Girls5eva’s Ratings No-Show Has Us Worried About Its Future — Again
What happens when you plan an extravagant worldwide tour… and nobody shows up?
That, unfortunately, seems to be the case for Girls5eva, the sharp and sassy music-industry comedy that moved from Peacock to Netflix for its third season this month. The show — staring Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps and Paula Pell as the members of a forgotten Y2K-era girl group attempting a middle-age comeback — was never properly appreciated during its two Peacock seasons, and it felt like a lifeline when it got picked up by Netflix for Season 3, since the streaming giant routinely turns its acquired shows into monster hits.
But since Girls5eva debuted on Netflix earlier this month, it has failed to make the streamer’s list of the week’s top 10 TV shows for either of the two weeks it’s been available. (The most recent chart covers Mar. 18-24.) Keep in mind: This is a high-profile acquisition that generated plenty of buzz with its move to Netflix and received lots of promotion this month. Netflix even treated it as a new series, assuming — probably correctly — that many viewers weren’t aware of its Peacock run. And yet it’s falling short of the likes of animated kids’ series Hot Wheels Let’s Race and USA’s two-decade-old procedural Monk. (TVLine has reached out to Netflix for more information on Girls5eva’s ratings data so far.)
And that’s a real shame, because Girls5eva has stealthily been one of the funniest and most quotable TV comedies in recent years, carrying on the legacy of 30 Rock with its pop culture-savvy zingers. (Tina Fey is an executive producer, by the way.) What’s more, Season 3 — the first to stream exclusively on Netflix — might actually be the best season yet, with the girls finding fresh laughs and surprising emotional depth on their cross-country comeback tour. The performances are fantastic (Emmy voters, learn how to spell Renée Elise Goldsberry’s name, please), the original songs are legitimately catchy, and the guest stars are plentiful. But somehow, it still hasn’t managed to crack the zeitgeist — or the Netflix algorithm.
We worried about Girls5eva’s future during its Peacock run, and then we were elated when Netflix swooped in to save it… and now we’re worried again. So consider this a public plea: If you loved 30 Rock, or lived through the TRL era, do us a favor and give Girls5eva a shot. Because we’re legitimately concerned that if you don’t — and soon — Girls5eva’s tour is going to be cut short.
Do you want to see Girls5eva get a fourth season? Sing it out loud in the comments.
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I throughly enjoy this show. I love the ear worms and the quartet’s lovely voices and laugh at the nonsensical lyrics. I did know that Ms. Goldsberry was that funny!
Ugh so annoying. Come on people! We binged it the day it debuted!! I love this show.
Name two shows, not including “YOU,” that Netflix saved and turned into “massive hits.” Most shows they save end after one or two additional seasons. I wouldn’t call those “hits.”
Corba Kai from YouTube Premium and Black Mirror from Channel 4 in the UK
Cobra Kai
Black Mirror
Lucifer
There! I named three.
Lucifer and Cobra Kai have done really well on Netflix.
Manifest, Cobra Kai, Lucifer, Longmire
But YOU was an awesome show from the start. If it hadn’t aired on Lifetime, Penn would have gotten at least one “serious” nomination.
Girls5Eva is not that good of a show, I love (most of) the cast and the premise but it hasn’t lived up to its potential. Season 3 has been the best so far but that’s because seasons one and two were not that great to begin with. I don’t get why they focus so much on Bareilles’ character because she’s the least funny in the whole group. Her acting is very “Monica from Friends” (not in a good way) and Sara is completely misplaced between the comedy gold that is the rest of the cast! It feels like they write the jokes around her and it makes the show less funny.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I love all the actors/characters in Girls5eva and found it quite funny/entertaining from the beginning. Of course it takes a little time for casts to “gel” but it’s quite evident that the actors genuinely enjoy each other. Ms Bareilles’ acting and comedy chops have been acknowledged by a Tony nod for Into The Woods. She was fantastic—Tina Fey reached out to her initially before the other actors to make sure she had Sara as the anchor. Dawn isn’t meant to be the funniest character, she’s the responsible one. Perhaps she’s not your cup of tea but respect please. And I don’t know what you mean about Courtney Cox. She’s not Meryl Streep but I thought she was great on Friends. 🤷🏼♀️
Manifest.
You’re right. “You” and perhaps “Cobra Kai” were the only ones they’ve turned into hits. The other shows that people are mentioning were already established shows with large followings on other networks. For instance, Manifest had millions of viewers but NBC cancelled it because the ratings and the cost was too low by its standards. All Netflix did was revive it for one final season to end the series. This is the same for the other shows that are being named. All of them already had a large viewing audience by Netflix standards, just not by network standards. So, anytime you have a show that aired on network television and it already had millions of viewers and gets picked up by Netflix, you can’t say that Netflix made it a hit. It’s probably getting the same number of viewers as it did on network television, but media just tends to hype streaming shows.
Nobody, so far, has been able to actually answer the OP’s challenge despite the few replies.
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“Cobra Kai” was a hit on YT Premium. Netflix acquired it because of that. The show wasn’t canceled so much as ALL YT Premium shows were shut down as they decided to stop making original content.
