After only one season, Netflix decided to cancel their dance drama series Tiny Pretty Things, and one of the series' stars finally offered answers.
Summary
- Actor Brennan Clost revealed that Netflix canceled Tiny Pretty Things due to its low completion rate, which didn't meet the streamer's expectations.
- Netflix prioritizes completion rate as a metric for deciding whether to renew or cancel a show, and Tiny Pretty Things didn't have enough viewers watching all the way through.
- Netflix didn't announce the show's cancellation to maintain its "evergreen" content strategy and not deter potential viewers, despite the disappointment it caused among the show's fanbase.
Though it only ran for one season, Netflix decided to cancel their dance drama Tiny Pretty Things, and one of the show's stars finally offers some answers. Debuting in 2020 and based on the eponymous novel by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, Tiny Pretty Things follows the students at a prestigious ballet school in Chicago as they enter the cut-throat world of professional dance. Hopes were high for the riveting drama, and it was released during the COVID-19 lockdown which was a good time for new streaming content to find an audience that was desperate for something new to watch online.
Unfortunately, the show was met with middling reviews from critics who praised the impressive dancing but were largely unimpressed by the shallowness of the writing and storytelling (via Rotten Tomatoes). Even though the ending of Tiny Pretty Things season 1 left the door open for more excitement, Netflix ultimately decided that one turn was enough for the dance drama. Actor and dancer Brennan Clost impressed in the role of Shane, and he took to his personal vlog to finally offer some answers as to why Netflix pulled the plug. Clost made it clear that Tiny Pretty Things wouldn't be coming back, disheartening news for the series' small but dedicated fanbase.
Tiny Pretty Things: 10 Ways The TV Show Changed The Story, For Better & Worse
Bette, June, Neveah, and the other Archer ballet students are somewhat different in the Tiny Pretty Things book than they are in the Netflix series.Brennan Clost Said Netflix Canceled Tiny Pretty Things Because Of Low Completion Rate
In a YouTube video released several years after Tiny Pretty Things aired its final episode of season 1, Brennan Clost finally closed the door on his former show and was quite emotional about its unceremonious end. Netflix is typically pretty tight-lipped about its methodology regarding cancelations, and the vagueness of the preeminent streamer often leads to frustration within fanbases who see their favorite shows canned for seemingly no reason. In his video, Clost specifically mentioned the fact that Netflix prioritizes completion rate within its viewers, and Tiny Pretty Things just simply didn't get enough people watching all the way through.
He mentioned that he heard the show was watched to completion by "32 million households", though that number hasn't been verified by Netflix or any other third-party source. He goes on to say that Netflix deemed the completion rate to be below what they were looking for, and opted to cancel the series. Netflix has canceled shows like Everything Sucks! for similar reasons, and the completion rate seems to be a metric that is most important to the streamer. Tiny Pretty Things was at the top of the Netflix charts for two weeks following its release, but that clearly didn't correlate with completions.
Why Netflix Didn't Announce Tiny Pretty Things' Cancelation
Another frustration within the fanbase of is the fact that Netflix didn't announce that it was canceled. Clost offers an answer to that query in his video, and he chalks it up to Netflix's "evergreen" content strategy. He explained, "They didn't want to take away from the discoverability of the show...if people know the show is not coming back for a second season...they're going to choose not to watch it". The logic behind Netflix's decision is sound, but it often leaves viewers of shows like Tiny Pretty Things adrift. Clearly, a groundswell of support for the canceled show never came, and it probably won't be revived any time soon.
