March 3, 2025
Wayne
One of my favorite, and most underrated shows is Wayne (2019). It premiered on the dreadful platform YouTube Premium (formerly known as YouTube Red), only to be canceled after one incredible season. The show follows 16-year-old Wayne McCullough (Mark McKenna) as he goes on a trip from Massachusetts to Florida to retrieve his recently deceased father’s stolen ’79 Trans Am, with the hope to change the bad hand he was dealt in life. Before he makes it out of town, though, he stops to pick up his crush, Del (Ciara Bravo), and asks her to tag along, to which she agrees.
The show mainly follows Wayne and Del’s journey, allowing episodes to focus on specific characters to help viewers get to know who they’re rooting for. We get to watch as they meet different characters that help the two along the way before arriving at their final destination, where Wayne faces more challenges than he prepared for.
While the show prioritizes Wayne’s storyline for obvious reasons, it also follows other duos such as his best and only friend Orlando (Joshua J. Williams), who hitches a ride with their principal in search of Wayne. We also get to see scenes of Del’s father and brothers on the search for the couple, who prefer to kill Wayne rather than help him, since he ran off with their daughter/sister.
While that all sounds like a lot to cover, it’s beautifully done and well received by audience and critic ratings. Unfortunately, Wayne wasn’t as lucky as other YouTube Premium shows. Unlike Cobra Kai, Wayne has yet to be picked up by another streaming platform to receive a second season. Instead, it was moved to Prime Video, giving fans false hope that one day it would return, but it never did — no matter how many people begged. This left fans with only a single season of one of the greatest shows to ever exist.
Streaming on YouTube.