Hacker Cinema
Orange Is the New Black
2013 · TV series · 7 seasons
Created by Jenji Kohan
A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.
21 positive5 negative37 neutralfrom 63 commenters
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66 comments on Hacker News
Seriously?
The Crown, Stranger Things, Unbelievable, Russian Doll (wow, just wow), Orange Is The New Black, Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, GLOW, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Ozark, Nobody Wants This, Altered Carbon, Dirk Gently, Mindhunters, The Queen's Gambit, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. And that's my taste, there's more not to my taste like Squid Game, Wednesday, Bridgerton, etc. And not including the films, documentaries, shorts, etc. they done like Love, Death and Robots.
It was to podcasting what House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Arrested Development Season 4 were to Netflix.
Clerks - $27,575 [0]
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - $56,000 [1]
Butt Boy - $100,000 [2]
The Blue - <$100k [3]
Call Me Brother - <$100k [3]
Frances Ferguson - <$100k [3]
Greenlight - <$100k [3]
Love in Dangerous Times - <$100k [3]
Man in Camo - <$100k [3]
I'm going to stop now but I hope I've made my point. I've watched many of the above. I've heard about most of the above.
Your tone is pretty snarky so I'm not sure if it's worth responding but here is a list of TV shows, all within the last decade, that I believe are exceptional and not limited to "just the Sopranos":
* Chernobyl
* Rick and Morty
* True Detective
* Fargo
* Severance
* 1883
* Mindhunter
* Westworld
* The Knick
* The Peripheral
* Succession
* Years and Years
* Orange is the New Black
* Halt and Catch Fire
* Insecure
* Watchmen
* Atlanta
This is only from 10 minutes of searching. You'll note that many of them are produced, directed, written and star high profile artists. The subject matter that they deal with can be done at a pace and care that's impossible to do with a 2-3 hour movie. The quality of the above series or mini-series was virtually non existent, maybe with some very few exceptions, before 2000 and only began to pick up pace in 2000 to 2010.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerks_(film)
[1] https://byrdtheatre.org/news/2019/10/a-girl-walks-home-alone-at-night-brings-beauty-to-vampires/
[2] https://www.cautionspoilers.com/film-reviews/butt-boy/
[3] https://musiccitydrivein.com/2021/02/19/film-threat-award-this-announces-2021-indie-film-nominees-for-drive-in-event-virtual-ceremony/
I think the issue of low-quality filler being the issue is debatable. House of Cards or Orange is the New Black hasn't stopped the platform from sinking to where it is now. But as long as people are watching something, they're subscribed to the platform. The real problem is a lack of shows with nine seasons and plenty of shows that got canceled two seasons in. Viewers will take a chance on a new show, binge watch the two seasons, then end up blankly staring at the Now Playing screen and this hollow feeling of Netflixlessness - that listless feeling you get when your life was previously consumed by a show that you've now caught up to, so you have nothing to watch.
The worst thing the service can do is force viewers back to that New Playing screen, and just hope they find something before giving up, disgusted at your library's lack of content. Netflix never did conquer the Now Playing page. If I don't have a show that someone else has promoted to me, I'm not opening the Netflix app, that page is where dreams of just watching some TV go to die. Not for lack of trying, mind you, they've run a large number of experiments on that page, it's just a difficult problem when you don't have the content your users really want. It's thoroughly unsatisfying a UX, especially if you can't find something before your attention span gets bored of trying to find something to watch, and you switch away entirely. To Fortnight or TikTok, as the article suggests.
Spin-off shows don't generally do well on network TV, but things are different for streaming, and mediocre content set in the same universe as existing shows, for easy transference of viewing keeps users on your platform. Even if viewers are rewatching The Office for the Nth time. Because that show has nine seasons, Netflix might as well just be The Office streaming program and it would keep subscribers just fine. You're right that they're "settling" hours, but not everyone is a TV show snob. Netflix was never going to afford to be at ABC/Paramount/Disney level but it's trying to play there and make shows that rivaled their quality - and cost - that killed them.
Netflix has produced a lot of fairly solid content. Not at the level of the all-time great prestige TV shows like the ones you mentioned, but enough to keep a lot of subscribers happy for long periods of time at an accessible price. House of Cards (at least until the Kevin Spacey scandal blew up), Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, BoJack Horseman, Disenchantment, etc are a few that come to mind that I watched and enjoyed.
I think Netflix has two big issues. The first is the way they drop seasons all at once prevents the natural cycle of pre-episode hype, post-episode interviews, speculation and leaks, fan anticipation, fan arguments (ship wars, etc), etc. Fan culture can't develop around this content as easily because there's never any breathing space for fans to collectively sit with the story so far. The shows that become a cultural force like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones need us to keep coming back to the conversation every week. They have us talking about what happened last week and will happen this week with our colleagues at work and around the dinner table. How can these Netflix IPs enter stable orbit in the cultural zeitgeist when they're once-a-year events? It devalues the work, positioning it more like a movie that you watch and then forget rather than a story you become invested in over a long period of time.
Full season drops also allow people to binge a whole season of content for a single month's subscription and then immediately churn (ask me how I know). I assume they have some data-driven reasons for doing this, but it makes absolutely no sense to me.
Besides that, I think they should put more wood behind fewer arrows. They've developed a reputation for aggressively cancelling smaller shows with passionate followings which makes a lot of people not even want to bother until something has become an established mainstream success. I think of them now as the Google of content-creation, putting out a lot of solid (but not amazing) products and then cancelling them once people start to grow attached.
> The food analogy is shitty because you know what I do when McDonalds takes burgers off of their menu? I go to the grill next door to get my burger.
You don't pull a tantrum on an Internet forum about how you are now forced to hire an anon crew to get into a McDonald's warehouse to get your Mac Something ? Indeed you just go to another service provider to see if they have the Mac Something or something else to satisfy your palates. (sorry I kept the food analogy going).
> and if I've purchaced a streaming service explicitly because of Startrek then I'm going to feel like I was cheated.
Read the lines on the contract. No one is cheated. Especially for the price you are paying by the way. Netflix is still a rental service. (fun fact: Netflix doesn't even have full international rights on its own productions, see: orange is the new black, arrested development).
> You can argue until heat death of the universe whose fault it is, but in the mean time if there is no way of legaly watching the content piracy is the only way.
I will argue until heat death that SG1 content owners are not forcing people to pirate their content. It's just hard cold facts. You may not like it because you feel like you are entitled to it or that it doesn't matter much that no one gets hurt or it's stupid or whatever, that's not really the point. The point is that they are not forcing you. It's on you when you decide to go torrent hunting, launch a DCC+, get popcorn, whatever.
> if there is no way of legaly watching the content piracy is the only way
Doesn't mean you are entitled to it or that you are forced to do it. No one is forcing you to pirate SG1 or Star Trek Voyager. It's entirely on you, own up your actions.
I am not saying you should or shouldn't, I am not questioning the morality of it. All I am saying is "nobody forced you".
> (and importing expensive DVDs in an erra where literally none of my devices have optical bays is not actual option)
Again, that's on you. Not content owner's fault that you don't have a DVD player.
Now let's take a step forward. Imagine you pirated off those SG1 episodes. But then you get a letter from copyright holders and a fine from whatever judicial instances in your country manages these kind of things.
You don't want to pay the fine, you go to courts.
Do you believe for an instant arguments like "I pirated those episodes because they were not available anymore on Netflix, they basically forced my hand ; promised, once they are back up I'll subscribe again to Netflix" will fly ?
> They need to buy better old movies.
I believe it's much more in their interest to buy old TV shows. A good movie will keep you occupied for what, two hours? Seinfeld: almost 19 days of watch time. Friends: over 5 days. Community was barely ever popular before Netflix bought it, now there's plenty of people that enjoyed it for 2 days and 7 hours of watch time (its subreddit went from 266k on April 2020 to 482k right now).
I believe it's also in their interest to spread out stories that are realistically one-movie-long into 5-6 slightly drawn out 40-50 min episodes.
I just wish they fucking stick to them instead of cancelling them after like two seasons. Orange Is The New Black is the only original of theirs I know of that goes above two days of airtime.
> I have no qualms about people using f.lux, if you want to take your $4,600 laptop and $1,400 phone, on which people spent decades perfecting color reproduction, and you're paying $13/mo for Netflix to watch shows with multi-million dollar budgets and dedicated colorists, and you start watching Orange is the New Black and you make it yellow, that's your prerogative. So you don't need my opinions, so don't downvote just because you like f.lux and hate opinions.
