Netflix cancels another much-loved show as comedy series Unstable is axed after two seasons – and now I'm second-guessing my subscription

Another series has fallen victim to Netflix's scrap pile as the workplace comedy Unstable, starring Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe, has been canceled after two seasons.

According to Deadline, Unstable was axed as season 2 after it failed to break into Netflix's Top 10 list after it debuted on August 1. Unstable was reportedly pitched to Fox where Lowe hosts the game show The Floor and stars in departing drama 9-1-1: Lone Star, but will not be picked up by the network for another season.

It's been a brutal week of cancelations from the best streaming service, with sitcom That '90s Show and dark comedy Greek mythology-inspired series Kaos being the most recent shows to be axed. Netflix has scrapped over 15 shows this year and I was particularly hurt to hear that the streamer had quietly canceled the most realistic zombie show I’ve ever seen Black Summer, which has since left my Netflix subscription on rocky grounds in my home.

With its 68% Rotten Tomatoes score, Unstable is not one of the best Netflix shows, but it sure does deserve a place on seven shows canceled by Netflix in 2024 so far that you should still watch.

What is Unstable about?

Unstable stars Rob Lowe as Ellis Dragon, the eccentric CEO and founder of a successful biotech company who is struggling after the death of his wife. Ellis' estranged, introverted son Jackson (played by Rob Lowe's real-life son John Owen Lowe) starts working at the company to support his father with his mental health and save the business from ruin.

The series was co-created by Rob Lowe, John Owen Lowe and Victor Fresco, and was inspired by the father and son duo's social media relationship where John Owen comically trolls his dad.

John Owen told Variety: “It took doing a TV show with each other for Rob and I to re-explore some of the deeper parts of our interpersonal relationship, so we figured, why not make it so that Ellis and Jackson have to literally play characters in order for them to work through an interpersonal conflict? It’s literally a wink at what we’re doing on the show for our father-son relationship.”

While all these cancelations have me thinking twice about canceling my Netflix membership – here's how to cancel your Netflix account – it's not all bad news as the streamer has decided to renew my favorite rom-com series Nobody Wants This and hit political thriller series The Diplomat, so maybe I can trust it not to cancel everything I like again.

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