The Chair is a Netflix original that debuted on the streaming platform on August 20, 2021. It is directed by Amanda Peet & Annie Julia Wyman and has run for six episodes with an average screen time of 30 minutes.
The show is set at the fictional Pembroke University, where we are introduced to Professor Ji-Yoon Kim, a newly appointed English department chair. She is the first woman ever chosen for the position. The show depicts her hardships as she attempts to ensure the tenure of a young black colleague while juggling her relationship with her colleague, Bill Dobson, who is also her crush. We also see her trying her best to maintain her relationship with Ju-Hee “Ju Ju” Kim, her adopted daughter.
Its first season has received positive reviews from critics and audiences. It stands with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10 by the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Its critics’ consensus reads, “The Chair is too short of achieving all of its ambitions, but spot-on observations about academia and a sturdy ensemble led by an empathetic—and hilarious—performance from Sandra Oh ensure it’s never less than watchable.”
At the time of its release, it wasn’t dubbed a limited series which made its fans hope for another run. But the final episode of season 1, titled “The Chair,” tied all the loose ends which answered most of the questions except the future of Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim.
According to the data, despite receiving positive reviews initially, the performance and reviews started declining—the series featured in the hourly global top 10s only for a single week. In week 2, the show was able to gain 14.02 million hours of views on the platform. In contrast, the comedy shows that streaming along with it like Never Have I Ever (season 2) and Sex Education (season 3) was able to pull 58.38 million and 125.77 million views, respectively.
On top of that, the show couldn’t maintain its position in the top 10s for more than 19 days in any single country.
There have been no updates regarding season two of the show. The main lead, Sandra Oh, who played Ji-Yoon Kim, is busy working on her upcoming project The Tiger’s Apprentice, Umma, and Turning Red, along with continuing to star on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. One of the show’s creators, Annie Julia Wyman, is also working hard on other projects, including writing and producing projects with FX, Hulu, and HBO Max.
Hence, it seems pretty impossible for the show to return on screen.
