Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
Netflix had its Geeked Week this week which celebrates various genres available on the streamer, with a lot of focus on sci fi and fantasy (and very little on how often the streamer cancels shows in the genres). They released a slew of trailers including The Sandman, The Midnight Club (from the makers of The Haunting of Hill House), Guillermo Del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities, 1899 (from the makers of Dark), and a sneak peek at Manifest Season 4. (You can see all of those and more at this link) What the streamer didn’t do was announce many renewals. There were a couple, but quite a number of shows are still awaiting word on their fates.
One renewal announcement that came was not a big surprise. Netflix decided to bring the Korean zombie drama All of Us Are Dead back for a second season after it spent eleven weeks in that streamer’s Top 10 for non-English Language shows and tallied up hundreds of millions of hours of viewing. Wow, Netflix! Smart move! Hopefully it was not too taxing for the network execs seeing as they seem to prefer to cancel shows that pull in big viewership numbers (Jupiter’s Legacy, Away, Archive 81).
All of Us Are Dead–which follows students trying to survive a zombie plague–is not to be confused with South Korean Netflix series Kingdom which takes place in the 16th century when a zombie plague threatens the country and which has had two seasons and may or may not get a third. It is also not to be confused with the Netflix series Black Summer about the beginnings of a zombie plague which may or may not be connected to Z Nation and which has had two seasons and may or may not have a third. It is also not to be confused with the Netflix series Daybreak about high school students trying to survive a zombie plague which was cancelled after one season. It is the other Netflix series about high school students trying to survive the beginning of a zombie plague . . . that was made in South Korea.
Also renewed this week was Kevin Smith’s animated Master of the Universe revival. The first season of that (which was broken into two parts) was titled “Revelation: and the second season will be titled “Revolution” (and will probably be broken into two parts). That is not linked to the Masters of the Universe live-action movie that is currently in the works at Netflix. It is also not linked to the animated reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power which ran on Netflix for five seasons. It is also not linked to the CGI-animated He-Man and Masters of the Universe series that is currently streaming on Netflix. Got all that? There’s going to be a quiz later.
Not renewed by Netflix yet are Black Summer, Disenchantment, DOTA Dragon’s Blood, Russian Doll, and Super Crooks. The streamer is probably hoping that if it keeps cranking out new shows, people will forget those were ever on.
In development news coming out of Geeked Week, a new Ghostbusters animated series is in the works at Netflix. The will come from the same people that brought us Ghostbusters: Afterlife and will be part of an expanded universe based on the franchise. It would sure be nice if they recruited J.Michael Straczynksi on that one seeing as he helped make The Real Ghostbusters a ton of fun back in the ’80s.
Not so lucky is genre uber-producer J.J. Abrams whose sci fi series Demimonde has been cancelled before it began by HBO. That network decided it didn’t want to spend a gazillion dollars on the project as costs started to spiral out of hand. Of course, they had already sunk a bunch of money into it as they beat out Apple TV+ in a bidding war for the property. It is getting shopped around and that latter streamer will certainly have the last laugh if it scoops it up.
In non-Netflix renewal announcements this week, FX has extended its supernatural comedy What We Do in the Shadows out to a sixth season. Its fourth season will premiere next month.
In ratings news, The CW’s Tom Swift held at a 0.06 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 344K total viewers for its second episode. Those aren’t great numbers but may keep it afloat as a Summer entry. More on the streaming and linear ratings for sci fi TV shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
In schedule announcements, Netflix did give release dates or windows for several of its upcoming and returning shows during Geeked Week. The ones with set premiere dates include The Sandman (August 5th), Locke & Key Season 3 (August 10th), and The Midnight Club (October 7th). The ones set to arrive at some point in Fall include Manifest Season 4, 1899, and Cabinet of Curiosities. You can see all the premieres for June and beyond at this link and you can see the Weekly Listings here.
Did I miss anything? Probably because I’m still trying to make my way through all of those Netflix trailers while still trying to keep up with all the new sci fi TV shows coming out, so let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to keep up with the news during the week with This Week in Sci Fi TV and r/SciFiTV.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
