“Good Girls Revolt” has been cancelled by Amazon, but there’s still hope for the female-centric series. “Producer Sony Pictures Television has big plans for a sophomore season of the critically praised period drama,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. The story won’t continue on Amazon, but the story very well may continue. THR reports that “Sony Pictures Television — whose TriStar Television banner was behind the 10-episode series — are in the process of getting the rights back from Amazon and plan to shop the period drama elsewhere.”
The source calls Amazon’s decision to cancel the well-reviewed series after one season “a surprising move,” and we’re inclined to agree. While Amazon doesn’t release ratings data, “sources say streaming monitor Symphony Advanced Media metrics had ‘Good Girls Revolt’ collecting more viewers than many of Amazon’s other originals.” So what’s the deal? “Sources say Amazon Studios head Roy Price was not a fan of the series and didn’t deem it to be an awards season player in opting to pass on ordering a second season after hearing Sony’s Season 2 pitch this week.”
This is an important series that tells an important story. “Good Girls Revolt” was created by a woman (Dana Calvo, “Made in Jersey”) and revisits an critical time in history that remains all too relevant today. Set in 1969 and based on Lynn Povich’s book of the same name, “Good Girls Revolt” centers on young female researchers who work at News of the World. The plot is inspired by true events and depicts a landmark sexual discrimination case. A number of real people are portrayed in the series, including Eleanor Holmes Norton (Joy Bryant) and Nora Ephron (Grace Gummer).
We praised the series when it premiered in October, writing that “showrunner Calvo, who previously worked as a journalist, painstakingly recreates the look and feel of a newsroom in the late 1960s, but more importantly she focuses on the nascent stirrings of feminist revolution, percolating under the surface in a wide variety of ways. If ‘Mad Men’ often came off as a thinly-veiled love letter to a simpler time, ‘Good Girls Revolt’ has a clear-eyed view of why that time period was so stifling for women.”
“Based on data provided to us from Sony, Symphony Advanced Media reported our show was a hit, and we have loyal viewers,” Calvo told BuzzFeed just hours after “Good Girls Revolt’s” cancellation became public knowledge. “Eighty percent of people who watched the first few minutes of the pilot stayed until the last minutes of the finale. We had twice ‘Transparent’s’ audience. We were stunned by Amazon’s decision, but heartened and encouraged by Sony’s devotion to the project.”
It sounds as though Calvo isn’t going down without a fight. She wants “Good Girls Revolt” to continue, and so do we. Kudos to Sony for sticking with this series and seeing its potential, but hell, they aren’t doing Calvo a favor — the data shows that there’s an audience for “Good Girls Revolt.” Now it just needs to find a new home. We’ll follow the series wherever it ends up.
To join the campaign use the hashtag #savegoodgirlsrevolt
