'Fuller House' will get season 2 – how renewal and cancellation process is changing

The Netflix comedy “Fuller House” has been renewed for a second season. 

“Fuller” debuted on Feb. 26 and is a continuation of the ABC sitcom “Full House.” It stars actresses Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber. 

The program has drawn negative reviews from critics, but Netflix has ordered a second season of the show. The show's viewership figures remain unknown, as Netflix doesn't release those numbers.

If you look at Netflix’s track record, the renewal for “Fuller” most likely isn’t a surprise.

Of the original shows the streaming service has debuted, the vast majority – especially those with high-profile launches, such as “Daredevil,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” and “Fuller House” – have been renewed. The program “Hemlock Grove,” which debuted in 2013, is one exception.

Early programs for the service like “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black,” and “BoJack Horseman” also continue.

Why won’t the streaming service cancel certain programs? 

The show “Marco Polo” didn’t do as well with critics as some of Netflix’s previous offerings, but it will return for a second season. We don’t know viewership numbers, but even if they weren’t good, “ 'Marco Polo’ represents a major international push for the streaming platform,” Hollywood Reporter writer Lesley Goldberg writes. Netflix might not want to let go of that. 

In addition, Netflix may want to produce multiple seasons of their original shows to see if their audiences will grow.

“Netflix’s content is available on demand anytime, so that every show can find and nurture its own audience,” Forbes writer George Salapa wrote. 

Meanwhile, the process of show cancellation and renewal is changing on broadcast TV.

In recent years, networks have sometimes held off on officially canceling a show, instead opting to stop production. This reached almost unprecedented levels this past fall, when no shows were canceled until November. 

“A broadcast network has finally canceled a new show this season,” Entertainment Weekly reporter James Hibberd wrote when ABC canceled the TV show “Wicked City.” “Plenty of other shows are circling the drain – ‘Minority Report,’ for instance, saw its order trimmed and is not on the network’s winter or spring schedule, yet Fox refuses to say the show won’t make a return appearance. ABC’s ‘Blood & Oil’ and NBC’s ‘The Player’ have also been trimmed and are presumably short for this world.” 

Why would a network do this? 

Los Angeles Times writer Scott Collins pointed to one reason when discussing this past fall season. “Thanks to digital recording and streaming, millions of viewers no longer watch shows when they are first telecast – making network executives reluctant to kill a program that may be quietly building an audience that's not being counted by traditional ratings,” Collins wrote. 

Hibberd discussed another reason. “You only want to remove a show from the schedule if you’re confident you have another program to replace it that will perform better,” he wrote.