Netflix’s reputation for canceling shows too soon is overblown

Just a few months after TV critics anointed “Tuca & Bertie” one of the best TV shows of 2019, series creator Lisa Hanawalt got the bad news: Netflix Inc. wasn’t ordering a second season of the animated comedy.

The show was one of two dozen that the streaming giant has canceled this year — a large number that left many in Hollywood grumbling. Yet as it turns out, Netflix is no quicker to drop shows than other networks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s the company’s huge programming budget — forecast to top $14 billion this year — that makes cancellations loom large.

Of the English-language scripted programs that debuted on Netflix from 2013 to 2017, about 19% lasted more than three seasons.