Netflix Is Ending ‘Kimmy Schmidt’ — Here’s What That Means For The Future Of Comedies On Netflix

Netflix is apparently ending its first and best-known original comedy — Tina Fey’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — which is an interesting development given that the show has reliably generated Emmy nominations, critical praise and positive media attention over the last few years and was one of Netflix’s most-watched originals when it premiered in 2015.

The story from Team Kimmy is that “after four seasons and over 50 episodes … everyone felt it was time to end the series,” but that sounds like the show’s studio and creators getting in front of a cancellation. Netflix is a vastly different distributor of original content today than when Kimmy Schmidt premiered in 2015, and there are signs everywhere that Netflix is far less interested in making traditional comedy series than it was then.

Netflix has cancelled a slew of recent comedies besides Kimmy Schmidt — Chuck Lorre multi-cam Disjointed, Kay Cannon’s startup indie Girlboss, retro-’90s dramedy Everything Sucks!, the ultra-quirkyLady Dynamite, and the YouTube spin-off (spin-out?) Haters Back Off — though distinguishing those cancelled shows from the comedies that are still in Netflix’s lineup is an inexact science.

What’s driving the shift in Netflix’s comedy slate toward fewer scripted originals and more stand-up, late-night and alternative comedies?

Fewer Scripted Comedies

Netflix doesn’t generally explain why it renews show, but here are a few observations on some of the comedies the service has renewed in the last year:

• Big hits. Five current comedies — revival hit Fuller House (a huge hit), multi-cam The Ranch (starring Ashton Kutcher), star-studded Friends From College (the adventures of terrible people), mockumentary American Vandal (“who drew the dicks?”) and high-concept Santa Clarita Diet (Drew Barrymore eats people) — are likely among Netflix’s most-watched original, scripted comedies.
• New markets. Five other series —multicams Alexa & Katie (teens and tweens) and One Day at a Time (Latino), Justin Simien’s Dear White People and Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (African-American), and comedy-of-a-certain-age Grace and Frankie (your parents) — are oriented toward demographics where Netflix is trying to add new viewers.
• Representation. Ladies-wrestling ensemble GLOW is probably not a big hit, but it’s well-liked by critics and in the TV business, and it may be Netflix’s best shot this year for Emmy nominations in the comedy categories. Family dramedy Atypical is probably not a hit either, but it’s a very good and modestly budgeted show that resonates with autism families.

Netflix’s new-show announcements over the last year have included fewer traditional, scripted dramas and comedies and more of just about everything else — more foreign-language originals, more documentary and unscripted series, more original films, more original animation, more teen shows, etc.

Netflix now has significantly more international subscribers (68 million) than U.S. subscribers (57 million), shows, and — as much as it pains my sitcom-watching heart to say so — traditional, scripted comedies just don’t travel as well internationally as other formats. American dramas, superheroes, sci-fi, etc., all generally perform better globally than American comedies.

Also, scripted comedies are generally more expensive to produce and have less breakout potential than non-scripted comedies. Expensive, effects-driven shows like Altered Carbon and Lost in Space can find huge global audiences, but spending marginally more money than usual on a scripted comedy doesn’t work to the same advantage.

… and More of Everything Else

Netflix’s May lineup is a look at the service’s comedy future:

• Stand-up. Netflix more or less owns the market for comedy specials, and the May lineup — John Mulaney (May 1), Hari Kondabolu (May 8), Ali Wong (May 13), Tig Notaro (May 22) and Steve Martin and Martin Short together (May 25) — is perhaps the best the service has ever put together. All signs point to more.
• Late-night talk. The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale ends its first season on May 13, suddenly hot The Break with Michelle Wolf premieres May 27, and Netflix has several other weekly talk formats in development.
• Sit-down talk. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman will have two installments — Tina Fey (May 4) and Howard Stern (May 31) — this month.
• Even more talk. The 12-episode A Little Help with Carol Burnett (a kids-say-the-darndest-things advice show) premiered last week, and Bill Nye Saves the World (a funny guy doing science experiments) returns on May 11.
• Global shows. Korean series Busted!, which also premiered last week, is the first of what will likely be an avalanche of international variety shows, sketch shows and other formats as Netflix looks to make more originals in its growth markets.

The various alternative formats (and whatever comes next) give Netflix room to experiment that scripted comedies just don’t allow. A new scripted series requires an expensive up-front commitment that won’t materialize for a year or longer, but Netflix could get another batch of Carol Burnett episodes on the air six months from now if the series is a hit.

Plus, Off-Network Comedies

Netflix viewers do not live by Netflix originals alone.

Research firm 7Park Data recently found that 80 percent of Netflix’s U.S. viewing is of programming that Netflix licenses from other studios, which includes catalogs of TV shows like Friends and Parks and Recreation and previous seasons of current shows like New Girl, The Good Place and Jane the Virgin. Since scripted comedy is one of the most widely available formats available for licensing, Netflix can load up on other studios’ sitcoms for its subscribers to watch and focus its originals on more distinctive content.

A big chunk of Netflix’s subscriber base also watches programming on traditional satellite and cable plans and on other streaming services. A recently survey by research firm Parks Associations found that 52 percent of U.S. broadband household subscribe to bundled-TV service and one or more streaming services. Netflix’s recent partnerships that put the service on Comcast and Charter set-top boxes make the content choices even more seamless.

I don’t foresee Netflix getting completely out of the scripted-comedy business, but I do see the service making fewer of them and approaching them more like feature films, where most are one-offs and only a few become franchises. If you look at Kimmy Schmidt that way, the series had quite a run.

Scott Porch writes about the TV business for Decider, is a contributing writer for Playboy, and hosts a podcast about new digital content called Consumed with Scott Porch. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.

Stream Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix