When the Streetlights Go On

When the Streetlights Go On is an American crime drama series created and written by Eddie O'Keefe and Chris Hutton and directed by Rebecca Thomas, in which a 1995 double homicide in a small midwestern town is investigated through the eyes of the teenagers affected by it. It premiered on April 6, 2020 as one of the launch shows of the short-form streaming platform Quibi, running as ten episodes of just under 10 minutes each.^{1 • 2}

Development history

The project began more than five years before its release as a movie script by O'Keefe and Hutton that circulated on the Black List, Hollywood's annual list of well-liked unproduced screenplays. It was converted into a television series, went through acquisitions by production companies, the attachment and later replacement of a major star, and a change in the identity of the story's killer. Hulu announced a pilot deal, and the pilot, directed by Brett Morgen, was screened in the Special Events program at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival as the producers sought a new buyer after the Hulu arrangements fell through.⁸

The series was eventually produced as a Paramount Television and Anonymous Content production, shot in Vancouver, and released on Quibi, with Rebecca Thomas directing and executive producing all ten episodes of the 2020 version. Thomas had previously made the independent film Electrick Children (2012) and directed episodes of Stranger Things and the Facebook Watch series Limetown.^{1 • 9}

Quibi and after

When the Streetlights Go On was one of Quibi's launch titles in April 2020, among roughly 50 shows the platform released on its first day. Quibi, a mobile-focused service offering episodes of 10 minutes or less, shut down in December 2020 after falling short of its subscriber projections.^{10 • 9} The Roku Channel picked up some former Quibi shows, and When the Streetlights Go On premiered there with a new episode each week beginning October 8, 2021.⁷ It remained on The Roku Channel until September 2023 and is not currently available for streaming in the United States.⁶

A 2024 scholarly study of cell phone fiction compared the series with the Snap Original Class of Lies and found that, despite Quibi's "turnstyle" feature allowing viewing in both landscape and portrait modes, When the Streetlights Go On embraced the stylistic and narrative design of long-form media rather than adapting to mobile-specific conventions.⁹

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the season holds a 71% Tomatometer from 21 reviews and an 85% audience score. The critics consensus says the show "takes itself a little too seriously, but strong writing, an impressive cast, and most importantly, an intriguing mystery more than make up for it." Reviewers singled out Sophie Thatcher as a standout as Chrissy's younger sister, while some critics found the short episode format limiting; one review argued the story would have been better served as a feature film or a series with hour-long episodes.^{2 • 7} On IMDb the series holds a rating of 6.7 out of 10 from about 1,500 users.⁵

References

1. New York Comic Con 2020 Interview: Sophie Thatcher Talks When the Streetlights Go On, ShockYa
2. When the Streetlights Go On, Rotten Tomatoes
3. When The Streetlights Go On, aired order, TheTVDB
4. Exclusive: Chosen Jacobs Talks Quibi's 'When The Streetlights Go On', Blackfilm.com
5. When the Streetlights Go On (TV Series 2017–2020), IMDb
6. When the Street Lights Go On, streaming online, JustWatch
7. 'When the Streetlights Go On' Review, Showbiz Cheat Sheet
8. Unwanted by film and abandoned by TV, a once-loved orphan seeks a home at Sundance, Los Angeles Times
9. Cell phone fiction: Serial poetics and platform vernacular, First Monday
10. We Watched Every New Show on Quibi, Time

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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