Image Credit: Netflix
If you’ve been following What’s on Netflix, you know we’ve covered Manifest’s miraculous journey extensively. From the early grief of being dropped by NBC, to its record-breaking showing in Netflix’s Top 10, and ultimately to its supersized Season 4 renewal, Manifest remains one of the best streaming Cinderella stories.
Recently, series creator Jeff Rake—who is also co-author of the novel and book series Detour—opened fine Why the hit sci-fi drama struggled on traditional network television, and why the transition to streaming was the perfect solution.
According to Rake, news of the show’s ending was pretty much on the network’s radar. Rake admitted, “It was no surprise to me when, after three seasons, Manifest was canceled by NBC.”
He candidly broke down the show’s network television trajectory:
- Season 1: Performed brilliantly in ratings.
- season 2: “It is fine.”
- Season 3: Did “less good than that”.
But what is the reason for the huge decline in viewership? As Rake points out, it wasn’t because the show magically went from being uninteresting on traditional networks to “super interesting on streaming.” Instead, the real culprit was the rigid scheduling of network television and how telling a linear story doesn’t always work over the long term.
Rake explained, “My opinion has always been that the viewership gradually declined over the course of those three seasons because you had to wait week after week to see the show.”
As any dedicated Manifest fan can attest, the show is incredibly complex. It boasts a dense mythology filled with countless moving pieces and complex puzzles. For viewers watching on NBC, keeping all that complex information in their heads from week to week proved to be a difficult task.
Rake believes this caused the show’s viewership to become “slow and stagnant”. By the end of its three seasons on NBC, people had so much lore to remember that essential details disappeared from their minds, ultimately causing them to lose interest.
Netflix Rescue and the Power of Binge
As we covered back in 2021, the same week that NBC pulled the plug, Netflix premiered Season 1 and Season 2 on its platform. While these were technically reruns, they reached millions of subscribers around the world who had never heard of the series during its time on NBC.
“When they started watching it on Netflix, they could watch the show and just keep watching the episodes,” Rake said. “And all that information stuck in people’s minds. And they really went for it. They liked it.”
The results were undeniable. The show became a hit and remained in the charts for weeks and months, and also performed well globally. The rest, as they say, was history with the final bumper season pickup.
Rake believes this explosive second life on Netflix proves an important point about modern television: Some shows are meant to be watched week-to-week, while other shows are meant to be strictly binge-watched. Clearly, manifesto Was always meant to be drunk.
Highly recommend subscribing to Jeff Rake’s Instagram feed if you’re looking to break into the industry or are just one manifesto fan. While most of her recent posts have been about her new book Detour, there are plenty of gems in it for aspiring creatives and fans of the show. The occasional tease about what might be around the cornerBut be careful, most of the comment sections are desperate for any information on the long-rumored spin-off.