You do know there are lots of toggles and shortcuts to tweak or disable flux when doing something color sensitive, right? There's even an explicit `Movie Mode` that does the best it can (not much tbh) without noticeably affecting color reproduction for the average viewer.
I disable flux when watching movies, playing games, or editing (color) images. It's not that hard.
That said, I don't run it as a substitute for medical advice. I run it because monitors are fucking bright and I enjoy working at night with dimmer lights that match my environment. I'd use an eink monitor at night if they were affordable, large enough, and software supported them better.
Yeah, good point on suing, I know I've heard suing the feds is a whole other ordeal than suing states or political subdivisions such as cities under the state. For the states/cities, it's a section 1983 lawsuit, while the feds they refer to it as a Bivens action. Sadly though people can't afford that, but I know some lawyers will take a cut if you win.... but some lawyers don't even want to help because they want to be friends with the judge and prosecutors. If you go after them hard on a civil rights case, they might be less likely to give your clients deals on traffic tickets. Just seems our entire system is rigged.
Also, read stories of them saying you have no rights to an attorney or even to film them since they don't technically consider you in the US. You are in some limbo between countries. An entirely different ballgame than a traffic stop. But some of that stuff might just be some misconception, some they can lie to you but you can't lie to them.
Also stories of citizens, especially minorities who were even born in the US who say sometimes they get more trouble entering their home country than other places. Pretty sad stuff, I don't know if it's worse with the current administration or if this is a thing. Not something I've thought much about really much before but seeing it in the news more and more, pretty concerning stuff that seems to go against the founding principles of this very nation.
Then watching Orange is the new black, even though it's scripted it does touch on some very real issues. I don't think most people really think about these issues unless it affects them directly, but some pretty horrible stuff going on. The private prisons are contractually guaranteed a minimum number of inmates for example, and you can even buy stocks in them. So then if you are a shareholder, I guess more crime is than in your financial interest so the prisons you own a small piece keeps making money. Doubt any of those shareholders would even want to live anywhere near the prisons they invest in though either.
Are you saying Netflix hasn’t made quality shows that will last through 2039? I’d like to know which company you think has made close to the amount of quality shows Netflix has since 2014. Here’s part of a list I have for a content project. No company comes close to this output in recent history.
House of Cards launched February 2013 (7 seasons, finished)
Orange is the New Black launched July 2013 (7 seasons, finished)
Stranger Things launched July 2016 (3 seasons, 1-2 more)
—
Dark (2 seasons, 3rd is last)
Glitch (2 seasons, 3rd might never come)
Russian Doll (1 season)
Haunting of Hill House (1 season, anthology)
American Vandal (2 seasons)
Black Mirror (anthology, last season not that good)
The Crown (3 seasons)
When They See Us (mini-series, 2019)
Unbelievable (just came out)
—
Glow (3 seasons)
Kimmy Schmidt (4 seasons, finished)
Arrested Development (they tried, hard to get it all back together after years of being done)
Sex Education (1 season)
Bojack Horseman (5 seasons?) #animated
Mindhunter (2 seasons)
The OA (2 seasons)
Maniac (mini-series)
Wet Hot American Summer (2 seasons, but season 1 is the top notch one)
F is for Family (3? seasons) #animated
Big Mouth (2? seasons) #animated
—
Documentary mini-series
—
Staircase
Making a Murderer
Evil Genius
The Jinx
Wild Wild West
——-
There’s more I’m missing and I didn’t include a number of shows Netflix helps finance but isn’t the main financier or producer or original place of distribution. Shows like Glitch.
You might be, but the people it really hurts are the creators.
Orange is the New Black went 6 seasons. The creators likely made all their money in seasons 3+, because they proved its worth in seasons 1 and 2 and had leverage to negotiate higher compensation.
The problem isn't so much cancelling mediocre series after two seasons, it's when they cancel things with a huge following because they've managed to disconnect what people pay from the quality of the content.
> What is so adversarial about these corporations to the browser makers? What benefit, concretely, do Microsoft or Google or Apple get from being free of the shackles of Disney or CBS?
