Netflix's romantic drama "Ransom Canyon" has returned for a second season, but with viewership down sharply on its debut run, adding it to a growing list of the streamer's shows suffering steep sophomore slumps. The series, starring Minka Kelly and Josh Duhamel, drew 4.1 million views in its first week back, a 43% drop from the 7.2 million views its Season 1 premiere week collected, raising questions about the show's future even though it is too early to say how this will affect renewal prospects.

The decline puts "Ransom Canyon" in line with "Running Point", which also fell 43% before being renewed, and is a smaller drop than "The Four Seasons", down 63% and still picked up for a third season. Other Netflix sophomore seasons have fared worse, including "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (down 59%), "Beef" (nearly 60%) and "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" (over 76%). Season 2 arrived with a reduced eight-episode order, versus ten in Season 1, alongside cast and storyline changes. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has downplayed the wider trend, telling investors such drop-offs are common industry-wide and that the streamer's year-on-year season-two performance has actually improved slightly.