Television

'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Canceled By Netflix

mystery science theater 3000 canceled
By Chris Evangelista

The movie sign has gone dark once again. Netflix brought Mystery Science Theater 3000 back from the dead, but sadly, they've decided to cancel it as well. The series will not continue at Netflix, but die-hard fans shouldn't lose hope. After all, we've been here before. Somehow, MST3K always defies expectations and bounces back. I don't think we've seen the last of the show, but for now, we've seen the last of the new Netflix episodes.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 creator Joel Hodgson and current host Jonah Ray have both confirmed that Netflix has canceled Mystery Science Theater 3000.

This news will undoubtedly be disappointing to fans, but at the same time, this is something the MST3K fandom is used to. The series has had a curious life: it started off on local access channel KTMA in the late 1980s before moving to Comedy Central. It remained on that network for seven years, where it built up a cult-following and resulted in a feature film. However, Comedy Central canceled the series in 1996. But MST lived on thanks to the Sci-Fi Channel, which revived the show from 1997 through 1999 – until it was canceled again.

After that, spin-offs formed: The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic and the far more popular RiffTrax. We had all settled into the idea of MST3K itself being gone – until it rose up yet again. Hodgson launched a Kickstarter in 2017 with the intent of reviving the show, and it was a huge success. The revival eventually landed at Netflix, where it lasted two seasons. And now here we are again!

I'm a big MST fan, having become a devoted follower of the show back in its Comedy Central days. If you've somehow never seen it, the concept is this: mad scientists beam terrible movies to a human and his two robot buddies, who then proceed to mock the films. It's not exactly the most exciting concept for a TV show, and yet it's had a remarkable shelf-life.

That said, I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the Netflix era. While I enjoyed having the show back, the humor just wasn't as sharp as it had once seemed and I didn't particularly care for the new robot voices (Ray made for an excellent new host, though). But since I have a soft spot for this show, I hope it ends up somewhere, even if it's for one more season. In this era where streaming services are popping up every day, surely one of them would be happy to give Mystery Science Theater a new home.

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