Netflix Cancels Cowboy Bebop after Just One Season

[Tsing]

Image: Netflix



Critics haven’t been kind to Netflix’s adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, and those complaints certainly have not fell on deaf ears.



According to sources with The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has decided to cancel the show after just one season. It’s an embarrassing fate for the ambitious live-action adaption of the classic neo-noir anime, which premiered less than three weeks ago (November 19).



From The Hollywood Reporter:



The space Western had a rough reception. The 10-episode series garnered only a 46 percent positive critics rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Fans seemed to agree, giving the show a 56 percent positive audience score on the site. According to Netflix’s Top 10 site, the series has racked up almost 74 million viewing hours worldwide since its debut — so it got plenty of sampling out of the gate — but...

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[Grimlakin]

Meh I enjoyed it. Thought it was appropriate to the source material and it was a fun watch.

 

[Brian_B]

I haven't watched the live action yet, but the anime would be a tough act to follow - it's a classic. Nothing that couldn't be done, as the anime didn't rely on outlandish sci-fi themes, it just focused on excellent story telling and character development. But it would be like remaking any other classic movie - a remaster of Godfather, for instance, would take someone with some big cohones to take on, and to outdo the original would be something significant.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Never made it through a whole ep of the anime. Started the 1st one about a month before the live action started and liked it but not enough to get into. My wife and I started watching the live action and we've enjoyed it but are only around 3 or 4 episodes in. It hasn't grabbed us enough to binge through. I'm saddened it got canceled though because it seemed like it had potential.

Edit: I will say the main reason I haven't watched more of the original is that I'm just burned out on anime, even when its good. There's just so much out there these days.

 

[Denpepe]

It's something I wanted to at least try out but never gotten round to it, kind of slipped my mind.

 

[Dogsofjune]

I didn't' mind the Anime. A little unsure of the live action stuff. Death Note wasn't all that great in live action. Let's try Gundam, Robotech or maybe a Voltron....



They'd probably mess that up too.... Not Netflix, but someone tried to do a live action of G-Force. or Gatchaman depending on what country you are in, and it was horrible. Lets not discuss Ghost in a Shell either.... Full Metal Alchemist.... Power Rangers, and any other BS that has come out in the last 50 years.

 

[Uvilla]

Didn't watch the anime. I'm liking this show. Its too bad the first out the gate to watch it and ****post it are the purists and fans of whatever the original was. Hence it gets cancelled for the rest of us.

 

[serpretetsky]

I just dont understand most remasters/remakes/live action redos, whatever. If the original is considered good, what is the remake for? Unless you completely redo the story or do a different story in the same universe. Otherwise im watching basically the same thing with slight variations?

For this reason was never interested in the live action.

 

[ThreeDee]

I've been watching the show and about 3 episodes in.. I've finding it very "meh" .. the fight scenes are not that great .. and not one character has sucked me in to really care about what happens to them so far .. maybe the dog, lol.

 

[Stoly]

Cowboy Bebop is an anime cult classic, no way it was going to please its followers. Never the less, I think it was ok. But then again I actually liked Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johanson.

 

[Zarathustra]

I had meant to check this out, but hadn't realized it had even launched yet.

I had no familiarity with (or even knowledge of the existence of) the original anime series before the show was announced. I did sort of like Firefly though, and I did in retrospect hear they may have been influenced by Cowboy Bebop, so I was planning on checking it out.

 

[Zarathustra]

Didn't watch the anime. I'm liking this show. Its too bad the first out the gate to watch it and ****post it are the purists and fans of whatever the original was. Hence it gets cancelled for the rest of us.

Well, judging by how things went for Firefly, borrowing the overall concept without referencing the original anime wasn't exactly a recipe for longevity either.