A series that has won Primetime Emmys and Golden Globes has just been given its cancellation notice after four seasons. The Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed reports that Amazon pulled the plug on the dramedy “Mozart in the Jungle.”
The show got off to a hot start on the awards circuit back in 2016, winning the Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical, along with a win for Gael Garcia Bernal for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical. The show also picked up sound mixing Emmys in 2016 and 2017.
“The cancellation marks the first major programming decision by new chief Jennifer Salke, who started in her role at the streamer a few weeks ago,” THR reports. “The move is also in line [with] the former NBC vet’s directive to shift away from niche indie projects and deliver broader, big-budget swings in an attempt to land the next ‘Game of Thrones.'”
This is ridiculous! Amazon is a perfect outlet for “shift away from niche indie projects.” To dump them and chase “broader, big-budget swings in an attempt to land the next ‘Game of Thrones.’ could be a major waste of time and energy! If they go for a mega hit and miss it could waste 10s to 100s of millions of dollars. They should spend more time and bigger dollars marketing quality series like “Mozart…”
Netflix is making the same mistake. They have some great hits like “Godless” that they need to market more rather than take a shotgun approach at lucking out and getting a mega hit. They are both doing garbage marketing and gambling for a mega hit, which is incredibly naive and sophomoric! As a result we have a lot of mediocre series out there in the last few years that are a total waste of production dollars! They both are headed down the road to production mediocrity and massive failure. Good marketing will sell true quality productions like “Mozart” and “Godless.”
I agree. The online companies are rushing to put out more product and that is going to impact the quality. What got people watching the streaming companies is the higher quality programming. Handmaid’s Tale is why I subscribed to Hulu. And Vikings on Amazon and Orange is the New Black in Netflix. Not reruns of network programming. The rush for product is what hurt HBO and Showtime. Better to focus on quality.
This is what happens when you hire a broadcast network executive to head your company. They try to run things like they did at the broadcast network (and last I checked NBC’s lineup was nothing to brag about sans 1-2 series), ignoring the fact that quality, niche programming is what draws viewers and subscribers to alternatives such as Netflix and Amazon. Whole difference of these online providers was what subscribers enjoyed about these offerings, turning them into another “broadcast network” is a huge mistake.
While I agree with the argument that Amazon is perfectly positioned to make niche offerings because there is a desire for that kind of content.
However, did any of you watch Mozart in the Jungle’s most recent season? If you had you’d probably realize it was a mess and I predicted it wouldn’t be renewed. Feels good to be right.
The last season of this show was terrible, but if they want to be another NBC then I’ll cut the cord on them too. I really don’t get the hiring at Amazon for TV.
(1) The hysterical “sky is falling” comments here are ridiculous and laughable. The level-headed actions by Amazon don’t deserve such Chicken Little squawking. (2) I am far from alone in holding the opinion that the quality of “Mozart in the Jungle” was marginal and debatable from the very start. It very quickly became a real stinker, and the awards it received in 2016 were largely undeserved and a very bad bet. (3) Amazon has the good sense to realize that it can’t be profitable or successful by making questionable series for a tiny fraction of its potential audience. (4) Amazon doesn’t want to be another TV network. It already IS one.