Why Did Netflix Cancel The Santa Clarita Diet?
Netflix has canceled The Santa Clarita Diet after three seasons.
The comedy starred Drew Barrymore as a zombie who finds herself bonded to her husband, played by Timothy Olyphant, for better or worse. He’s the only person she can eat to keep from turning into a zombie.
They are also raising their teenage daughter (Liv Hewson) undead, but this is more of an “it makes it easier” situation rather than a significant plot point in each episode.
The first season was fun and dumb because there was no irony around it. They were trying to survive, which made things easy for us, the viewers, to digest without overthinking about what was happening along with them.
The second season tried a bit too hard to make the show one of those stories where you have to pick up on little things from past episodes and kind of drove it into serious drama. As ridiculous as the situation, the characters at least had some sense of humor about what was happening around them, which elevated it from annoying or corny.
Netflix has been canceling many shows lately because market forces are forcing their hand, but The Santa Clarita Diet wasn’t one of these shows. Ratings weren’t low, critics enjoyed it, and fans loved it even more.
Even Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said so when he announced back in January that his service would be producing more original series in 2019 than any other network or streaming service this year.
No, it wasn’t a victim of the platform’s upcoming consolidation of all their originals under a single banner. They have been open about having too many sources and want to manage them better, including canceling some that don’t work as well as they think they should, but The Santa Clarita Diet was not one of those cancellations.
Netflix has been trying to find ways to keep it going ever since wrapping up its third season last month.
While this is far from guaranteeing more episodes down the road, both Netflix and Hulu (which aired first-run episodes) took steps toward another season after negotiations with Sony Pictures Television, which produced the show.
Unfortunately, no deals could be reached because money talks in this business, and Netflix decided it wouldn’t spend the money to keep The Santa Clarita Diet alive.
Santa Clarita diet season 4 picked up:
‘Santa Clarita Diet, which is based on the book of the same name written by Hollywood actress, comedian, and writer Drew Barrymore, was picked up for season 4 by Netflix.
After the death of her husband, Sheila (Drew Barrymore) finds herself revived as a zombie. As she eats human flesh to survive, she also discovers that she needs to do it with enthusiasm or risk returning to life as expected, but not until she completes whatever tasks she demands. Her daughter Abby must deal with Mom’s bizarre transformation – especially after becoming undead herself!
Santa Clarita diet season 4 release date:
*Santa Clarita Diet season 4 is scheduled to release in May 2019
Santa Clarita diet cast:
Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond Nathalie Emmanuel as Det. Mindy Hammond Daniela Barbosa as Vanessa Blake Aaron Moten as Buck Brett Gelman as Dr. Ian Stokes Carla Gallo as Rhonda Stokes Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Ashley Gilbert
Santa Clarita diet review:
‘Santa Clarita Diet’ is one of the best shows currently running on Netflix. The story of an undead family has managed to attract attention by giving us scenes that are certainly not for the faint of heart.
But the show is not only about blood and guts; it also presents us with a pretty unique atmosphere, where comedy coexists with zombies. The cast is excellent, but Drew Barrymore takes the breath out of everyone!