Netflix Cancels ‘Soundtrack’ After Just One Season

The first big Netflix cancellation of 2020 has arrived. Earlier today, the streaming giant announced it had canceled Soundtrack after a mere single season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Josh Safran musical drama had only premiered in mid-December.

Though the show did poorly among critics, with a 38 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers graded it 95 percent. The show featured its cast, led by Callie Hernandez and Jenna Dewan, lip-synching hit songs. Ahead of the premiere, Safran told THR that he was aware of the bit bet he was making, creatively speaking.

“There’s definitely more,” Safran said at the time. “When you get to the end [you’ll see]. I did close it though because it is a big swing and it’s weird and I didn’t want to leave an audience in the lurch.”

The show was initially titled Mixtape when it was being produced as a pilot for the Fox Network back in 2018. However, prior to its premiere, the network decided to mandate multicamera comedies and police procedurals, which didn’t apply to the drama about a group of disconnected L.A. residents that occasionally break into song.

Netflix picked up the show by July of 2018, eventually premiering 18 months later.

The streamer has been going through some changes of its own lately. A massive restructuring of the marketing department has led to 15 layoffs (give or take) earlier this week. It was instigated by Jackie Lee-Joe, the new chief marketing officer, who is pivoting to promoting the overall service as opposed to its original content.

It’s also totally revamped how it measures its viewing metrics. Previously, a Netflix account would have to watch 70 percent of a show or movie to “count” as a view. Now, that time has been shaved down to roughly two minutes, which means “short and long titles are treated equally, leveling the playing field for all types of our content including interactive content, which has no fixed length,” the company said in its quarterly earnings call.

Worth noting that all these changes are coming at a time when Netflix is seeing an unprecedented level of competition for streaming subscriptions. Along with existing powerhouses like Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, newcomers like Disney+ have raked in millions of subscribers, with HBO Max, Quibi, Peacock and more on the way.

However, Netflix is boasting four new Adam Sandler movies on the horizon, so at the very least he can start plotting his revenge.