One of Netflix’s Biggest-Ever Shows Is Facing a Sharp Viewership Decline in Season 2

Despite being one of the crown jewels of Netflix's original programming, the new second season of Beef is struggling to win back the show's formerly huge following.

According to viewership data accumulated by What's on Netflix, the comedy-drama series has only just cracked the #10 spot on the streamer's TV charts with English-language viewers in its first week on the platform, at a dismal 2.4. million viewers, struggling behind XO Kitty, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Virgin River. For an idea of how disappointing these numbers are, Season 1 had 5.8 million viewers one week into its debut.

Second seasons of television struggling to capitalise on time before the Season 1 hype dies down is hardly a new concept. However, perhaps the all-new cast for Beef Season 2, as well as its new story, failed to entice viewers, with the streamer's bid on an anthology-style series clearly not paying off.

"BEEF returns with a new cast and a new beef, as a Gen Z couple witnesses an alarming fight between their millennial boss and his wife," the official description from Netflix reads. Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), both lower-level staff at a country club, become entangled in the unraveling marriage of their general manager, Josh (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan)."

"Through favors and coercion, both couples vie for the approval of the elitist club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), who struggles to manage her own scandal involving her second husband, Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho)."

Despite a respectable 86% rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Beef season 2 received a dismal audience score of 62%, as of April 22. Perhaps the streamer's decision not to continue with the storyline and characters viewers fell in love with was a serious deterrent for many, and for those who tuned in, they weren't impressed with the new changes.