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Television

Netflix Cancels The Punisher and Jessica Jones, Ending its Marvel Shows (cnet.com) 273

An anonymous reader shares a report: Netflix is officially no longer producing Marvel's live-action shows. The streaming service has canceled both The Punisher and Jessica Jones, according to Deadline, with the latter's third season set to debut as the last batch of Marvel live-action episodes on Netflix. "We are grateful to Marvel for five years of our fruitful partnership and thank the passionate fans who have followed these series from the beginning," a Netflix representative told Deadline. Netflix didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Netflix Cancels The Punisher and Jessica Jones, Ending its Marvel Shows

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  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:16PM (#58141296)

    I can see dropping Jessica Jones and Punisher, I'm having trouble even finishing season two of Punisher and JJ was getting a bit repetitive.

    What I was more sad to see go, was Luke Cage - that still had some interesting story left to tell. Iron fist I never even watched so I guess I can't be too sad that is gone as well.

    I have to say though, that I'm enjoying Netflix's Umbrella Academy more than any new Marvel content, whose world is at this point generally over-worked.

    • by Kargan ( 250092 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:23PM (#58141340) Homepage

      > Iron fist I never even watched so I guess I can't be too sad that is gone as well.

      You're not missing anything, Iron Fist was terrible. Let's cast someone with no martial arts skills in a role as the world's greatest martial artist, and while we are at it, let's make sure they are anything but a compelling actor. But hey, we got his race correct!

      • I (mildly) enjoyed it (only because I wanted to find out what happens next) but yeah I have to 100% agree with your analysis.

      • > Iron fist I never even watched so I guess I can't be too sad that is gone as well.

        You're not missing anything, Iron Fist was terrible. Let's cast someone with no martial arts skills in a role as the world's greatest martial artist, and while we are at it, let's make sure they are anything but a compelling actor.

        The problem wasn't the actor's martial arts skills or his acting ability. It was casting the wrong actor for the part.

        I don't know what they thought the character was going to be, but they seemed to have built it entirely out of traits that were outside Finn's range.

        But hey, we got his race correct!

        There was a push for an Asian actor but I think Iron Fist was one of the few roles where you really don't want to change the actor's race, or more specifically don't want an Asian actor.

        A central point of the character was supposed to be that he

      • by ChoGGi ( 522069 )

        Heck, that iron fists movie RZA did was more entertaining...

      • >"You're not missing anything, Iron Fist was terrible."

        Well, at least I found it more interesting than Punisher season 2. I swear, I have tried for weeks to watch it. I have fallen asleep over and over during watching after the 3rd episode and can't seem to get past episode 5.

    • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

      I can see dropping Jessica Jones and Punisher,

      I can't speak for Punisher, but drop in the quality of Jessica Jones between Season 1 and Season 2 was very noticeable.
      Season 1 was great (with a very clear villain), while somewhere halfway or so through Season 2 I just stopped watching.

    • Both Luke Cage and Iron Fist were steaming turds. The first series of Luke Cage was ok, but the second was more than enough reason to cancel the show without any of the other netflix/marvel licensing stuff happening. Iron Fist had no redeeming qualities at all.
    • Punisher was fantastic for both seasons. Jessica Jones first season was amazing, but the second season while not BAD just wasnt the same ,largely down to the villain. Daredevil was predictably pretty good but never quite gripped me. Iron man, terrible first season, fantastic second season.

      Luke cage was my man. I frigging loved everything about those two seasons and I'm sad it had to end. It really felt like there was more of that story to tell (Particularly with the semi-cliffhanger S2 ends up in with Cage

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:19PM (#58141312)

    I mean:
    + Disney owns Marvel Studios.
    + Disney will become a competitor of Netflix launching their own streaming service (Disney+).
    + Disney is retiring a significant chunck of their catalogue from Netflix in preparation for said streaming service.
    + Diseny (due to their Fox Studios Acquisition) owns the majority (60%) of Hulu, another Netflix competitor.

    I guess this may have something to do with said cancelations...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Exactly correct! Not sure why Netflix is getting beat up on social media for the cancellations. Be mad at Disney.

      In addition Netflix's deal with Disney for other Disney content is set to expire later this year. Disney won't even negotiate a new deal, they want all their content for their services (Hulu and Disney+).

    • Oh, it's absolutely because of Disney. Or rather, Disney plays a huge role in what's going on.

