News Live-Action ‘Cowboy Bebop’ tv series in the works

[Mr. Adventure]

I guess I subscribe to it being "better to have loved and lost" philosophy when it comes to canceled shows. I'm glad to have experienced most of the stuff I've watched even if it ended prematurely. Though it can be admittedly annoying if it ends really dangling in the middle of a storyline or with a cliffhanger.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

@Ryan Thomas Riddle shared this with me, and I think it gets to the heart of a lot of what was wrong with the show. (link)

Yes, that reviewer nailed the problems much better than I could. I do think many of them would be fixable in a second season, however. I'm struggling to think why I continue to subscribe to Netflix.

 

[DigificWriter]

I guess I subscribe to it being "better to have loved and lost" philosophy when it comes to canceled shows. I'm glad to have experienced most of the stuff I've watched even if it ended prematurely. Though it can be admittedly annoying if it ends really dangling in the middle of a storyline or with a cliffhanger.

I used to be more open to getting invested in incomplete stories than I am now, and that shift is largely due to how rare it's becoming that series or films are actually allowed to tell complete stories.

 

[Thestral]

If for no other reason (and it's not the only) I stick to Netflix because it has a legitimate amount of international content, Korean stuff especially but also German and Italian. Bringing more international stuff to American audiences can only be a good thing. (And frankly the Korean stuff I've checked out is better than 90% of American content anyway.)

 

[Saul]

Outside of animation, Netflix doesn't seem to know how to actually operate as a functioning production studio. Cancelling stuff left, right, and center isn't a good business model, and puts people off from checking out your content.

I don't understand also why they have to announce it's cancellation less than a month after it was released. Either it was way too expensive from the get go that cancellation was a high possibility or whatever algorithm they use suggested that it was impossible to continue a show this expensive under current viewership.

 

[DigificWriter]

I subscribe to Netflix for their third-party content because the likelihood of their original stuff actually being given a chance to succeed is very low.

 

[Maurice]

I don't understand also why they have to announce it's cancellation less than a month after it was released.

Did Netflix announce it or did their internal decision get scooped by the Hollywood Reporter?

The thing is you can’t keep a production hanging if they need to hit the ground running to begin work on a subsequent season.

 

[Phily B]

Outside of animation, Netflix doesn't seem to know how to actually operate as a functioning production studio. Cancelling stuff left, right, and center isn't a good business model, and puts people off from checking out your content.

Case in point: I never bothered finishing GLOW because Netflix reneged on its commitment to a fourth season, and now I'll never even start the live-action Bebop because Netflix didn't give the show a chance to get to the stuff that would've drawn me in.

Yea, I liked GLOW and I stopped watching for this reason. It isn't good, I've finally cancelled.

 

[FreezeC77]

I subscribe to Netflix for their third-party content because the likelihood of their original stuff actually being given a chance to succeed is very low.

I think the addition of Korean original Netflix series is changing this for me a bit. Originally Netflix did (and still does) have Korean content (and obviously other countries) that have been first broadcast in the original country and then Netflix picks up worldwide distribution. Sometimes concurrently with when it comes out. Some current Korean shows are on Netflix and appear the same day or next day after they air in Korea.

But the original content started with Kingdom and has grown. Sweet Home, Squid Game, Hellbound... Some others I'm probably missing. There's a few scheduled to come out in the next month or so like the space/moon based Silent Sea, We Are All Dead(zombie outbreak with a high school), and Glitch about UFO's I think.

Certainly kind of 'off/high-concept' type stuff. I think the thing that probably helps is that the budgets for these are higher than typical Korean broadcast TV shows, and due to lack of 'union strength' and things in Korea spending say $3m on an episode of an drama there is probably like getting 'double' or more than if you spent that on a drama in the US/Canada.

 

[Thestral]

Although it does stink if the workers aren't getting paid as much due to a lack of a union...

 

[Maurice]

I think the live action had exactly the same sort of subtext as the original, but the world has changed, and so they had to do it differently (case in point, eco-terrorists are *still* a group that got taken over by extremists, but in a world with extinction rebellion, and given they hadn’t finished that plot line, it lands differently… almost all the other points raised in that tweet are still in the show, just maybe not in the places they are looking for them) and were doing a different thing. Julia is a very different character, because her archetype and story would be pilloried in a modern western production. So they used changing that, to tell a different story.

Basically, it’s a shame. Because the show was clever in different ways to it’s source, but people couldn’t see that.

Nah. I don’t agree with that. The Netflix series made some superficial swipes at themes that are thoroughly woven through the fabric of the original, but that’s the equivalent of quoting literature instead of having anything if your own to say. Example: having some nimrod rant about “Corporations” in the opener and then forgetting to do anything with it (in the movie that character was fired and is getting revenge by robbing, in the series he’s just a ranting loudmouth with no clear motivation).

The Netflix show avoided thematic complexity by leaning hard into easy storytelling, overemphasizing the syndicate and its crime melodrama, making the police okay except for the bad egg of Jet’s partner, and substituted Jet getting framed for him taking a moral stance and walking away from the force because it is corrupt. Oh, and giving Jet a broken family for easy heartstring pulling just so the big bad can threaten the child. Faye’s the victim of one specific comedic grifter instead of an organized group that prays on these people. Etc. etc.

