Because streaming services don’t need to rely on advertisers to keep a show “on the air,” it’s very rare that a critically-acclaimed streaming series ends after only one season. However, that’s exactly what happened with Mad Dogs, Amazon’s 10-episode thriller which follows a group of friends vacationing in Belize when things start to go really wrong. After 10 episodes, the series wrapped up at a point where Season 2 may not have been the best option, and despite the best efforts of Amazon and the creative team to communicate, it seems that no one could get on the same page about how to make Mad Dogs Season 2 happen.
The Shield’s Shawn Ryan acted as an executive producer on Amazon’s Mad Dogs, and following the cancellation news from Amazon, Ryan took to Twitter to discuss exactly why the show won’t be getting a second season. Here’s part of what he had to say in a flurry of tweets:
Mad Dogs was originally intended to be a closed 10 episode limited series. Many critics pointed out that this wasn’t the kind of concept destined for an extended multi-season run, and that’s right. But in order to get Season 1 made Amazon wanted to know that future seasons might be possible. Cris Cole and I said we thought there could be but we should have that conversation on if and how after the season was over. We had that conversation on Thursday with Roy Price and company. Cris and I laid out a story for Season 2 we believed in. Ultimately, Amazon didn’t want to make that story and we didn’t want to make the kind of story they wanted us to make. It made more sense to declare victory after ten episodes, which was our original plan all along anyway.
Obviously, creator Cris Cole and executive producer Shawn Ryan said a second season could be in the cards when trying to get signed on over at Amazon. However, once it came time to talk about Season 2, the creative team and the network were too far apart to come up with a Season 2 plan that would work for everyone. Which is a shame, because in his note to the fans, Ryan also says that the streaming statistics on Mad Dogs were much better than a lot of the other originals that Amazon has to offer.
We were lucky to be one the best reviewed dramas on Amazon, if not the best. A lot of critics got what we were going for, so thanks. Some Amazon employees told me that Mad Dogs, after only four weeks, already had better streaming stats than many other Amazon shows. So, thanks to the viewers for finding, embracing and binging the show.
Cris Cole also created the original British version of Mad Dogs, which is not wholly unlike the version that eventually made it into Amazon’s lineup. That version actually made it through four seasons on the air, but since British seasons are much shorter, only 14 episodes in total were produced. Although it’s rare for streaming services to drop series so early in their runs, at least there is the British version to fall back on.
If you’d like to know what else the networks and streaming services have coming up over the next few months, check out our midseason TV premiere schedule.
