Amazon’s abrupt cancellation of the critically acclaimed series “Good Girls Revolt” has struck a nerve with feminists and fans in the wake of recent real-world events.
On the surface, the series tells the story of women who demand the same opportunities as their male colleagues at the fictitious magazine News of the Week — a story inspired by real events that transpired at Newsweek in 1970. On a deeper level, it tells a dozen smaller stories of women confronting daily injustices in their own way.
Season one of Good Girls Revolt was available to stream exclusively through Amazon Video. The show was well received among critics, who applauded Amazon for highlighting these issues at a time when many women feel marginalized by political dialogue. It also performed well with viewers, according to a third-party report from Symphony Data obtained by GeekWire.
In the three weeks after it premiered, “Good Girls Revolt” earned 620,000 viewers and ranked No. 8 in top streaming series during that time period, just after Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Sony, the studio that produced “Good Girls Revolt,” commissioned the report from Symphony. Amazon, like most streaming services, does not make ratings public.
The show’s cancellation, despite its strong performance, feels like a familiar story for many women particularly in the wake of the presidential election. To protest the decision, fans have created the hashtag #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt.
#GoodGirlsRevolt got some of the best ratings of any @amazon show & was dropped anyway Sounds like a perfect metaphor for being a woman
— Nicole Chiodo Soares (@libraryyoda) December 2, 2016
News that the show would be axed came as a big surprise to Darlene Hunt, showrunner, executive producer, and writer for “Good Girls Revolt.”
“Honestly we were quite flabbergasted,” she said. “We just did not really see it coming … We really just thought, ‘Wow, with those numbers they should be rolling out the red carpet for us.’ So we were surprised.”
Despite the shock, Hunt is careful to note that she doesn’t have any bad blood with Amazon. Cancellations, she said, are just part of the business. On Twitter, fans are not so forgiving.
.@amazon just curious, how many women were on the team that decided not to renew #goodgirlsrevolt #WrongCall #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt
— Marianne Cooper (@coopermarianne) December 5, 2016
Hunt says she and her colleagues received the bad news from Sony the day after they pitched season two of the series for Amazon execs Roy Price and Joe Lewis. Lewis took over as Amazon Studios’ Head of Drama Development after Morgan Wandell left the position to become Amazon’s new Head of International Productions. Wandell, Hunt said, was “Good Girls Revolt’s” biggest advocate at Amazon.
GeekWire reached out to Amazon and will update this post if we hear back.
Yo @AmazonVideo. You can't be SERIOUS that you're canceling Good Girls Revolt!? This show is a hope light in a very dark time for women #GGR
— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) December 2, 2016
The Hollywood Reporter speculates that the show was canceled because Price “was not a fan of the series,” citing anonymous sources. Hunt couldn’t confirm whether Price’s opinion influenced the decision but said members of the Sony team “weren’t totally feeling the love” from Amazon during discussions about season two.
“I’m stunned by the canceling,” said Reggie Watkins, an actor who played a Black Panther activist on the show. “It had such a great following and was growing every day.”
Let's get this trending y'all! Retweet or tweet ur own, but show ya love! #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt #goodgirlsrevolt
— Reggie Watkins (@ReggieWatkinsJr) December 4, 2016
Sony is looking for a new home for “Good Girls Revolt.” Several Twitter users have suggested that Netflix, Amazon Video’s chief rival, should pick the show up. Sony has been actively involved in promoting the hashtag #SaveGoodGirlsRevolt on Twitter, according to Hunt.
“They are so passionate about the show,” she said. “They really, money aside, they do believe in the story we’re telling. They just love it and they’re excited about it and they’ve listened to the fans who have written such beautiful, eloquent things about how much the show meant to them.”
