Amazon Prime Video Cancels A League Of Their Own And The Peripheral After Previously Renewing Them

Both of the news breaks from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety mention Amazon feeling dissatisfied with viewership numbers for both series, but it’s fascinating that the queer baseball series and the woman-led sci-fi series (both of which feature Black actors in prominent roles, and the latter of which features a transgender main character, no less) weren’t deemed worthy of saving. Meanwhile, a macho spy series with exorbitant production costs that received subpar reviews has no fear of cancelation. I’m not trying to push an agenda or accuse anyone of discrimination, I’m simply making a curious lil’ observation and you can do with this information what you will.

It’s hard not to be annoyed by this line of decision-making, especially when it feels so obvious that streaming services don’t actually know what to do with their original programming. It’s as if everyone is trying to chase the immediate high that came from “Stranger Things” or “Squid Game” on Netflix and refusing to give anything a chance to find its footing or audience. But then, when they do invest an excessive amount of dollars into something and it underperforms, they refuse to take the “L” and just pray they can make fetch happen while canceling other projects to help foot the bill. I know I’m screaming from the top of a soapbox in the middle of the internet town square and there are certainly people reading this who think I’m being a weirdo about this, but it gets so exhausting after a while.

One day the powers that be will remember that creative storytelling is the key to success in this industry and stop trying to cosplay as tech bros. But until then, I’ll continue to grieve the projects cut before their time as studios figure out what the hell they’re doing.