• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 13, 2017

TV viewers have long been left in the lurch when it comes to their favorite shows leaving the airwaves. Most times, there is little explanation as to why things just stopped -- especially series that are short-lived.

TV networks will say -- for example -- that a series’ “final” season or “final episodes” are coming. The interior message of why stuff is ending might be obvious -- the characters or the story lines gravitating toward major changes/endings.

But the “real” business story behind the show never seems to get fully revealed -- even considering well publicized facts of low TV ratings.

Now, Netflix may be looking to change some of this -- in part. After 23 episodes -- two seasons worth -- Netflix’ sc-fi/mystery drama, “Sense8” is ending the series, after strong, positive reviews from critics.

After much social-media angst from viewers, the subscription video on demand services recently posted a social-media note to longtime fans on June 8: “The reason we have taken a long time in getting back to you is because we have thought long and hard here at Netflix to try to make it work. But unfortunately we can’t.”

Netflix didn’t elaborate in the note.

Were there creative differences? Did the casting not work out? Did the writing suck? Maybe the financial costs of the production outweighed whatever good there was with the show?

Turns out, it was the latter. But that message was sent pretty much to journalists. Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, told a group of reporters recently the issue came down to high production costs versus a small pool of viewers actually watching.

“A big, expensive show for a tiny audience is hard, even in our model to make that work very long.”

But how small? With traditional TV programming outlets -- broadcast or cable networks, syndicators, or local TV station -- TV ratings are regular news content consumed by viewers in the consumer press.

So there’s good and the bad for Netflix in this regard. For sometime Netflix has eschewed the idea of revealing viewership/usage for its original TV and movie content -- despite pleading from TV business writers.

But the good -- perhaps we should call it a consolation prize -- comes with Netflix's decision to offer some insight into why the mystery drama won’t be around: cost.

As all TV and video media get more complex, we can only add that TV viewers -- and business journalists -- need better, more specific reasoning about why TV platforms are making the decisions they do. That might eliminate poor guesswork.