Birds aren’t real, the earth is flat and I am actually Jonathan the Husky … is what I would say if we were in the “Inside Job” universe. Got you good, huh? No? Well, okay.
Anyway, hello again, friends! Welcome back to Show Down:,the column where I break down a show and walk you through whether I think it will get canceled or if there’s hope for another season. This week, we will discuss a show that is unfortunately already down — and has been for a while: “Inside Job.”
After last week’s article on “Yellowjackets,” I decided on the criteria for whether a show is down or not: premise, cast, promotion and fan reaction. I would like to add one more category: viewership data. More specifically, this is the data Netflix releases when they explain why a show was canceled. But more on this later. Let’s get into the show!
As per usual, we are starting with the show’s premise. Simply put, conspiracy theories are real. Less simply put, “Inside Job” is an adult animated comedy about a company called Cognito Inc. which controls the United States government and orchestrates every single conspiracy that has ever existed.
From the genius mind of “Gravity Falls” writer Shion Takeuchi, the show is a doozy. There are so many layers of conspiracy theories that some people may have never heard of, which creates the perfect opportunity for an almost never-ending show. I truly felt as though we were just starting to grasp the concept of what could have been if we saw just a little more of the plot unfold, and it’s heartbreaking that we never did.
Lizzy Caplan voices Reagan Ridley, the show’s main character. Ridley is a brilliant and socially awkward head roboticist, team leader and conspiracy believer. Christian Slater voices Rand Ridley, Clark Duke voices Brett Hand and they are joined by Tisha Campbell, Andy Daly and Chris Diamantopoulos, along with more incredibly talented actors.
I often find that voice actors aren’t acknowledged for their skill, and it’s about time people realized that a lot of the reasons they love these characters so much is because of the talent and dedication of the voice actors. The cast is marvelous and gives the characters life in so many ways.
Now, what about promotion? I had to dig into Netflix’s social media accounts to find things, since the last time we got any content was in 2022, but there is an Instagram account for the show that is still up — although nothing is posted anymore — and there was an ask me anything on Reddit by Takeuchi prior to part two coming out. She discussed working on “Gravity Falls,” and being friends with its creator, Alex Hirsch, who was a co-executive producer for “Inside Job” alongside Takeuchi and Mike Hollingsworth.
There were, of course, interviews with Takeuchi where the show is discussed, as well as the concept and ideas behind it. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Takeuchi said, “Every conspiracy theory is only worth exploring [on the show] if you can find a relatable conflict that a character could go through in relation to that setting or to that concept.”
So “you have to generate tons of ideas about character stories, interpersonal stories, and then tons of ideas about concepts or conspiracy theories that would be a good umbrella for them. Then you kind of throw them against the wall to see [whether] these things feel like they fit together thematically,” Takeuchi elaborated. This makes sense when you consider just how many conspiracy theories exist.
There were some cast interviews, many Instagram posts and a few videos that I could find. What I was able to look into was the amount of reaction from fans. Most of the show’s promotion and the discussion around it came from the fandom it gained over the years. When I looked “Inside Job” up, the first thing that came up was a Reddit thread theorizing why it was canceled, and doing an in-depth analysis of the numbers made my head spin.
Fans still comment on the show’s Instagram account, and I have seen fan art and discussions floating around. I can relate to these fans since I too wish for the show to have another season. Speaking of: why did that not happen?
When a show is canceled by streaming services, the main reason is that viewership rates are not high enough.
What happened to “Inside Job” was rather brutal, as it wasn’t necessarily canceled in the traditional sense; rather, it was un-renewed. The show did receive a green light for a second season in June 2022, and Takeuchi announced that it was canceled on Jan. 8, 2023. In the tweet, Takeuchi doesn’t explain why the show was canceled but she does speak about the characters and thanks fans for watching.
Hirsch also tweeted to show support and said that “Shion had an awesome ending in store for these characters. I’m so sorry that she won’t get the chance to share it. Grateful to have had the chance to help on [sic.] one of my best friends shows, for however briefly.”
In this Netflix Engagement Report from 2023, the year of the show’s cancelation, it was reported that part one of “Inside Job” had 21,500,000 hours watched on the platform. Part two had 17,400,000 hours watched, with part one airing on Oct. 22, 2021, and part two airing on Nov. 18, 2022. There was a drop in viewership, but it doesn’t seem that large in the grand scheme of things.
There were 10 episodes in part one, signifying 2,150,000 hours streamed per episode. The math is not exact, as I am unsure exactly how this is gathered and what the true division is, but 2,175,000 hours were streamed per episode of part two, which had eight episodes.
The math does not necessarily add up, and it seems like the numbers are not telling us the whole story. Maybe the show was outranked by others on the Top 10 chart and maybe the streaming platform wanted to test out a new show with a fresh batch of viewers. The truth is currently unknown.
What I can tell you is that even though the second season was canceled and there is no renewal in sight, “Inside Job” is a show worth watching.
Far better than Disenchantment as story lines go. Would rather have seen Bean get the axe rather than Reagan. What a drag.