Netflix's cull continues as another comedy is axed after just one season

The cast of Pretty Smart in happier times
(Image credit: Netflix)

Another day, another cancelation from Netflix as the streaming giant axes yet another show. 

This time, Netflix have moved to cancel Pretty Smart, a new comedy which had been led by Emily Osment, who younger readers might know for her role as sidekick to Miley Cyrus on Disney Channel megafranchise Hannah Montana. 

The show premiered in October of 2021 and starred Osment as Chelsea, an aspiring author with a degree from Harvard and rather high standards, who after getting unexpectedly dumped by her boyfriend is forced to move in with her sister Claire and her three roommates. 

Whereas Chelsea is refined and enjoys the finer things in life, Claire and her friends are more carefree and eccentric. Naturally, hilarity ensues. Or at least it did. 

Pretty Smart joins Raising Dion in being canceled by the streaming service just this week. It is unlikely to be the last cull of Netflix's programming as the streamer reels from the announcement that it has lost 200,000 subscribers since the start of 2022. 

That drop has seen $50 billion fall off the company's value and was accompanied by news that Netflix had re-evaluted many of its in-development projects, with the streamer's animation projects hit particularly hard. 

Reports around the show's cancelation point to Osment's new promotion to a season regular on The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon, which has already been renewed for seasons six and seven after five on the air, as one of the reasons why the decision was made. 

However, the show's first, and now only season, had ended on a cliffhanger, so the writers and production team were clearly planning for the future of some kind...

Netflix must be running out of shows to cancel at this point...

Nope. A quick glance at Netflix's current list of original programming and you will see the word 'pending' next to a show more than 200 times. 

Pending is basically Netflix purgatory, shows that await the news of whether they'll be kept on for another run or not. Netflix's big-hitters like Stranger Things, Bridgerton and Emily In Paris are locked in for further run, but some high-profile shows like Pieces Of Her, Russian Doll and In From The Cold are still awaiting their fates. 

Will they enjoy a second run? Or will they join Archive 81, The Baby-Sitters Club and Raising Dion in becoming a part of Netflix's cull? We'll have to wait and see. 

Tom Goodwyn
Freelance Entertainment Writer

Tom Goodwyn was formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor. He's now a freelancer writing about TV shows, documentaries and movies across streaming services, theaters and beyond. Based in East London, he loves nothing more than spending all day in a movie theater, well, he did before he had two small children… 

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