On Thursday, January 25th, Damnation was cut down in its prime by USA Networks. It was gunned down before there was even a chance to see what the global audience would be like when it releases internationally via Netflix on February 1st. Its cancellation is a damn shame, and a waste of a well written show. On the very same day, USA Networks also put a halt to American Rust, which had just been given a straight to series order in November. Both series are, or were to be, set in small rural Midwest communities, leaving the question of whether or not USA, or their parent company NBC Universal, believes stories set between the coasts are worth telling.

Damnation had a lot going for it in its first season. The writing was top notch, and the evenly split gender of its writers room made for some of the most well written female characters, and female characters of color, on television right now. Though set in the 1930’s, Damnation spoke to the same racial, political, and social struggles that continue to this day. It was a highly prescient show that also reminded viewers about a part of our shared history that’s been nearly forgotten. Oh, and it was also incredibly fun to watch. The back half of the season was especially strong, which makes it even more mystifying why USA would cancel it before international viewership was tallied.

For a first year cable show, Damnation had a really decent start, well out performing Falling Water’s first season (another USA show renewed for a second season), but USA did something odd with the show. There’s usually a dip in viewership between the premiere episode of a show and its second episode. It’s only problematic when a show continues to dip downward episode after episode, but Damnation didn’t have this problem. It was actually steadily gaining audience week after week, and would likely have continued to do so if USA had not made the bizarre decision to take a two-week hiatus and switch the night Damnation airs on with little to no announcement.

I reviewed Damnation professionally for The Tracking Board, so I had access to screeners ahead of time. Usually when a big change like this happens the network sends out an announcement to the press, or advertises the change to its viewers, but USA didn’t do that. I don’t remember seeing any advertising of the switch at all. The screeners actually retained the wrong airdates for weeks afterward, as did the photos in their media website. I only found out about the two week break and the change of nights when I tweeted my excitement for the next episode, only to have Tony Tost, Damnation’s creator and showrunner, message me the news.

The decision to take two weeks off and switch from Tuesday to Thursday nights, resulted in a 38% loss of viewership between the fourth and fifth episodes. Unfortunately Damnation never fully recovered from this disruption. It was able to grow back 12% of that viewership, but it wasn’t enough for USA to renew it evidently, despite the fact it outperformed both season three of Mr. Robot, as well as both seasons of Falling Water. A lot of times when a network switches nights like this they’re deliberately trying to tank a show, which I hope to God wasn’t the intention here, but a disruption like this for viewers halts momentum, confuses viewing schedules, and makes it tough for a show to continue to building viewership. Not surprisingly, even after the finale, more and more people continue to find and enjoy the show based on word of mouth recommendations.

The mixture of violence and humor, as well as Damnation’s ability to work on numerous levels (As entertainment, history lesson, and reflection of our own times) set Damnation apart from other Deadwoodesque Western television shows. There was an ability to show depth in even the most despicable characters, so much so that by the end of the season several antagonists had nearly transformed into heroic protagonists. It’s a rare feat to pull this off, but Damnation did it in the most naturalistic way, with the characters of both Creely and Connie Nunns. It’s a testament to the quality of the writing and acting on the show for the evolution of these characters to feel naturalistic. Damnation is a show about feuding brothers on opposite sides of the labor struggle, but the men really take a backseat to the women. Sarah Jones, Chasten Harmon, and Melinda Page Hamilton were the backbone of the story, and if not for their strength the show wouldn’t have worked as well.

All is not lost though. Netflix co-produced the show with Universal Cable, meaning Netflix owns part of the show. There’s still an outside chance Damnation could get picked up for another season by Netflix, but for this to happen international viewing numbers need to be strong. Netflix releases Damnation internationally on February 1st, so get all of your international friends and family to check it out. The more people who watch it, the bigger the chance there is we’ll get more of this beloved show in the future. Hell, email Netflix and tell them how much you love the show. It could’t hurt.