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The history behind “Black Mirror” is complicated. Most British shows rarely go beyond a of couple seasons. It’s very common for ones that do to start seeking a co-producer to share burden of the cost. Channel 4 wanted to commission a season 3. For reasons you can research yourself they and the creators of the show had a back and forth that resulted in Netflix taking over.
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“Longmire” was the highest-rated original drama series on A&E. So when it was canceled it was a total surprise. Until the network shared that the viewers skewed older and they were looking for younger. Netflix, like with Cobra Kai, saw an opportunity to take on a show that was already a hit and did so.
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“Manifest” grew slightly in viewers but lasted one final season.
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“YOU” doesn’t count if you actually read the OP’s challenge. That leaves us with just “Lucifer”. It grew in audience numbers when Netflix saved it and it lasted more than two additional seasons. Still need one more legitimate saved show that meets the above requirements.
Thank you for understanding my point and expressing the point – most of the saved shows already had huge audiences before Netflix picked them up.
None of the ones mentioned count.
I love this show, but I dropped Netflix after the last price hike and I don’t quite want to see this badly enough to go back.
This show is completely under appreciated!
Smart, funny dialog. Legit laughs from a talented cast. Sara Bareilles saying “I’m not gonna write them a love song just because they asked for it” was so meta it almost hurt. Absolute perfection.
I just finished watching. I really enjoyed it. I hope they make a 4th season. All the women are great.
I didn’t even know peacock had done a 2nd season so imagine my thrill to find I get to watch 2 new seasons on Netflix (!!!). Girls5eva is so incredibly funny and fun. I have long-time forever love for Busy Phillips and Renée Elise Goldsberry shines in every scene she’s in. Gold.
I’m scared for it too, which really sucks. I’ve already rewatched the entire series twice in the last two weeks, which was easy to do because there are so few episodes. Keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll get their Kate Bush moment.
I’m enjoying it very much and my friends agree. I’m a big 30 Rock and Kimmy Schmidt fan. All are so clever.
doesn’t netflix rank shows by minutes watched? With only 6 episodes of 30 minutes of course it has no shot
Came here to say exactly the same. Thanks “mad dog” yeah, I see what you did ;-)
For a while now, they rank by views (total watch time divided by running time).
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“Girls5Eva” is literally the funniest show on television. I really wish people would watch it. It’s brilliant and timely while simultaneously being hilarious and ridiculous. The performances are perfection and the songs are beyond witty and clever… I’ll be voting for all the awards I can. I sure hope everyone else gets on board.
I’ve watched since the beginning, and I think it tries too hard to be funny. 30 Rock flowed better. There is no grounding character in the show, but it was a seamless transition from Peacock to Netflix.
I love this show so much! I want a 4th season to wrap up the story. Please renew it, Netflix! It’s hilarious, the music is great. I love the idea of 4 40-something women showing the world not to take them for granted.
Cease and desist b**tches.
I’m still on season two. Luis I’ve barely seen and promos for the new season.
But this is what Netflix DOES. What people saw as “Netflix throwing a lifeline” was more appropriately “Netflix needed content at that time”. The fact that it even got picked up by Netflix was a miracle because no one was watching it on Peacock. See how many folks on here are saying they didn’t even know Peacock had streamed a second season? It was always under the radar. A third season was a blessing, and really shouldn’t have been written with a fourth in mind. People always want a show to be able to have an opportunity to wrap up “properly”, but shows don’t take the hint when it’s offered. In the 80s, a network would cancel a show 2 seasons in, and it would go on to have 3 more seasons in first-run syndication. Why? So that those episodes combined would get them to the magic number of 100, which would make them perfect for 5-days-a-week strip syndication. But that model doesn’t exist anymore. Other than “pleasing a small fan base”, there is no financial incentive to keep investing in a show with no second life/cash stream elsewhere.
This makes me so sad — the third season was hilarious! And I now think of Paula Pell as a national treasure. She makes everything so much funnier, which is saying something with such a great cast. I hope more people discover this show, because I for one don’t want it to end so soon.
Great cast, but I couldn’t get past the first episode; it was decidedly unfunny (least to me).
I watched season 3, then went back and started all over from season 1 again. This show is amazing. Unfortunate that the ratings aren’t reflective of that.
It’s like some other shows – it looks a bit silly on first impression, and well, it is silly, but also very clever. But you have to sit down and watch it. No looking at screens in your hand, etc. Same thing I think as with “Great News,” a very good show that looked not all that exciting at first. And with these 6 or 8 episode ‘seasons,’ people don’t give it a chance.
Agree on everything. I miss Great News.
Omg this show is my youth…TRL, girl groups, late 90s…please watchh
Watching pilot now. Will let you know.
I binged it on Peacock. Fantastic show! Don’t miss it!
I was looking forward to the new season. However, I was very disappointed with the show. It wasn’t at the level of the first two seasons.
It’s kind of a record: the show didn’t show up in neither countries’ top 10. It’s a colossal flop, no one cared.