Join The Club
The Boroughs is the latest casualty of Netflix's habit of canceling shows after a single season, and as rumors swirl about the real reasons behind its exit, Denis O'Hare is sharing how fans can "stick it" to the streamer after its exit.
O'Hare, who played Sam's doctor friend Wally in the one-off series currently available with a Netflix subscription, mourned the loss of the show on his Instagram account. That said, he had a plan cooked up that he believed would help make Netflix executives regret writing off the star-studded series, and he spoke specifically to Emmy voters:
I think we still have a couple of days before the end of Emmy voting that everyone should just vote for The Boroughs. You can vote for me if you like, but also Bill Pullman and Alfre Woodard and Alfred Molina and Geena Davis and Clark Peters, Seth Numrich, Alice Kremelberg, and vote for The Boroughs for Best Series and, you know, stick it to Netflix and let them know that they made a mistake, you know, because I think that would be sweet revenge. Anyway, I love the show. I miss it.
I totally empathize with Denis O'Hare, as well as the rest of the cast of The Boroughs. I'm sure they had an idea of what the series could explore in the hypothetical Season 2, especially after that wild ending involving Sam. Emmy voters giving it all the awards would have Netflix sitting with egg on its face, having given the axe to a successful show.
Who knows? It might even cause Netflix to reverse its decision to cancel The Boroughs, which may also be what Alfred Molina and the rest of the cast are hoping for. A few awards would surely draw more eyes to the series and make the cost of the sci-fi series easier to justify in a future season. Just based on Denis O'Hare waxing on about how much he loved the show, I'm sure it'd be water under the bridge if Netflix reversed course on its decision.
That being said, critical acclaim and awards buzz haven't made Netflix reverse course before. I think back to Mindhunter as a notable example of an acclaimed show that people wanted a third season for, but ultimately Netflix said the viewership was not worth the investment needed for a new season. Streaming is a business at the end of the day, and it seems like these shows are learning that the hard way more often than not.
It certainly feels like there's a shift in the streaming climate, compared to a decade ago, where it seemed like a golden age where even notable movie stars were hopping on a streaming series. It's still happening, but the odds of that series having a multi-season run are diminishing the further these streamers head into the future. How this will impact the future of streaming, we can only speculate; but I'm interested to see how it goes.
The Boroughs is still available to stream over on Netflix, and still worth your time even though it was canceled. I even think it works better as a one-off series, even with the open-ended cliffhanger, so give it a watch if you have yet to do so.