These companies make Xbox, Chromecast/Stadia, Apple TV, etc. Things that could plausibly be a media center, given some latitude and open standards. You could upload your movie collection onto it, give it your streaming account credentials and it gives you a single interface to all your media.
DRM kills that. You can't make an interface that allows the user to watch a Disney movie they've paid for and then have it show the YouTube commentary on it. You can't have something that recommends Orange Is The New Black after you watch The Wire because one is Netflix and the other is HBO.
Because DRM allows the studios to assert rights that copyright doesn't give them. That's all it does -- that's why they want it. It clearly doesn't prevent piracy.
> One concrete benefit I see is less risk of the third-party code destabilizing your code because it has bugs and is running within your address space, but there's an easy solution there: sandbox the EME blob like Firefox (and other browsers too, I assume) does. Then its crashes and buffer overflows don't become your crashes and memory corruptions.
The problem with this is that it can't simultaneously have such low privileges that it can't do anything harmful even if totally compromised by malicious actors, while also having such high privileges that it's immune to interference by even the owner of the system with physical access to it. They're diametrically opposed objectives. And the second one systematically fails regardless, but having to pretend that that isn't the case compromises the ability to do the first.
HBO has some big-ticket items, but Netflix is more consistent in dropping new series for me to try. It's still my go-to place for content since there's more than I have time to watch. I just looked up their list of original content[1] for refresh my mind, and quite a few were extremely good in my opinion.
- House of Cards: I only got a little into the second season before I got busy, but what I saw was high quality and interesting.
- Orange is the new Black: My wife still loves this series
- Stranger Things: An honest to god phenomenon. The second season was weaker IMO, but I'm not sure how it could be as good as the first. That's a high bar to hit.
- The Crown: I caught a lot of it as my wife watched. Pretty good, even if a blond Doctor Who was somewhat distracting.
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: The kids liked this, as some of them are going through the books.
- Altered Carbon: Refreshingly good science fiction. Main character casting a little odd, since it's more obvious now than it was when I was younger how odd and slightly off-putting it is to cast someone with the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a science fiction lead. At the same time, it's now fitting (or a trope) because of all the science fiction he helmed in the 1990's.
- Lost in Space: Interesting, but ultimately spoiled slightly by the contrived plot. Better writing and this would have been extremely good rather than worth watching, but slightly disappointing.
- The Haunting: A nice interweaving of stories, and creepy series. I liked the ending. I have friends who didn't.
That's just from the drama section of the list. There's plenty in the other sections too, such as Maniac and Russian Dolls which I watched recently that were good, and documentary section has a bunch of good things I've seen as well. Some of he Marvel series' were pretty good too (season one of Jessica Jones was excellent on so many levels).
That's a small fraction of what they released. Looking at the list now, there's no way I would cancel Netflix before Hulu, and probably HBO also. There's things I want to watch on those (for different reasons), but now that I examine it, it's clear that I use and value what Netflix is giving me way more than the other two.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix
>But what it won't tell me is "we don't have the title you want".
That's by design, not accident. The Netflix catalog is much, much smaller than most people think, especially for films. They have just under 6,000 titles available in the US, but a large proportion of that is cheap filler that most viewers will have no interest in. Searching the catalog using a third-party tool reveals just how thin it really is.
https://unogs.com/
Netflix have focussed on recommendations over search because it makes their service look better. If you search for something, the odds are that Netflix don't have it. Recommendation allows them to promote their original content, which is Netflix's main moat - if you're hooked on Stranger Things or Orange Is The New Black, you're far less likely to cancel your subscription.
Mad Men didn't even have an audience when it aired (<2 million viewers most episodes), and airs on a network that likely won't exist in 5-6 years (or at least won't be producing new content), so it's not super clear to me what your point is about those shows as evidence of how a network grows. The way a network grows is by producing content people want to watch, whether that's disposable content made to last a minute or content made to last the test of time. HBO isn't growing because people are subscribing to watch Sopranos re-runs.
Past reporting suggests churn in most subscription content services is very low, so your Netflix cancellation may be unusual. I'd also add that exclusive content is one part of the story, but there's also a lot of licensed content that's very good on Netflix as on other services.
