Why was The Baby-Sitters Club canceled? Showrunner mentions Squid Game numbers in her explanation

The Baby-Sitters Club, Netflix's comedy-drama based on the bestselling novels by Ann M. Martin, will be getting the axe after two critically acclaimed seasons. Even after a handful of industry awards and a perfect Rotten Tomato score, the cancelation of the dramedy reveals a pattern for Netflix, which often axes popular series after two seasons.

According to The Baby-Sitters Club creator Rachel Shukert, the streaming service is prioritizing shows whose viewers binge and complete new seasons on release. This makes it difficult for not-so-widely-popular shows like this one to succeed in the face of global megahits such as Narcos and Money Heist.

In an interview with Vulture, Shukert blamed the skewed internal metrics of the platform for the show's cancelation and how releasing at the same time as Squid Game altered viewership patterns and showed Netflix the importance of numbers:

She said:

"For this show that has a fine viewership but is not a monster hit, but it’s beloved by fans, does that matter? I don’t know. I think we had the bad luck to come out at about the same time as Squid Game, which showed them how crazy numbers could get. Numbers that were totally respectable and successful last year were suddenly seen in a different way. I don’t have access to a lot of this data, and in general, creators don’t have access to this data at Netflix, so it’s what you put together on your own."

It is not unusual for Netflix to only renew shows that are hugely popular with the global audience, and in this numbers game, many gems are often lost.

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What is The Baby-Sitters Club about?

Based on Ann M. Martin's iconic book series of the same name, The Baby-Sitters Club follows the adventures of a group of young "tween" girls; Kristy Thomas, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, Dawn Schafer, Mary Anne Spier, and Karen Brewer, as they open their own babysitting business in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

The series portrays a very sensitive time in the life of a growing young girl and deals with a number of issues that will be familiar and relatable for a young female audience.

Shukert added:

"[The show] speaks to so many girls because it meets them where they are. It's not about adults telling them who they are. It's not really about boys, although they have crushes, which is a realistic part of life at that age. There's something about stories geared to this age that always felt like hindsight from adults, as opposed to what it actually feels like to be that age. What we could do with The Baby-Sitters Club was make the girls as smart and interesting and mature as girls are without making it all about how other people see them. It's about how they see themselves."

Starring Sophie Grace, Malia Baker, Momona Tamada, Shay Rudolph, Kyndra Sanchez, Vivian Watson, and Anais Lee, the first two seasons of The Baby-Sitters Club can be streamed on Netflix.