sense of complacency about it, and is part of why so many autopsies are being performed to discover cause of death. But what’s more interesting than trying to figure out why this specific show was cancelled is framing it as a synecdoche for the state of Netflix in 2023.
In my Monday post I referenced a recent New Yorker article about Netflix’s global head of television Bela Bajaria. In that profile, an anonymous source at Netflix is quoted as saying, “The thing is, she’s not an intellectual. She’s smart. There’s a difference.” Bajaria is quoted as saying she wants to make the TV equivalent of “gourmet cheeseburgers” like Bridgerton. As someone who loves Bridgerton, this isn’t exactly unwelcome to me, but this all does make my ears prick up. After all, even if like Anya Taylor-Joy in The Menu you love a good cheeseburger, it would be a pretty boring life if you only ate cheeseburgers. So what is Netflix trying to be in 2023? Do they envision the streaming wars as being a branding exercise, with Netflix casting themselves in the role of Shake Shack and Peacock as… Taco Bell? Is Amazon Prime Applebee’s? Does every streaming service have to offer their own niche and Netflix wants to claim the gourmet cheeseburger niche? That doesn’t feel sustainable to me, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Right now, Netflix (and everyone else) is trying to figure out how to make what they do pay. 2022 was a year of market shocks for them and every move they’ve made since, from introducing an ad tier to pushing back on password sharing (this will not work) has been about trying to find new footing in a changing world. I have found a Netflix subscription to be indispensable, although I do write about television for a living (actually I do it for free but a girl can dream). But I have started to have my doubts in recent days. I don’t want to subscribe to a graveyard of abandoned IP. I don’t want to spend six hours trying to figure out a puzzle only to be told I will never know the answer. I don’t want to recommend shows like Archive 81 to you all when I know now that its cliffhangers won’t ever be unspooled.
Shows get cancelled; they have been getting cancelled for decades. Sometimes cancellation even brings posthumous life to now-beloved shows (Firefly, for instance). Some shows need to be cancelled because they’re not good; I would even put Archive 81 into that bucket, to be honest. But shows like 1899 shouldn’t be cancelled after one season. A show like that is built on mysteries that extend across seasons; the creators planned a three season arc similar to the three seasons of Dark, which Netflix would have obviously known about. Netflix sunk massive amounts of money into the show that they will not recover. The cancelling of 1899 will be remembered as a bellwether, a warning to creators that they should start treating each season as if it could be their last. I think creators will go back to the Joss Whedon model of writing, where each season could have put a period on the series, but everyone prayed that it wouldn’t have to. That’s not a good kind of pressure to put on creators, but boom times are over and if you’re making sushi instead of cheeseburgers, watch out.