      The original four shows were originally only under contract for one season each, with the fifth season to be The Defenders. When Daredevil's first season ended up being a huge hit and huge exclusive at a time for Netflix when it was trying to establish its brand through its exclusives, they realized they'd do well to renew it for a second season. Frankly, I was surprised that they even did that, since by then it wa

      • Except is there is no truth in what you wrote.
        According to multiple sources Disney+ cannot do anything with those characters until years from now.
        Also Disney does not get ownership of the current shows they stay with netflix.
        Also Disnet+ has said it is not going for the age group these show go for. These characters will not be on Disney+. From what was said it might go to hulu or some other service.
        Netflix has hinted at the reasons why they are doing it. 1) The cost they pay to Disney are too high; ne
    • It's almost like they don't want to get people pumped for the "Marvel Streaming Universe" when it will drive users to hop on Disney+ for all the new shows.
    • I wonder how much this will hurt Disney.

      Everyone knows the Marvel heros now... 10 years from now, will they seem obsolete or "old fashioned" to people who don't have the Disney service?

      With Marvel on Netflix, and spread around amongst many services, it is keeping the characters "well-known". Lock it away, and how much does that hurt the Marvel brand?

    • Yes it has exactly to do with Disney's ownership of Marvel. Netflix recognizes that with Disney going to attempt the streaming market that they will probably take control of the IP or refuse to renew the license at some point as they own it. You can't succeed with someone else's IP because they control the destination. Unfortunately, as I liked all the shows, Netflix could only choose to cancel.

  • I will be glad (Score:5, Interesting)

    by The-Ixian ( 168184 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:23PM (#58141346)

    when, just like the zombie craze, all of this super-hero stuff has played out.

    We need more space opera and less supernatural ghosty stuff...

    • Re:I will be glad (Score:4, Interesting)

      by youngone ( 975102 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:29PM (#58141380)
      I agree with you entirely, but people seem to like the DC and Marvel stuff, for the same reason they like McDonald's .
      It's safe and familiar, and you know what you're going to get because it's the same every time.
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        In the case of Marvel they have managed to produce a string of generally pretty good action movies. Each is enjoyable on its own and the first and most recent Avengers movies in particular have been some of the best of the year.

        Meanwhile many other franchises are failing to offer much competition. Harry Potter is still going, DC is mostly failing with only the odd decent movie (Wonder Woman), and many others are DoA like Mortal Engines or the Mummy reboot. Oh, and Star Wars... I guess they thought that if M

    • Problem is the general public have more disposable income and are perfectly happy with lowest common denominator content. It's the same reason we lost the Discovery, History, and Sci-Fi channels. LCD content is safe, easy, and cheap to produce.

      Sadly there isn't much hope for the future. Perhaps when AI gets advanced enough to generate custom movies on the fly, things will be interesting again.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Netflix shows were not very super-hero-esq though. The idea behind those characters is that they are mostly just ordinary people with maybe one of the less outlandish super powers, dealing with street level crime.

      They also had some of the best villains on TV, far better than the movie ones. Fisk (Kingpin) and Kilgrave both stand out, from season 1 of Daredevil and Jessica Jones respectively.

      There were some great fight scenes too, especially in Daredevil.

  • Netflix (Score:5, Informative)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:24PM (#58141350)
    I find all the netflix superhero shoes start really strong and then fizzle out. Watching Titans and it starts very raw and action packed, but four epis in it's a soap opera.
    • Re:Netflix (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @04:23PM (#58141714)

      This seems to be how ALL serial dramatic content is written, nowadays. Certainly the CW’s DC shows quickly degenerated into nothing but angsty relationship melodramas... but it’s everywhere else as well. My wife likes hospital dramas and cop shows - I’ve tried to watch them with her, but 90% of those story lines are, again, about broken serial relationships and people who can’t manage to stay happy.

      It’s almost like every modern television writer grew up on a steady diet of PD James murder mysteries. I remember when PBS’s “Mystery” would serialize those. All of the main characters would be so obnoxiously annoying, and the interpersonal relationships so consistently dysfunctional, that the question in my mind wouldn’t be why the particular victim was killed - I’d wonder why no one had taken out all the other characters as well.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • I gave up on Legends of Tomorrow pretty quickly - maybe I should take another look.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Hmm, I started with all four of those shows. Still watching The Flash, Arrow I kind lost interest two seasons ago, Supergirl almost immediately and LoT after a couple of episodes too.

          Maybe it's worth trying LoT again. What makes it great? And can I skip the first season to get to the good stuff?

      • "I’ve tried to watch them with her, but 90% of those story lines are, again, about broken serial relationships and people who can’t manage to stay happy"

        Yeah. Action soaps. Meh.

    • they lean in with action and then romance. At least in the 80s and 90s (stopped reading by late 99 when the prices and crossovers got crazy). Go read any run on Teen Titans and you'll find they play out in that exact way. Young Justice ran the same way too. DC likes it's romance.

      For Marvel you've got a point. Besides the various Jean Grey/Scott Summers love triangles it's rare to see them devote more than a half page to romance before Hulk starts smashin' and Thing starts clobberin'.
  • First it was zombies, then came the comic book super-heroes. I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.

