‘The Diplomat’ Dethroned In Netflix’s Top 10 List By A New Show

While it latest a week, The Diplomat dipped out of the #1 spot in Netflix’s Top 10 list a little faster than I would have expected. It has now slipped to #2, dethroned by the second half of the second season of Firefly Lane.

This is one of Netflix’s new “split” season debuts like we just saw from You, though I’m not quite sure why the long gap was formulated here. The first half of season 2 of Firefly Lane aired on December 2 and now the other half is all the way at the end of April, five full months later. Production issues? It doesn’t seem like Netflix splitting them by a month like You or Stranger Things to generate more hype.

Regardless, it’s a strong performance from the feel-good drama, and that’s not the only returning show Netflix has competing with The Diplomat right now. Sweet Tooth season 2 has arrived, a show I’m actually impressed got renewed at all, given that it sure seems like the kind of thing that Netflix would normally cancel. Then we have Workin’ Moms season 7(!), one of Netflix’s longest-running comedies.

Better Call Saul has dropped to fifth, and will not in fact make it to #1 as a licensed series, despite peaking at #2 for the last half of its final, amazing season. Beef is #6 with no word on a potential renewal yet. The Night Agent is still #7, a continued incredible performance from the spy drama, a real unexpected hit for Netflix.

Circling back to The Diplomat, we have not gotten word about an early renewal for season 2 yet, something the show essentially demands with its wildly ambitious cliffhanger that has proven to be an enormous risk for Netflix originals which often are killed off before they can resolve their plotlines. The Diplomat season 1 ended with a literal “we don’t know who may or may not be dead out of three main characters” moment, and that would not be answered if it doesn’t get renewed. However, my hunch remains that this show has performance well enough to be picked up for season 2, it’s just not getting a hyper-early announcement about it just yet.

Firefly Lane is one of those surprisingly huge Netflix shows that does not get a lot of press, but for the second half of season 2 to be performing this well, that indicates that we’re likely to see a lot more of this show to come. Especially since a series like this no doubt has a much, much lower budget than most other Netflix productions. We’ll see how long it lasts on top.

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