After Their First Season 'The Get Down' Gets Canceled by Netflix

Netflix has been developing one awesome series after another, making a sensation and hitting the news. Now a series is doing the same but in a very different way, as Baz Luhrmann’s “The Get Down” is getting canceled. The high budget project promised to be the usual Netflix series that will innovate, get critically acclaimed and had huge fan bases.

The decision comes after the second six-episode part of season 1 was released last month and the poor viewing ratings. It is a rare Netflix original series not to get a second season, or to be canceled so abruptly.

The Get Down

“The Get Down” is a big-budget musical drama that is centered around the hip-hop/disco clash of 1970’s in New York City. Following a group of music lover teens from South Bronx, as they also discover life and through the streets. The show counted with huge support. Despite the cast was composed mostly newcomers, it had some big names featuring. With Jade Smith, who plays graffiti artist Dizzee, and Hamilton‘s Daveed Diggs narrated. Also, rapper Nas worked as an executive producer. Along with several other rap icons who served as consultants.

The show also marked Luhrmann’s first incursion into television. Coming from a concept he’d been working on for more than a decade. The first set of six episodes debuted last August, then followed with a five-episode second half April.

Canceling reason

The musical drama was very ambitious, being very expensive to produce. But still failed to attract a faithful and numerous audience. The news was firstly reported by “Deadline”. Even though the announcement hardly comes as a surprise, since the show barely got the first part of season 1 drew in 3.2 million US. Poor standards regarding a Netflix show as that cost around $120 million for just the first 12-episodes. The blend between bad ratings and high costs sealed the faith of the show. Also, all these factors made the production of the show slow and difficult.

The show was on and off so many times that it created tensions amongst Luhrmann, Sony TV, and Netflix. The difficult and irregular process, both on pre and the production phase, got the show spending an over two and a half year time getting two showrunners, numerous writers, and several script overhauls. Reaching even the point that the team working on it start calling it “The Shut Down”. Contributing to letting “The Get Down” have its days counted.