YMMV.

 

[DigificWriter]

I think the addition of Korean original Netflix series is changing this for me a bit. Originally Netflix did (and still does) have Korean content (and obviously other countries) that have been first broadcast in the original country and then Netflix picks up worldwide distribution. Sometimes concurrently with when it comes out. Some current Korean shows are on Netflix and appear the same day or next day after they air in Korea.

But the original content started with Kingdom and has grown. Sweet Home, Squid Game, Hellbound... Some others I'm probably missing. There's a few scheduled to come out in the next month or so like the space/moon based Silent Sea, We Are All Dead(zombie outbreak with a high school), and Glitch about UFO's I think.

Certainly kind of 'off/high-concept' type stuff. I think the thing that probably helps is that the budgets for these are higher than typical Korean broadcast TV shows, and due to lack of 'union strength' and things in Korea spending say $3m on an episode of an drama there is probably like getting 'double' or more than if you spent that on a drama in the US/Canada.

Netflix is far too 'cancel-happy' when it comes to its original live-action programming for me to want to give any of it a watch.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't understand also why they have to announce it's cancellation less than a month after it was released. Either it was way too expensive from the get go that cancellation was a high possibility or whatever algorithm they use suggested that it was impossible to continue a show this expensive under current viewership.

I can't find the link/video I saw but it seemed to be the latter, ROI just not there for the audience given the price of production.

It does seem odd to announce it so quickly but I wonder if they thought it a way to move on quickly from a project that has luke warm to outright hostile reception. I know they have an adaptation of One Piece coming and they probably would like people to open and ready for it.

Going back to the idea of Netflix retiring shows too soon I do think one area that affects is that a lot of shows seem to find their footing after the initial season. I think of it as being that sometimes shows need a season to find what it really is which isn't always what they thought when the series started. Look at something like Legends of Tomorrow and its shift to zany and fun, or Gotham kicking in once it embraced comic book craziness despite its veneer of groundedness and so on. You really have to hit the ground running at Netflix and there's is only so much room for course correction.

 

[CorporalClegg]

To be fair to Netflix, when you have shows about chess breaking viewership records, you can afford to be a little quick with the hatchet.


'

 

[Maurice]

It’s very difficult to carry a very expensive show for another season if the first is badly received and the audience falls off. Most of those people are not going to come back, so how do you get the numbers up for another costly season?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

This series brought nothing new of value to the table and was in quite a few ways inferior to the original, which reminds me of the Ghost in the Shell movie. Neither live-action adaptation is terrible and I found both watchable but I don't want to revisit them and I wouldn't miss them if they ceased to exist.

 

[publiusr]

Maybe another outfit will pick it up?

 

[jaime]

Nah. I don’t agree with that. The Netflix series made some superficial swipes at themes that are thoroughly woven through the fabric of the original, but that’s the equivalent of quoting literature instead of having anything if your own to say. Example: having some nimrod rant about “Corporations” in the opener and then forgetting to do anything with it (in the movie that character was fired and is getting revenge by robbing, in the series he’s just a ranting loudmouth with no clear motivation).

The Netflix show avoided thematic complexity by leaning hard into easy storytelling, overemphasizing the syndicate and its crime melodrama, making the police okay except for the bad egg of Jet’s partner, and substituted Jet getting framed for him taking a moral stance and walking away from the force because it is corrupt. Oh, and giving Jet a broken family for easy heartstring pulling just so the big bad can threaten the child. Faye’s the victim of one specific comedic grifter instead of an organized group that prays on these people. Etc. etc.

YMMV.

I think some of these storylines had only just started, and were intended to run for longer. Particular Jet and Faye’s backgrounds. The anime finished its arcs, whereas the live action had got half way at best. Spike’s arc is so radically changed, that it only looks finished when sat next to the anime, when really it is such a different thing that it isn’t. I suspect with its second season we would have seen more of the flips that turned them into deeper things.

 

[Booji]

Finished up last night. What a disappointment.

I really liked the main cast of John Cho, Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda. The majority of the supporting cast was good as well. The vibe and look of the show was spot on too.

However, the writing and direction were terrible. The entire Vicious/Julia arc, from the story to the actors, stunk. The extended Vicious arc just fell flat in every possible way and was cringe worthy at times.

I figured we wouldn't get Ed till the very end, and I'm glad that's all we got. I realized Ed would be difficult to bring to the screen, but what we got for that minute didn't work. Ed just seemed like a kid with a sugar high instead of being eccentric. I still had a smile on my face because I'm glad we got a glimpse, but...

I'm just very bummed. This show could, and should, have worked. It had it's moments, but I completely understand the cancellation. I hope they try again down the road and get it right.

 

[Saul]

I know they have an adaptation of One Piece coming and they probably would like people to open and ready for it.

And they have Gundam on the way too I believe. I hope they can make at least one successful live action anime show or movie.