Another highly rated Netflix show cancelled after a single season

In sad but not entirely surprising news, Netflix has cancelled Dead Boy Detectives after a single season.

The show was released back in April, and was a spin-off from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman universe.

Dead Boy Detectives did fairly well among the critics, earning a 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating and a 90% audience score, as well as a respectable 65% average over at Metacritic.

Netflix’s official Tudum viewer figures offer a clear picture as to why Netflix decided not to renew the show, though.

Its first-week figures were 22.2 million hours viewed, followed by 28 million hours in its second week. Dead Boy Detectives was held off the top spot by viral hit Baby Reindeer, and dropped out of the top 10 TV chart after just three weeks.

What does a hit look like if 20-million-odd hours isn’t enough to secure a second season? It varies, but Supacell peaked at 61.2 million hours on its second week on streaming, despite not having an existing brand to lean on.

Is Dead Boy Detectives still worth watching? Absolutely. It's the story of Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne, who decide to remain rather than heading off to the afterlife when they die. They gain supernatural powers, which they use to help them get to the bottom of mysterious crimes.

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