Five Netflix shows that dragged longer than they should’ve
There is nothing worse than a Netflix show that doesn’t know when to quit, and by nothing we mean nothing. What’s even worse is all those shows which are dragged unnecessarily usually follow the same pattern.
The first season drops; it’s fresh, it’s exciting, it’s all anyone talks about, and then the episodes keep coming, long after the story has anything left to say. Suddenly, you are not bingeing because you are hooked. You are bingeing because you already committed, like finishing a bad date meal out of politeness.
Netflix, though, is widely known for its quality content, but if the platform has a few flaws, this one is the biggest. The streamer can take a brilliant premise and run it straight into the ground. What begins as appointment TV slowly turns into background noise. Too many episodes, too many filler subplots, and way too much déjà vu.
It’s like watching your favourite singer nail the first album, then release three remixes of the same song until you don’t want to hear it again.
And yes, we loved these shows at their peak. That’s why the dragging hurts. They were sharp and groundbreaking. But instead of leaving us wanting more, they kept circling the same drain until we were just watching out of muscle memory. So we decided to bring you five such shows which are Netflix classics, yet have dragged themselves into oblivion.
Five Netflix shows that dragged longer than they should’ve
Riverdale
This show will always top the unnecessarily dragged-out list, and it will take Netflix a big blunder to repeat the mistake. The debut season of Riverdale had everything: a moody small-town murder, iconic comic book characters reimagined, and just the right amount of teen drama to make it bingeable. For a hot second, Archie Andrews and his friends were actually cool again.
And instead of sticking to what worked, Riverdale hit the self-destruct button. Suddenly, we were dealing with cults and maple syrup mafia. To make it worse, Netflix gave us parallel timelines and full-blown musical numbers. It felt less like television and more like the writers were pulling plotlines out of a hat. By the end, Riverdale wasn’t telling a story… it was daring us to keep watching.
You
When You first landed on Netflix, it was a deliciously unsettling show, and the first season will always be the best of all four. Joe Goldberg was equal parts charming and terrifying, and the whole “what if your bookish dream guy was actually a stalker” premise landed hard. And even though he was a clear psycho murderer, viewers were impressed, and some even rooted for him. Season two even managed to keep the tension alive by flipping Joe’s game on him.
But the longer You ran, the thinner the thrill became. By season four, Joe’s inner monologues sounded like reruns, and his “fresh starts” in new cities felt like someone hitting copy and paste on the script. Many even feel that Netflix saw the show losing viewership; hence, they decided to wrap it up by season four, or we could’ve been looking at the promo of You season six by now.
Emily in Paris
Emily in Paris season one: harmless fluff. You have the right clothes, bakery runs, and awkward missteps in a city that looked gorgeous even when Emily didn’t. It was escapist eye candy, and nobody minded that it was a cliché. In fact, those who don’t enjoy chick flicks ended up watching it and somehow liking it too. And those who have watched the first season can’t deny they had to come for the second.
However, the fluff just kept multiplying. Another love triangle, another client disaster, another round of Emily magically surviving Paris without ever learning a word of French. Unrealistic much? By season three, watching felt less like a guilty pleasure and more like just wanting to get over with this. Emily didn’t just overstay her welcome in Paris; she overran our patience.
Money Heist
The first parts of Money Heist will always be considered some of the greatest shows in the history of Netflix. It became a global phenomenon during the pandemic. It felt like the whole world was singing “Bella Ciao” in chorus. We loved our mastermind professor and his crew of chaotic robbers.
Sadly, Netflix decided to split the heist into so many parts that it stopped being suspenseful and started feeling like detention. Every dramatic pause stretched into three episodes. Every twist dragged so much it lost the hook. Money Heist could have gone down as one of the sharpest thrillers of the decade, but the endless stretching made it feel like a group project that just wouldn’t end.
Orange Is the New Black
Orange Is the New Black was more of a revelation than just being a show when it first came out. It was realistic and heartbreaking and gave us layered characters and storylines that actually mattered. For a while, it felt like Netflix was rewriting what TV could be.
And then it just wouldn’t STOP. Too many new characters, too many subplots, and a pace that slowed so much it practically crawled. By the later seasons, the spark that made it groundbreaking was buried under endless side stories that diluted everything. It deserved a powerful ending; instead, it lingered until even loyal fans were ready to quit.