But for what it is worth, I would rank the following Netflix originals to be "top tier" within their genre -- some of these genres lend themselves more to rewatching than others, and some are closer to my taste than others, some held up in quality through their run more than others, so in a sense I am ranking shows based on their peak quality --
Orange is the New Black; Bloodline; Stranger Things; The Crown; Gilmore Girls AYITL; The OA; A Series of Unfortunate Events; Mindhunter; The Haunting of Hill House; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Master of None; Love; Lady Dynamite; Santa Clarita Diet; GLOW; American Vandal; Maniac; Bojack Horseman; F is for Family; Disenchantment; Hilda; Dark; The Rain; Elite; Chef's Table; Making a Murderer; Shot in the Dark; Wormwood; Wild Wild Country; Salt Fat Acid Heat; Queer Eye; The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell; My Next Guest Needs No Introduction; Lilyhammer; Terrace House; Alias Grace; The End of the Fucking World; Collateral; Wanderlust; Longmire; Black Mirror; Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
In addition to these, the following shows are Netflix originals in my region, indicating that although someone else initially funded them, Netflix bought them for exclusive distribution here, and also meet the above requirements:
Babylon Berlin; Bodyguard; Casé; Crashing; Cuckoo; Derry Girls; The Great British Baking Show; Happy!; Happy Valley; The Investigator; Peaky Blinders; River.
I have pretty broad taste in TV and watch a lot of TV while I am programming or running data analysis, so maybe the breadth of stuff I include here is surprising to most. But to the extent your post is a useful anecdote about how Netflix has no great shows, I'm responding to your challenge to "Name one show" that would meet that criteria.
(These are TV shows only, not films. I haven't really liked many Netflix original films although there are a few I would say are great, like Okja and Roma)
I've watched and enjoyed pretty much every episode of: House of Cards, Stranger things, Altered Carbon, Orange Is the New Black. What have you watched that you didn't get into?
Netflix has created some of the best TV shows I have watched in the past few years.
Strangers things, Maniac, The End of the F*ing World, Narcos, On my block, Master of none, El Chapo, Ozark, Glow, Disenchanted, Black mirror, Dare Devil, 13 reasons why, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, A series of unfortunate events, The OA, Orange is the new black
Those are just some of the ones I can recall at the moment.
Only other shows that I use popcorn time to watch are Game of thrones and Homeland.
We're not talking about the Deep South, which doesn't have a homeless problem.
We're talking about the West Coast, which has good weather year round and clean prison facilities. Unlike 99.999% of HN, I've actually visited every jail, prison, and mental hospital in CA. I've seen the conditions first hand. They're not what you see in movies--they're what you see in Orange is the New Black, i.e., clean and relatively comfortable. Also, mentally ill prisoners get transferred--almost immediately--to state mental hospitals.
I agree that bloating the correctional system is a problem--but I would rather use prisons to house the homeless than to house otherwise employed and housed nonviolent offenders.
From what I've read, (I haven't followed it too closely as I'm not from the US) the issue is that repealing NN enables an ISP to throttle Netflix for users who don't pay more for (for example) a 'Media' plan WITHOUT even needing to make a deal with Netflix.
I think that's become the poster child for the most accessible way of delivering a pro-NN argument to the masses; even if I think-personally-it's an incredible oversimplification of otherwise GOOD pro-NN arguments. Popcorn and circuses, etc. If you can explain it to people as "it's gonna hurt your ability to Binge Orange is the New Black Season 22" their ears perk up. If you start talking about "last mile" and startup competitiveness in an increasingly commoditized internet landscape, eyes glaze over.
Perhaps even to the point of possibly being the petard hoisted by the pro-NN crowd when the powers at be decide to focus their attention on that topic, artfully skirt the issue to seem conciliatory to average-joe users while implementing the very types of platforms and policies that have more or less demonstrable affects on the Internet as a platform for Enterprise.
Just my theory.
Possibly. But there's also a dynamic on Netflix (and HBO, etc.) of must-see-TV shows (to steal a term from an earlier era) that pull someone over the hump of signing up and then staying. You need the "filler" (which isn't really intended to be disparaging) too. But a large number of shows which are OK/fine doesn't get people to pull the trigger. Game of Thrones, House of Cards (originally), Man in the High Castle, Orange is the New Black, etc. do.
You also won't find the 'popular excitement' that is late-night tv guest appearances, supermarket checkout magazines, radio spots, entertainment news, social media 'influencers', and so on, reminding us of the 'significance' of the netflix produced items either..
