Both Beef and Running Point have debuted their second seasons over the past two weeks or so to pretty middling results.
— Deadline (@deadline.com) April 29, 2026 at 2:00 AM
People have lost interest in Beef and Running point.
Beef: OP has seen Beef Season 2 being described as “White Lotus 2.0”. According to Deadline, Season 2 launched to just over 2M views in its first four days, down nearly 60% from Season 1’s premiere weekend, to land at No. 7 on the weekly rankings. The ratings for season 2 has risen from its debut weekend, so a bit of word-of-mouth momentum for those who need a fix while waiting for the White White Lotus to return. Nevertheless, there’s a significant drop between Season 1 and Season 2 and the analysis is that it won’t catch up. Personally, I thought Season 1 lost its way mid-season, they didn’t know how to end the Beef. Then you recall the how badly the main cast handled the situation with cast member David Choe after Season 1 aired and the change in direction from Season 1 (exploring Asian-American identity and rage) to whatever they are doing now – the ratings had nowhere to go but down.
Running Point: Season 2 opening weekend is down 43% from the 9.3M views that Season 1 managed in the same timeframe.
Overview: Netflix’s returning series struggle to retain audiences – Witcher is down, Nobody wants Nobody Wants This, Bridgerton‘s audience declined for Season 4, The Night Agent also flopped. As with any broadcast medium TV, Streamer, mirror mirror on a wall….a small audience drop is expected but deadline says a 20% reduction is fine and unlikely to sound any alarms over at Netflix. A 40-60% decline is yikes and whille give Netlix the ick. Neither Beef nor Running Point have been renewed for a Season 3 yet.
