After five seasons and 50 episodes, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) andYouhave ended their run onNetflix, putting to bed one of the most addictive series to hit the platform. Across five seasons, viewers watched with twist-and-turn anticipation as Badgley made someone as dangerously obsessive and out of his mind as Joe, somehow enticing and always intriguing.
It’s animpressive character studythat gripped viewers once they discovered it, but as the show comes to an end, it’s interesting to reflect on the matter that,hadYouremained at its original home on Lifetime and not been shipped to Netflix, it may not have entered the pop culture zeitgeist and could’ve easily been forgotten.
‘You’ Made Very Little Impact on Lifetime
WhenYoupremiered on Lifetime, reviews for the show were solid, registering an impressive 93% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 63 reviews for its first season. However, the ratings for its premiere episode pulled in a mere 820,000 viewers, which only declined across its 10 episodes. Its lowest-rated episode was Episode 9 (“Candace”), which was watched by 470,000 viewers, while its season finale, “Bluebeard’s Castle,” garnered 530,000 viewers. This put Lifetime in an interesting position: creatively believing in the show, they renewed it for a second season before its series premiere, a decision that didn’t account for its declining viewership.
With the sequel novelHidden Bodiesbeing used as the basis for Season 2, the creatives were ready to move ahead, but by December 2018, Lifetime reversed their renewal ofYou. However, at the same time,the news was revealed that the series would be heading to Netflix for its second season. Lifetime didn’t divulge an official reason, although its lower-than-expected ratings were believed to have influenced their decision to let the show go and allow another platform to pick it up. Netflix snatched upYouas a Global Original, eager to capitalize on the mistake they made by turning down the show (twice) in the first place.
Joe’s First Victim Finally Gets Justice in ‘You’ Season 5
‘You’ wrapped up its run with the fifth and final season, finally bringing justice to everyone Joe Goldberg harmed.
During its time on Lifetime,Yougenerated very little buzz. However, sometimes you’d be lucky enough to talk to someone else who was actually watching a series that feltmuch darker and edgierthan anything that network had aired before. This wasn’t the typical TV movie-of-the-week programming Lifetime was known for.Youwas something special and clever, it just needed a platform that had more reach. The first wise decision Netflix made was to put the show’s first season on the streamer ahead of its second season premiere. That move turnedYoufrom a show virtually no one was watching to one everyone was talking about.
Because of the binge model that viewers have become accustomed to,Youproved to be an addictive choice for people wanting to watch something new and exciting. It was clear that, even though Lifetime believed in it, they didn’t know how to effectively market the show and couldn’t entice their audience to stick with it. Lifetime simply wasn’t known for airing shows like this, and if anything, they should at least get credit for being brave enough to give it a home in the first place.
You Became a Global Hit When It Moved to Netflix
By the time its first season streamed worldwide on Netflix, the platform reported that 40 million people had watched it during its first month of availability. This instantly madeYoua talked-about series, and the immediate chatter of social media discussions aboutthe show’s themes and characters, particularly Joe.The online discussions only made the show more popular as viewers debated romanticizing a serial killer.
Blink and You Might’ve Missed That Hilarious ‘You’ Season 5 Cameo
A long-time celebrity fan of the Netflix series managed to get a small but delightful cameo in the final season.
These conversations also highlighted why Netflix was the ideal home for the series from the start.Their global reach, one that Lifetime couldn’t match, allowedYouto expand its audience in a significant way while also allowing the show to creatively go to places that Lifetime simply couldn’t allow it to do. Even thoughLifetime is on basic cableand some of the material was edgy, its move to Netflix allowed it to push the boundaries of the censors, thus making it a much more provocative show. Needless to say, there’s no way that Lifetime could’ve allowedYouto be everything it needed to be to become a true success. Netflix was its saving grace, andYouhad little chance of achieving its reach with viewers had it not been acquired by the streamer.
The bingeable “must-see TV” nature ofYouwas something the series could maintain during its entire run on Netflix, while alsoevolving in interesting waysbeyond its original concept. The viewership numbers on the platform only increased, and each season enticed viewers as they watched how Joe maneuvered his twisty tales of infatuation. As the show ends, it’s a testament to how finding the right home for a series is critical and that, even when it seems like it’s over, sometimes a show can get a second chance to leave its mark in the entertainment landscape.Youis streaming onNetflix.