There were plenty of late night tv guest appearances, supermarket checkout magazine articles, radio spots, entertainment news, and quite frankly excessive social media influencers fawning over House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, or Stranger Things in their first two seasons. HoC especially is single-handedly responsible for Netflix's status today as a destination for shows (and the people who make them)
when hollywood itself is determining what is culturally significant, and neflix is basically a 'rogue studio', this is hardly surprising..
Hollywood doesn't determine what is culturally significant, people do. Netflix produces culturally significant shows...but not movies.
> Think about the films people will remember from the last decade: you won't find any Netflix films among them.
Films, maybe not. But House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Black Mirror and The Crown have just as much cultural significance as Hollywood movies. And if we expand to HBO, then we can call in Game of Thrones, which has had far more cultural impact than La La Land. This is related to a cousin comment of mine: films are no longer the most important cultural medium. Long-form shows with high production values are.
It's also worth noting that Icarus, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, is from Netflix.
Good point here. There have been several episodic television series I've watched that I've experienced as unusually gripping (the usual suspects, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Man in the High castle).
One area where the long form exceeds the 90 min format is the depth of characterization it allows, and accompanying narrative attachment.
Soap operas have relied on this effect for years, allowing them to succeed despite low production values.
Coupled with the superior craftsmanship of modern episodic TV, is a pretty "gripping" experience.
The extended narrative structure also allows more justification for the characters actions to emerge naturally. In a shorter film, a lot of the characters' dialog has to serve as exposition, resulting in dialogue that sounds contrived.
I've also noticed shorter movies reliance on tropes to condense the timeframe of the narrative action so extremely. Things like voice-overs, montages, heavy make up to show aging, conventional narrative structures, the aforementioned expositionary dialog, (sub) titles.
The fact a narrative that spans years can be communicated effectively, in a 90 min film, is powerful evidence that the art of filmmaking does not use a visual medium to simply create an experience that relies on the verisimilitude to lived reality.
This highlights what I see as a...quirk of human inclination to try and recreate, or rather present as alternative perspectives, imagined realities.
Personally, probably related to my middle age, the prospect of technology to create virtual reality has minimal appeal.
In the other hand, technology that allows enhanced perceptions into actual reality is highly enticing, and seems to be an underserved area of human experience. I'm thinking of things, for example, like cognitive enhancing drugs. Or tools that can help control out of balance behavior.
This is why I stopped watching Orange is the New Black.
Season 3 had no conflict, or it wasn't relevant conflict any longer. Just life in prison.
I did consider that dull, but I don't preclude that a plot can't be "good" without conflict.
I think that is entirely fine and possible. But in a story where a previous chapter or segment did follow that formula, and then the next doesn't, it looks like a dull accident.
This is a general trend in media as a whole today - sequels, reboots, remakes/remasters, derivatives of other popular media are just as bad in television and video games. The only saving grace of "TV" is Netflix, Amazon and HBO who are more willing to take the risk on new IP.
The last AAA video game I purchased that wasn't based on an existing IP or derivative of a specific formula (see: Ubisoft) was Titanfall. The last movie I saw for myself (and not my daughter) that wasn't based on existing IP I can't even remember, it must have been Grindhouse (Planet Terror / Death Proof). Meanwhile, the last serialized "TV" content I've watched that wasn't a new season of an existing show or a spinoff was Transparent, before that there was Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, etc.
I would love for some fresh ideas in the available content out there, but it seems like executives are especially adverse to risk considering the budget it takes to make "current-gen" visuals in blockbusters or AAA video games - and I wonder if that is why serialized shows are where most of the "fresh" content is considering people expect lower production values out of a 20 episode season of 45 minute episodes.
> If all major studios pull their content from Netflix, then it will not have the large library size anymore.
It already is a bit like that if you leave the cushy confines of the USA, where the rights to even stream some of their own Originals (e.g. Orange is the New Black, Arrested Development, Lilyhammer) have not been secured and thus us poor souls must resort to pirating or waiting, potentially for years.
To quote Netflix[0]:
> Depending on the region, Netflix may not get the licensing rights for an original series for many years.
[0] https://help.netflix.com/en/node/4976#why-are-some-netflix-original-tv-shows-or-movies-available-in-one-country-but-not-another-
> However lately Netflix' content simply seems to lack substance to me.
