Why are we so obsessed with the 1980s? Sure, the MTV decade was a totally rad time, but our nostalgia for those 10 bygone years just refuses to go away no matter how far removed from them we get. Amazon original comedy Red Oaks is just one of the many pieces of pop culture entertainment over the past few years to tap into our retro sensibilities — a long list that includes such recent phenomenons as Netflix's Stranger Things and the controversial Ghostbusters remake. The Amazon series returns for its sophomore season this Friday, prompting many fans to wonder: will Red Oaks get a Season 3?
The fact that there's no news so close to the show's Season 2 premiere may be making some devoted viewers nervous. Are the 10 episodes they're about to stream the last 10 episodes of Red Oaks they'll ever see? Or should they be expecting more Country Club hilarity in the future? It's hard to divine the fate of the show, given that Amazon — like its competitor Netflix — doesn't release any ratings information, so we have no way of knowing how many people are watching. It could have a fan base the size of Game Of Thrones', for all we know; or it could have an audience of one. (Neither case is very likely, but the point stands.)
It may not be fun watching your favorite show without knowing whether you're about to watch the season finale or the series finale, but there is a silver lining here: Not knowing is pretty much par for the course when it comes to streaming series. Given that all the episodes will be released at once, there's no way for Amazon to know how many people will tune into the new season until after it's already over. Even Netflix made fans wait six weeks for news of Stranger Things ' renewal, and that was a show that dominated the cultural conversation all summer. It's no surprise that Amazon hasn't made a decision yet on the third season of a relatively low-profile show like Red Oaks.
Looking at Amazon's renewal and cancellation history doesn't help clear things up too much, either. For every unqualified success like Transparent (currently renewed for an upcoming fourth season), there are a handful of less buzzy shows that never made it past their first year — like Alpha House, Betas, and Mad Dogs . Fortunately, Red Oaks already has those one-and-dones beat. The only question that remains is: Will Red Oaks pull a Mozart In The Jungle , another under-the-radar comedy that pulled off a surprise Season 3 renewal? Or will it quietly fade off into the distance like the soft rock end credits music of a 1980s teen rom com?
Ironically enough, the success of Stranger Things may be good news for Red Oaks . The sci-fi series undoubtedly stoked the fires of our collective '80s nostalgia into even more of a frenzy than before, and it's possible that Red Oaks could benefit from that, improving its ratings and its buzz from last year. Only time will tell. In the meantime, enjoy all the retro hilarity you can get; you never know when the good times will end.
Images: Amazon Studios; Giphy (2)
