Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives was, without question, one of the most quietly impressive TV shows of the whole year. Based on the DC characters of the same name, this supernatural horror-dramedy was a breath of fresh air as it took a modern approach to a classic genre, offering up an adventure that would have been right at home on network television in the '90s or early 2000s.
The series focused on Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland - ghosts who run their own detective agency to help other ghosts resolve their mysteries and find peace - and it was very easy to fall in love with the quirky characters (which we did... we all did). Soon enough, the agency expanded to include some other quirky characters (including their neighbor Niko and a medium named Crystal) and this allowed the show to successfully channel classic supernatural horror shows of years gone by, like Buffy The Vampire Slayer or spinoff Angel.
Dead Boy Detectives is the type of show that television used to have plenty of but is now in dire need of more like it. It was carving out a place for itself in a landscape it deserved to be a part of, but it was sadly cancelled after its concise, tight, and brilliant first season.
Netflix's "little show that could" had the misfortune of opening within the vicinity of the Baby Reindeer phenomenon, so it got overlooked by the streamer's algorithm in those crucial early days. But that didn't stop it from picking up a devoted fanbase pretty quickly, earning itself committed fans who championed its cause and rooted for it to succeed. Like the show itself, those fans deserved a second season.
Netflix's renewal format doesn't allow for a show to pick up a huge audience in the way that the supernatural classics of yesteryear did. While Dead Boy Detectives' first season certainly will continue to do that over time, that won't undo the crime of the show not getting a second season to thrill those audiences that do continue to come along.
The Dead Boy Detectives deserved so much better.