Netflix Finally Drops the Long-Lost Season 2 of the Cult Comedy It Rescued—Three Years Later
Netflix’s cancellations make headlines, but the streamer is also TV’s top revival machine, rescuing Arrested Development, Designated Survivor, Lucifer and Manifest — and another comeback could be on deck.
Netflix giveth, Netflix taketh away, and occasionally Netflix digs a show out of TV purgatory and actually makes good on it. Case in point: 'Everyone Is Doing Great' just landed on the service with both Season 1 and, finally, the long-delayed Season 2.
The latest Netflix rescue
For all the talk about Netflix canceling things you were mid-binge, the streamer has also been the second life for a surprising number of shows: 'Arrested Development,' 'Designated Survivor,' 'Lucifer,' 'Manifest'… add 'Everyone Is Doing Great' to that list. The comedy first premiered on Hulu back in 2021, pulled a solid 80% Critics Score and a near-perfect 97% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, and then… nothing. Season 2 went into production in 2023 as a fully independent effort made by the cast, Hulu passed, and the finished season just sat. Now, three years after they shot it and five years after Season 1, Netflix has rolled out both seasons together.
How Season 2 finally happened
The series comes from 'One Tree Hill' alums James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti, who built the second season themselves and then teamed with Sony TV to get it in front of buyers. Sony took it to Netflix, which is how we ended up here.
"It's been such a journey to get to this point. We felt like we were getting our show out there a little bit, it was a tough time in the industry. Not a lot was being picked up. People were really battling out there to get their stuff seen or greenlit. And we're sitting here with a show that's already shot because we had done it independently."
What the show actually is
'Everyone Is Doing Great' is a meta, melancholy comedy about two former teen idols from a hit vampire series trying (and often failing) to move on. It is very funny, but it also lets itself be pretty sad and uncomfortably honest. You can feel Lafferty and Colletti pulling from their own post-teen-drama realities — both had big opportunities after 'One Tree Hill,' but their careers never exploded at the same level as some peers from the 'Dawson's Creek' or 'The OC' classes — and that lived-in frustration is the secret sauce. The show played well in 2021, and it hits even better now.
- James Lafferty as Jeremy Davis (ex-vampire-show star); also directs
- Stephen Colletti as Seth Stewart (Jeremy's equally stuck best friend)
- Alexandra Park ('The Royals') as Jeremy's wife
- Cariba Heine ('Designated Survivor') as Isabella Baker
- Karissa Lee Staples ('SWAT') as Sarah
Should you watch?
If you like your comedies grown-up, awkward, and a little bruised, this is absolutely worth a weekend. It plays like one of the better new comedies on Netflix right now, and with both seasons up, it is an easy binge. Bonus: if you were a 'One Tree Hill' person — the show has done big numbers on Netflix — this scratches a similar itch while the streamer slowly fusses with that long-rumored OTH reboot.