Netflix Announces Series Renewals

Netflix continues to be very generous with renewals for its original series, as it handed out new seasons this week to more than one series. Among the renewed series are a newcomer and a comedy that got an order for a third season before its second even airs.

Sci-fi thriller The OA got a second-season renewal only eight weeks after the debut of its first season. The series hit Netflix within days after its announcement, its mysterious launch creating a buzz that quickly subsided after critics had time to write mostly negative reviews of the show.

Also getting a renewal this week is the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Love, which is set to debut its second season next month. The series will be back for a third season, but no release date for that season has yet been announced.

Netflix does not release viewership numbers for any of its programming, so there's no way of knowing if either The OA or Love are among the streaming service's top performers. It seems unlikely that the low-profile Love, in particular, is among the service's most-viewed content.

Still, Netflix has been remarkably willing to give the go-ahead for additional seasons to virtually all of it original programming. The service almost never cancels a series until at least three seasons have aired, and most series carry on even longer than that.

The service has also shown a tendency to renew series before their current seasons debut or very soon after, suggesting that viewership is not the primary consideration for renewal.