    • First it was zombies, then came the comic book super-heroes. I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.

      Those aren't as profitable. Franchises guarantee you'll get the same people coming back for each new rehashing of the same story. Guarenteed cash flow; whereas, unqiue films are hit-or-miss in how audiences will respond.

    • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

      First it was zombies, then came the comic book super-heroes. I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.

      I can't tell if you are being sarcastic. When was the last time Hollywood had a movie with stories and/or quality acting?
      Comic book based movies have the advantage in that there is often a decent background story (a story that became popular without relying on big name actors or special effects). Of course that does not mean that the story is actually used when the movie is made.

      • by tsqr ( 808554 )

        I can't tell if you are being sarcastic. When was the last time Hollywood had a movie with stories and/or quality acting?

        My wife and I go out to see a movie regularly, and we've never seen a superhero movie. I've tried a few comic book movies on Netflix, and the only one I managed to sit all the way through was Wonder Woman (probably just because Gal Gadot). I find that my ability to suspend disbelief is no match for the sheer idiocy of most of those films. There are a lot of excellent films being produced that feature stories and quality acting. Green Book, A Simple Favor, Throroughbreds, Game Night, Molly's Game, Darkest H

    • I'll be glad when Hollywood gets back to making more movies that actually have stories and quality acting.

      Back to?

      Do you mean Tracy/Hepburn movies?

    • I agree, though I think vampires were there before the zombies.

      As to story, I'm afraid this boat has sailed. Rejoice though, you'll get more and bigger explosions and plenty of incomprehensible actions scenes with frantic editing and unruly camera movements.

  • GOOD! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by l0ungeb0y ( 442022 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:27PM (#58141370) Homepage Journal
    Their entire Defenders Franchise was a flaming pile of shit. I look forward to a proper reboot on Disney's Streaming service in 2021. Netflix and their thousands of shit-tier "original content" titles can go get good and truly fucked. After what they did to Black Mirror, and giving us that choose your own adventure piece of shit instead of a proper season, they are dead to me
    • After what they did to Black Mirror

      I personally liked the Black Mirror interactive episode better than every single other Black Mirror episode combined.

      Their entire Defenders Franchise was a flaming pile of shit. I look forward to a proper reboot on Disney's Streaming service in 2021.

      I don't agree with that, and I don't think a lot of other people do as well. In particular, the first seasons of Jessica Jones, and Daredevil were great. I also liked Luke Cage fairly well.

      Or maybe you specifically meant just

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Well, there's always one, right? Every well received show always has some people who hated it.

      As for Black Mirror, welcome to the world of British TV. You are lucky if you get six episodes a year.

  • by drnb ( 2434720 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:31PM (#58141394)
    It may be more accurate to say Netflix drops content from streaming competitor Disney. Marvel is a subsidiary of Disney.
    • No it wouldn't. Marvel may be owned by Disney but this content does not exist elsewhere. It was made by Netflix. They only paid to use a story which had never seen a screen adaptation before.

  • Meh. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:32PM (#58141404) Homepage Journal

    I'm actually very "meh" about this. On the one hand, I enjoyed the first season of (most) of the Netflix Marvel shows (guess the exception), but on the other hand, while they kept on making it seem like something cool could be just around the corner, they never quite managed to deliver. The Iron Fist was the worst at this. Its final season ended with a setup that seemed like it could potentially be cool, but given that it was the Iron Fist, I kind of don't care that we'll never get to see if they would have managed to capitalize on it.

    Beyond that, all the shows were getting kind of stale. Luke Cage's second season seemed to be a large bit of padding to set up for a third season that may have been interesting, one we didn't get to see. Jessica Jones's second season set up for maybe having an interesting new character while otherwise being pretty dull - dull enough that I managed to forget a large bit of the plot involving a fairly major character! Jessica Jones is getting a third season (the one they just finished before being canceled), so maybe the third season will manage to capitalize on the hooks the second one set up, but - well - I'm not counting on it.

    Ultimately I think they all fell to something I remember reading about, how super hero origin stories are easier to write than stories where they've already been established. Origin stories are inherently the Hero's Journey, something that's very well defined and understood. The first seasons were all origin stories, and then once they were defined characters - the show writers didn't know how to continue. This meant that pretty much every "next season" of these shows ended up effectively being the origin stories of other characters beyond the "main characters." Which almost worked.

    So I'm left with a mixed feeling that while the shows may have been able to move the characters in interesting directions and show us neat new things, it was probably time to cancel them. Leaving me feeling basically unable to care either way. Had they continued, that might have been interesting. Or not. So it doesn't really matter that they won't.

    And, yes, I know this is a lot of text to say "I don't care" but it's this weird thing where I wish I could be invested in the characters because the shows seemed promising at first, but ultimately, I'm just ... not.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The origin story thing is what ruined the Spiderman movies, and also some of the old 90s Batman movies.

