It’s been just over a year since Gypsy was first released on Netflix, and we’re just a few weeks away from the one-year anniversary of the cancellation of the show.
Gypsy joins a number of high-profile cancellations that Netflix has done over the past few years. Some of the most notable cancellations include Sense8, Everything Sucks and Girl Boss.
The series saw Naomi Watts play the role of Jean, a psychiatrist tired of her home life and getting close to one of her patients’ partners.
Why was Gypsy Canceled?
Gypsy is the fastest show on Netflix to get the axe, with the show only being out for around a month before being pulled. It was released when Netflix was canceling shows left and right. The reasons cited for the cancellation include low review ratings and low viewing figures.
The Campaign for Season 2
As with some other shows, fans have grouped together to campaign heavily for the second season. The campaign for Gypsy has been long and sustained with new tactics going up relatively recently.
Billboard for Season 2 of Gypsy
So, that’s 3 Billboards in LA California… and still radio silence from @netflix – maybe they just don’t value their LGBTQ viewers? What do you say about that @reedhastings #RenewGypsy #GypsyMatters pic.twitter.com/rdYvyHV47F
— Gypsy – Easy Tigers (@BringBackGypsy) June 28, 2018
Naomi Watts even spotted the numerous billboards and Instagrammed them, adding: “Feeling warm and fuzzy about this discovery. What a lovely gesture!!”
We managed to talk to one of the most instrumental people in the campaign to get Gypsy a second season, Christi, who’s also known as “buchibbs” on Twitter.
KM: First up, could you tell us who you are and who the easy tigers are?
CG: My name is Christi, and I’m one of the administrators of the fan group, Easy Tigers. Easy Tigers is an amazing group of GYPSY fans from around the world that have united and are dedicated to fighting for GYPSY’s renewal.
KM: What have your efforts been to get the show renewed and what has the response been.
CG: For the past year we’ve been very active in trying to come up with creative ways to show Netflix how important GYPSY’s stories are and how much they mean to us. We’ve made phone calls, mailed letters, sent emails, and mailed-in creative campaigns with replica items from the show on a consistent basis to the top executives at Netflix.
We’ve live-chatted with and made phone calls to Netflix’s Customer Service Department, and we’ve filled out their Title Request Page. We also did a massive outreach by mail to members of the Netflix Content Team asking why less well-received shows were renewed, but GYPSY wasn’t. We remain active on social media daily.
Most recently, we took the step of putting up three billboards in Hollywood. Two of them located just outside of the Netflix Los Angeles office. You can find our current billboard at 5908 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. We have also duplicated some of these efforts with NBCUniversal and Working Title.
To date, we have not received one single response from Netflix, NBCUniversal, or Working Title. We still don’t even know why GYPSY was cancelled.
KM: Why does the show mean so much to yourself and others?
CG: Lisa Rubin created something incredibly special and important in GYPSY. She created something desperately needed in an intriguing, smart and beautiful way. I’m not alone when referring to GYPSY as a masterpiece. It truly is, and it would be hard for me to summarize a singular meaning as to why GYPSY has touched so many lives. That’s one of the things I find most fascinating about GYPSY and its effect. We all experienced GYPSY in very personal ways, which makes GYPSY’s meaningfulness open to interpretation.
I think the strong themes covered in GYPSY like addiction, gender, sexuality, mother-daughter relationships, authenticity and truth all told by strong female characters enabled many of us to see parts of ourselves represented on television for the very first time. To see a female protagonist, in a role which is typically only written for a man, who is messy, flawed, and stumbling while in search of her truth is something we desperately need more of.
Particularly through, the female gaze and the queer gaze as Lisa Rubin brought with GYPSY. It’s clear that Lisa Rubin gets it and understands what’s lacking in television when it comes to women and LGBTQ representation. It’s just so important to have more stories like these.
Naomi Watts in Gypsy
One meaningful thing I can share about GYPSY that seems to be relatively widespread is that GYPSY taught us how important it is to live and exist in our truths. That happiness will be hard to find if you’re living a life that you think you should live, and not necessarily the life you desire to live. I know that this message has touched people deeply. It encouraged people to finally sit in their truths, to come out to their families and friends, and it even touched some people so deeply they literally decided to not end their lives.
The stories in GYPSY, particularly involving Jean, Sidney, and Dolly, are incredibly powerful. For me personally, GYPSY made me realize that even though I was living my life very openly as a member of the LGBTQ community, I was still conforming in certain areas of my life in ways that were unhealthy for me. I was doing this in order to make other people comfortable with my queerness.
Since watching GYPSY, I’ve stopped conforming and it’s without question changed my life for the better. I feel a freeness that I’ve never felt before. We’re not just fighting for a show. We’re fighting for lifesaving and life-changing content. We’re fighting for women, truth, authenticity, and identity.
KM: If you could sell the show in a single sentence to someone not familiar with the show what would it be?
CG: I think the show already said it best. “Who are you when no one is watching?”, because it’s in those moments that we are fully ourselves at our core.
KM: Anything else you’d like to add?
CG: I would like to make a plea to Netflix to please stop ignoring us, and to ask them what else we can do to prove GYPSY’s worth. I think we’ve been very clear already that with essentially no advertising, no official Twitter account, no official Instagram account, the GYPSY thumbnail missing on their platform in many parts of the U.S. and U.K. for nearly three months, and only six weeks to find viewers, we don’t feel GYPSY was given a fair chance to succeed.
We truly feel that GYPSY could be one of their best Original shows for many seasons to come, but we would be grateful and accept a final season to finish out these important stories and to ease the burden of the plethora of cliffhangers we were left to deal with.
Will Gypsy ever get renewed?
Never say never is the ultimate answer here. Sense8 managed to miraculously get a final episode which appeased most fans. The reality is Netflix is likely now done with the show so it’d be up to another provider or platform to carry on the legacy of the show.
Gypsy season 1 is streaming on Netflix right now.
