Netflix fans have taken to social media to praise a ‘funny and clever’ mockumentary series as an ‘underrated gem’, five years after it aired.
American Vandal was created as a parody of true crime documentaries, like Making A Murderer and Serial, which have seen an influx in recent years.
The show follows two students Sam Ecklund and Peter Maldonad, who are investigating a prank at their school, where someone spray painted phallic images on the teachers’ cars.
The school expels student Dylan Maxwell for the crime, but when evidence comes to light that suggest he is innocent, Sam and Peter begin to delve into the mystery to discover the real culprit.
The second season sees Sam and Peter go to investigate a string of pranks at a Catholic high school, where a mystery person spikes the cafeteria’s lemonade with laxatives.
Netflix fans have taken to social media to praise a ‘funny and clever’ mockumentary series as an ‘underrated gem’, five years after it aired
American Vandal was created as a parody of true crime documentaries, like Making A Murderer and Serial, which have seen an influx in recent years (show pictured)
The show follows two students Sam Ecklund and Peter Maldonad, who are investigating a prank at their school, where someone spray painted phallic images on the teachers’ cars
The series cleverly satirizes the typical trends of classic Netflix documentaries, like the recent hits American Murder: The Family Next Door and American Nightmare, while being both hilariously funny and truly compelling.
Sam and Peter unravel the details through conducting interviews, running experiments, sifting through video footage, taking deep dives into social media posts, looking at text messages and even using Snapchat.
Series one came out in September 2017, with the second coming exactly one year later and both received critical acclaim, with nominations for a Primetime Emmy and Critics’ Choice Television Award.
However, in October 2018 Netflix announced that they were cancelling the series after two seasons.
Viewers have recently been rewatching the show and recommending it once again as one of the platform’s ‘top five series’, while lamenting its cancellation online.
One person tweeted: ‘i will never understand why netflix cancelled american vandal’ while another echoed: ‘american vandal needs to come back right now’.
A third wrote: ‘guys remember american vandal…… i miss that show’ while a fourth added: ‘Hey @netflix I miss American Vandal, I wish you would make season 3 please!!!’
Someone else praised the series, saying: ‘rewatching american vandal and i really think this is the most accurate depiction of modern day teens there is. criminal how little it’s talked about in the tv canon of the last decade’.
The school expels student Dylan Maxwell for the crime, but when evidence comes to light that suggest he is innocent, Sam and Peter begin to delve into the mystery to discover the real culprit
The second season sees Sam and Peter go to investigate a string of pranks at a Catholic high school, where a mystery person spikes the cafeteria’s lemonade with laxatives
While another gushed: ‘American Vandal on Netflix is a masterpiece. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Great investigation & story’.
A seventh penned: ‘Just finished rewatching American Vandal and I’m still convinced it’s a top 5 series on Netflix. Still f***ing gutted we only got 2 series.
‘Funny, clever, so beautifully empathetic to teenagers and that time of life. Still gut punched by the switch from funny to sad at the end.’
An eighth wrote: ‘Did a good deed today (I convinced someone who’s never seen American Vandal to watch American Vandal)’ before adding: ‘”Imagine if Serial went all in on a local high school prank” was enough of a hook but of course I also added that IT WON A PEABODY!!!’
Another called the show ‘Netflix’s most criminally underrated movie or series’ while a tenth said: ‘i cannot believe i watched the entire first season of american vandal in one sitting but it had to be done when it was too good to put down’.
While someone else lamented: ‘American Vandal was too good for this world and we didn’t deserve it’.
It comes after the show creators Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda revealed that they still have hope for a series three and have even planned out the story.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly last year, Tony said: ‘We know what our third season would be and where the series would go.
The series cleverly satirizes the typical trends of classic Netflix docs, while being both funny and compelling, using interviews, experiments, video footage, social media posts, text messages and even Snapchat
Series one came out in September 2017, with the second coming exactly one year later and both received critical acclaim, but was cancelled by Netflix in October 2018
‘It’s somewhat evergreen, so we could kind of hop back into it whenever the timing felt right, and if we felt like there was an audience that was clamoring for it. But the answer is that we do have a game plan that we’re very excited about.’
Speaking further about making American Vandal, Tony said: ‘The great thing is that we were doing something that had never really been done in this way before.
‘Using documentary tools and staying as true to the format as we were staying, it was a little bit easier to have the confidence to stick to our guns and the rules of our world.
‘We knew that even if it doesn’t connect, at least it’s going to be cohesive and it’s going to be unique, at least we’re doing something in the comedy space that has never really been done before.
‘That was the safety net, and it gave us a bit more confidence than it would have if we were just making a more traditional, scripted narrative.’
Dan continued: ‘But we really didn’t know how people would react to it. It was a really fun ride that people responded.
‘We were making something a little unusual, but I’m glad we stuck to our guns and tried. We also thought Vandal would be a much smaller production web series, and I really credit our friends at CBS, Funny or Die, and 3 Arts who saw it as something bigger.’
Tony added: ‘And for Netflix to take a roll of the dice. It is wild that they gave this project the thumbs up. We’re forever grateful.’
Viewers have recently been rewatching the show and recommending it once again as one of the platform’s ‘top five series’, while lamenting its cancellation online