First season was soooo good! The second season was just...I dunno, it felt like the soul got taken out of it.

Hey, spoiler alert, I'm only 2 shows into the 2nd season! ; ) But yeah, first season did make me laugh a lot more. Now I'm just sad and mildly amused.

I've already noticed that they seem to have kind of run into the same writers block that a lot of shows run into early on. All the elements are there, people being horrible, technology geared toward the ADHD, influencers and personalities being horrible people but I'm just confused as to some of the motivations of some of the characters now.

If you look you can see that the writers, directors and teleplay authors change from episode to episode, which may be what's happening, no long term goals by anyone save maybe Armando. Dunno. I'm going to probably finish the 2nd season. Morbid curiosity and all.

My wife and I both thought both seasons were hilarious. Sad that we won’t get a season three.

Well, I'm only a couple into season two. Maybe it will pick up.

It's annoying that studios don't commit to the shows anymore. They're staring at the ratings in real time and the moment they go under a certain line it's like "cut it". Used to be that smart television people had vision and built a product into what people wanted. They crafted shows like art. Now it's just spam and ratings to see what is making money and what isn't. "Try this, how'd it do? OK, try this now."

Yeah it’s very disappointing. I think Avenue 5 was a juicy target for cost cutting because of the high sci fi budget for the show and relatively low ratings.

I think what studios don't appreciate is that good scifi shows are slow to build ratings but, once built, can develop die hard fans willing to spend all kinds of money on it.

Idk, this show got absolutely no buzz when it aired. I watched both seasons concurrently and hardly anyone was ever talking about it. It's also not great. It's fine. Funny in places. Hard meh from me personally with the exception of a couple episodes.

The soundtrack is amazing, sad for only 2 seasons

Unfortunately I just did not jive with this show. I love Armando's work (especially The Thick of It and The Armando Iannucci Shows) but very few jokes in this one landed for me.

I thought season 2 was even better than the first. Truly great from start to finish.

Such a shame this show never really had a chance due to Covid and one of the sets burning down.

Considering the idea, the budget and the cast, it's a surprisingly dull show.

The Air Lock Scene was probably my favorite scene from the whole show.

I really enjoyed it. The observations were spot on. 'Idiocracy' type comedy just isn't popular during it's original run.

Perhaps if there was more lupus.

I mean, it was. People were living it, but I think I get what you're saying.

That’s a reach. Some of the writers came from Peep Show.

HBO did such a shit job of promoting this show. Right around when the second season started HBO bought tons of ad time during the MLB postseason. Not a single frame was of Avenue 5. That's when I knew they were cancelling it.

I’m curious what leads you to the conclusion that things used to be different. I don’t remember a time when cancellations were rare.

Here’s one analysis that squares with how I remember things. This is from over 10 years ago: TV Success Rate: 65% Of New Shows Will Be Canceled (& Why It Matters)

I was kind of looking at the entire history of Television, not just the last 10 years. Yes, I wasn't alive for all of it, but I do enjoy the idea of crafting a show, like a play, and then working to make it better rather than slathering on 50 different writers hoping for magic every time and waiting to cancel like a relative that stands to inherit millions hovering over the plug of a dying old coot.

Ah, I see, no faith in it from the start. I came in late, so I wasn't aware.

I am so conflicted on the show. It had a ton of really great moments. But it also had so many utterly bizarre plot decisions that kept making me scratch my head.

Like there's the first twist (>!the captain is fake!<), and then there's the second twist (>!the crew is fake!<). And as the captain discovers the second twist he basically freaks out and acts like this is the end of the world. But.. why? It makes no damn sense. >!The first twist worked because the original captain is dead, but the second twist just showed the real crow is working somewhere else.!< Why would anyone in the know be concerned about that?

And there are just so many little nonsensical things happening in that show every single episode. Like them coming across some big space station and - apparently - neither Wikipedia nor Google existing in the future because no one can figure out what that station is for or who is in it. Not to mention that this undermines the entire premise of the show given that people need to be able to be transported to and from that station, and supposedly the ship is too far away for any proper rescue.

It just feels like a bunch of very convoluted but funny situations that are very artificially created to serve the comedy. Which is fine, but also a bit meh.

It started out pretty good and just got dumber and dumber as it went on.

I’m glad it got canceled so I wouldn’t be tempted to watch it.

I think the entirety of the show is based off of the premise that society functions only inasmuch as it has to in order to fool the idiotic masses who lack the kind of discipline that is required for real learning and spend all their time indulging their baser instincts.

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EDIT: Shit, sorry, super unclear. I meant but set in the future.

I agree, absolutely loved the cannibal running for captain bit

Same, it felt like it lacked some of the wit of Iannucci's other work, things just didn't land for me.

Any convoluted setup for Gabe 3.0 casual observations or anecdotes is fine by me.

i watched season 2 as it aired weekly and thought the first 2 episodes weren’t that good compared to season 1, but i remember afterwards it easily became the better season

the hand breaking was a nice touch.

The original Star Trek was very nearly cancelled after its second season. Only a fan write in campaign saved it for one final season.

My understanding is that there was a writer's room, with each individual episode being mainly written by one member- not uncommon for shows. But they all did work together with Iannucci.

This show is great if you imagine it takes place in the idiocracy universe as sort of a prequel

Season 2 was what sold me on this show. It was absolutely brilliant and had that VEEP vibe which Armando does so well!

Yeah I feel the same. The jokes hit hard in the first season. Second season, a lot of it fell flat. It's like the structure for the jokes existed, but the punchlines had no oomph. And it feels rushed. Like they went to the Aaron Sorkin school of wpm script writing.

That sounds like something a cannibal would say...

Definitely my favorite scene from the show.

VFX. That stands for Visual Effects.

Yeah and the initial reviews weren’t good. It started off very flawed and heavy handed though still entertaining. Had they written the first couple episodes like they did the rest of the show it probably would’ve caught on better.