Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s comedy-drama series Glamorous debuted at the end of June but sadly won’t be returning for a season 2. Why wasn’t the show renewed? Let’s dive into the numbers and look at what the talent behind the show has said about its cancelation.
Created by Jordon Nardino, the series was led by Miss Benny and Kim Cattrall, with the story revolving around Marco Mejia, “a young gender non-conforming queer man whose life seems to be stuck in place until he lands a job working for a legendary makeup mogul.”
Critics were mixed on the show. It currently holds 47% on RottenTomatoes, and audiences were better with it having a 6.0 on IMDb.
Has Netflix renewed Glamorous for a Season 2?
Official Renewal Status: Canceled
Our Renewal Prediction: Likely cancelation
In November 2023, following the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Deadline announced that Glamorous was among five shows canceled at Netflix.
As we’ll come onto in a second, its viewing figures were almost certainly why the show wouldn’t be progressing to a second season. This is the case for nearly all cancelations, and we’ve written extensively about how Netflix decides whether to renew or cancel a series.
Of course, one good way the show could get renewed is if it overperforms in other avenues, whether on the awards circuit (they’re not actively promoting it on their FYC site) or hits specific internal targets we do not have visibility on.
Picture: Netflix
Reacting to the cancelation, showrunner and creator of the series, Jordan Nardino, posted on Twitter/X a thread about his reflections on the show and cancelation. We’ve included the thread below:
“Damn! They cancelled Glamorous.
It’s been officially for a few weeks but the writing has been on the wall since our release when viewers showed up but not Netflix level. Perfectly fine numbers elsewhere — even good! But not a mass hit. And Netflix is in the mass hit business.
And if you want to build a mass audience for queer content, you’re in a tough box. Netflix was INCREDIBLY supportive and let me do some VERY gay nonsense but they’re not gonna keep a show going that doesn’t meet their bottom line.
Glamorous from the start was inspired by the fact that being gay is the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s the source of all my happiness and friendships and has never been something I struggled with or had to overcome.
I had never seen a show that reflected how great being queer is and not treating it as grist for the story mill and I wanted to make that show. Rule number one in the room was always: no gay drama, no gay trauma. (Rule #2: all music refs relevant to 30something gays only.)
I wish I could say making the show was fun and the best time of my life but it was fucking hell! Making any show is. But it was worth every minute and I hope most/some/one you agree.
I think I read EVERY single tweet about the show and I don’t even remember what’s worth arguing about BUT everyone compares Glamorous to Ugly Betty or Devil Wears Prada and I think it’s fair to say the similarity was entirely superficial… and not intentional at all.
No one to thank. Everyone knows how I feel about them. And if you don’t, then I will maintain an aloof aura of paternal authority.
So glad I got to do this. So glad I got to tell a cool trans story about growing up and queer happiness. It was and continues to be a gift. Fin”
How well did Glamorous Perform on Netflix?
Using several different sources, we can see how well the show is performing and benchmark it against similar shows in the genre, which should provide insight into whether it will be renewed or canceled.
Let’s begin with Netflix’s own global top 10 hourly data.
Every Tuesday, Netflix releases 40 hourly data points, including, in this case, English-language TV series. So far, Glamorous has featured in the top 10s for both available weeks, pulling in 43.10 million hours watched between June 18th and July 2nd, 2023. The completed viewing equivalent (CVE) is 6.6 million views.
Here’s how that breaks down:
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 18th, 2023 to June 25th, 2023 | 17,000,000 | 8 | 1 |
| June 25th, 2023 to July 2nd, 2023 | 26,100,000 (+54%) | 4 | 2 |
One show that you can compare Glamorous to is 2022’s Partner Track, which has thus far outpaced Glamorous and was eventually canceled. We’ve also included The Diplomat (renewed for a season 2) in the graph below to show what a renewed drama looks like in its first few weeks:
In week one alone, the viewing stats for the show instantly placed it in the danger zone, barely getting more CVE in the first four days than Freeridge and The Imperfects. In our top 10 report for that week, Frederic Durand, our resident numbers expert, called the series a flop.
Looking longer term and comparing against other shows that were renewed and canceled by Netflix – you can see below that Glamorous was undoubtedly in the danger zone, surrounded by titles like Wellmania and Freeridge which were both canceled.
One positive is that the show continues to feature in the daily top 10s in many countries, including (at the time of publishing) still featuring in the Netflix US daily top 10s. This longevity may suggest that people are slowly working their way through the show.
FlixPatrol data suggests the strongest regions for the show include South Africa, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe, and the Nordics.
Picture: FlixPatrol
How about external factors, like how well the show is mentioned on social media sites like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or other sources? Sadly, it’s a similar story.
TelevisionStats.com suggests that it’s been one of the weakest English-language debuts of the year, trailing any show that managed to get a season 2 order, whether that’s XO, Kitty, FUBAR, or The Diplomat.
Televisionstats.com data for Glamorous
Would you have liked to have seen Glamorous return for a second season? Let us know in the comments below.
