There's no doubt that Amazon Prime Video and its rival streaming services have expanded our entertainment choices greatly. Unlike the early 80s, where we had just four TV channels in the UK, we now have a nearless endless supply of shows and films to watch.
However, there is a caveat to this constant tsunami of content – longevity. It is rare today for shows to last more than a couple of series before attention switches elsewhere. And that means some favourite programmes get left by the wayside before we've had a chance to say goodbye.
Here are three such examples that Prime Video cut short that it shouldn't have.
Truth Seekers
A supernatural mystery show created by Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost simply couldn't fail, right?. Well, in 2020 we got Truth Seekers on Amazon's streaming platform and for all the wrong reasons it did.
Starring Frost as the leader of his group of "Truth Seekers", an online blogging group set up to investigate the paranormal, the show delved into the world of the occult, murder and conspiracy with the kind of modern quick cut filmmaking we saw in his and Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy, plus the sitcom Spaced beforehand. It was sharp, funny, spooky and, despite an extremely modest budget, looked great.
So why was it so quickly cancelled after just one season?
In basic terms, despite the cast, quality and premise, nobody actually watched it.
Audience figures were decent enough but a lot smaller than Prime expected, so that was that. No second season.
Truth Seekers did seem to have a lot more to offer moving forward but sadly business almost always triumphs over art.
The Expanse
Some shows survive to 20 seasons, some get cancelled after just one, and then there are shows like The Expanse that get a second chance.
Cancelled after three seasons by Syfy, it has a huge fan base and so was subject to a mighty online backlash. That saw the show get picked up by Prime Video, which then cancelled it again a further three seasons down the line.
It made more sense though, second time around.
A hard science fiction epic set in a future universe where humans have colonised Mars and the asteroid belts in between, The Expanse was based on a popular series of novels, and told a sprawling tale of war, conspiracy, survival and hope. Loved by millions, it proved stunning in its range, execution and constant focus on detail.
Its early departure from Syfy (Netflix in the UK) was a bad choice by the network. At that point the show had a lot more to say and a growing fan base. It had become well known for its quality and to drop it then made no sense. Thankfully Prime took it on and let it run out its story.
When the end did come, put down to expense and rising costs, many felt it was the right time and what needed to be said had been. In many ways the cancellation saved the show from the danger of dragging things out too long simply to make money at the cost of good storytelling
It was sad to see it end, but it was done in the right way. Now we just need to wait 30 years for the next part of the story to kick in, like in the books!
American Gods
Imagine having the rights to one of the best pieces of 21st century literature, a book with almost unlimited lore and opportunities for development, and then seemingly cancel it randomly, without warning after the biggest cliffhanger of the entire run.
Well that is what production studio Starz did with Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. And so Prime Video (who hosted it in the UK) had the run cut short.
A book about gods, the supernatural, America and one man's quest through the world of the living and the dead, it was originally seen as unfilmable by many. Perhaps they were right.
The show looked amazing with big effects and pure cinematics, The cast was universally right for the job and the writing was sharp and very much in keeping with the source material. It builds well over three seasons, culminating with a finale that was equally shocking as it was memorable. We all held our breath and waited for the release date for fourth…. and waited… and waited.
Money, or the lack of it, saw the end of American Gods. It seems that super high production values and an all star cast cost a lot and Starz decided that it didn't want to keep paying for a show that wasn't bringing in the expected numbers.
There are still rumours of a proposed movie to finish it all off, but as per 2024 nothing has been set in stone. It seems we are destined to never know what came next.
Unless you read the books, of course.