      The best thing Marvel did with the new, actually quite good Spiderman movies was to have Uncle Ben pre-murdered and Spiderman already a street-level crime fighter.

  • Screw the fans (Score:5, Informative)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:37PM (#58141444)

    Love them or hate them this isn't about ratings. This is about Disney rolling out their own streaming service.

    • That is a stupid rumor not based on any facts that has been spreading since netflix killed the first show.
      Netflix still hold the rights to those characters for years after the last show is producted. Marvel/Disney cannot do anything with them until the mid 2020s.
      netflix has come out and said the reason they are doing it is the cost and that the shows are not bringing in any new customers for any length. They got a spike of new customers for them then it stopped.
      The only streaming service that had any d
  • by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @03:44PM (#58141478)
    They should invent Netflix-Man and not pay a licensing fee. Genius!
    • easier/cheaper said than done. For every successful piece of IP in this space there are dozens if not hundreds of failed ones.
    • Or better yet, take a look at all of the DC ripoffs that worked, and rip them off.

  • To move to di$eny online (soon to forced into internet bundles) along with E$PN on line

  • by walterbyrd ( 182728 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @04:24PM (#58141724)

    I can hardly believe I watched it until the end.

  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @04:26PM (#58141736) Journal

    1) Get rid of all the shows people would actually watch and replace them with cheaply made true-crime documentaries and bad stand up comedy specials.
    2) Assume people are too lazy to cancel their monthly subscriptions.
    3)...

    Seriously, Netflix has gotten rid of their once-impressive back catalog of classic movies, bought a bunch of cookie-cutter European copies of American cop-shows, and has been sucking increasing ass.

    But I'm part of the problem I guess. I'm too lazy to cancel my monthly subscription and even though I keep telling myself it's time to cut them loose, I keep thinking they've got to improve sometime but they never do.

    • I don't know what kind of stuff you like to watch, but Netflix has also been bringing Japanese stuff, and Series of Unfortunate Events turned out to be surprisingly good.
      • Yeah, OK. I've seen some good Japanese stuff on Netflix, and Unfortunately Events wasn't bad, but that only covers one month of that subscription.

        Storage isn't an issue, so why not have some pre-Code 1930s films and pre-1990 foreign films and maybe some early animation. Avant Garde films of the 20th century, like that. The royalties would be miniscule and there is definitely an audience. Meanwhile, I've had to add back in the DVD option for Netflix and pay extra so I can see some of the old and less main

        • Storage isn't an issue, so why not have some pre-Code 1930s films

          Yeah they could definitely do that.

          When the 'modern' TV era arrived, I spent a lot of time binging on various series, but after a while I got over it. They didn't attract me the way they used to, it suddenly became a game of critiquing the writers, figuring out what they were trying to do, instead of enjoying and being swept away by a story. So now I don't watch TV or Netflix or Hulu much. A lot of the content I can just see where it's going, getting a story dribbled out one plot element per episode, eve

          • Unfortunate Events is one (it was tried a couple times), and Planet Earth, and Wild, Wild Country. Online streaming has made it possible to find niche audiences for things that wouldn't have been made before.

            All good points, and that Wild, Wild Country is really something else. I've seen a bit in my long life and yet I still spent a good part of that series with my jaw dropped and mouth agape.

    • >"But I'm part of the problem I guess. I'm too lazy to cancel my monthly subscription and even though I keep telling myself it's time to cut them loose, I keep thinking they've got to improve sometime but they never do."

      I think I fit into that, too. I kinda plan to wait for them to raise the price (which is coming soon), and THEN immediately cancel.

      Of course, I will continue "DVD", since from that I continue to get actual get movies...

  • by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @05:30PM (#58142046)
    "The Punishment of Jessica Jones"...
  • I was actually interested in what they were going to do with Typhoid Mary.

  • Daredevil and Punisher. All the rest I found terribly boring after 3 episodes, and gave up. Maybe got through 5 of Jessica Jones.

    While the super hero thing is starting to get played out a bit, I think what helped those two shows for me was that it wasn't about super powers. Neither guy had them. It was more about the story. And while parts of both irritated me a little bit and there were some low points, in my opinion they were still great and I recommend them to people.

    I am OK with them being cancelle

  • by TJHook3r ( 4699685 ) on Monday February 18, 2019 @06:21PM (#58142284)
    There will be a big hole in Netflix without their hit-or-miss superhero lineup. Who the hell wants to stream only Disney content though, they must be mad to think people want yet another outlay. Netflix and one other (for GoT) hits the sweet spot!
  • They were like watching a mini series strung out over way too many episodes. They would have made far more compelling TV if the episode count was slashed.

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