I want to echo this as well. One thing about American TV content is that the story plot is very repetitive in nature. Netflix and other similar providers' original contents are very much either a superhero or a crime chaser plot. Furthermore I also dislike breaking content into seasons. It keeps audience around so more money but I am just very inpatient when it comes to TV content. In China / Hong Kong, most drama do not release in parts. So say there are 40 episodes it will have 40 episodes completed when the drama is aired. When you drag your drama plot beyond season 3 the story gets boring. Walking Dead, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Blacklist, dragging on.
I want some more refreshing content. This is why I love cartoon contents like Bob's Burger or watching documentary. I get some breathing room.
It's worth noting that a big part of what hit Big Print and Big Music was democratization, not just SV. Where it used to be only a few people could publish blogs and make music to the quality of a Real Recording Artist, regular Joe's and Jane's all over (and a number of big name DJ's) all got started making shit with Garageband and the like. Audio editors used to be exclusive software and required beefy (for the time) computers to use, now? A low end Macbook can easily stand in for the majority of what you'd find in a recording studio, as long as you output in mp3 at a reasonable bitrate, the mainstream consumer could never tell the difference.
Same thing is now happening to movies, GIF makers on Imgur belt out effects that look like pro movie work for the cost of Adobe After Effects (or not, their morals depending) and I've seen fan films for various franchises that could easily stand toe to toe with budget movies.
I think this trend toward the costs of entertainment creation going down are what's really going to eat the creative industry's lunch, including Netflix and the like eventually. Once we get to the point where a few friends can create something on the level of, just pulling something out here, Orange is the New Black over a few weekends at an investment of 20 grand? Why even pay Netflix at that point? We're already seeing a near infinite amount of free content created by people who just wanted to make things, without even intending to get rich in the process. Sure, the quality is hit and miss but how is that terribly different from Hollywood these days?
Sorry for the ramble, hope I got my point across.
Am I the only one who feels "Netflix Original" became a negative this year?
When I first signed up, Netflix Original meant high quality shows produced/funded by Netflix itself, like House Of Cards & Orange Is The New Black & Daredevil. Netflix Original meant the best TV you've ever watched.
Now Netflix Original often means terrible unfunny stand-up comedy, or made-for-TV movies by big name stars phoning it in. Much of the new Netflix Original content is rated one-star - on my account I see Wet Hot American Summer, XOXO, Easy, Chelsea, A Very Murray Christmas, The Ranch, Mascots, Chewing Gum, Richie Rich, Lost & Found, all with one star. And there's a ton more. Worse is that it keeps pushing those as recommendations to me, even though it thinks I'll only rate them 1 star.
I can't see myself cancelling my Netflix yet, but there have been times when I've been tempted to pause it for a month or so.
"If Netflix launched with Orange is the New Black, Luke Cage, and Daredevil, would they have even a tiny fraction of the user base they currently have?"
I think there's fairly strong evidence that the answer would be "yes" to that question. More people have signed up for Netflix since the release of House of Cards in Feb 2013 than signed up before then. IIRC that it's right around that time that the Netflix movie catalog really started to shrink, and also the time when Netflix started to have attractive original content.
Which has always seemed like a _gross_ misunderstanding of what people enjoyed about Netflix from the very beginning. If Netflix launched with Orange is the New Black, Luke Cage, and Daredevil, would they have even a tiny fraction of the user base they currently have?
My Netflix hours per month has dropped to well under 10 hours per month these days. There's just not much content on there that interests me. I see more use out of Amazon because, even though it's comparatively expensive at ~$5 per rental, when I feel like sitting down and watching a movie, it's nice to actually have a catalog to browse that's not 90% garbage.
While I'm sure it's not entirely Netflix's fault (media companies realizing their back catalog has a value), it seems to be a common evolution for movie services to move to providing their own content. Look at HBO. In the 1980s, it was all about showing movies (the name even meant "Home Box Office"). Now it is all about Game of Thrones and what not. With things like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc., that's what Netflix is doing as well.
Their self made content is where it's at.
Who cares about 100k old movies. Good stuff like House of Cards and Orange is the new Black and Stranger Things with no commercials?
House of Cards had the British version to build on, so it's not entirely a Netflix taste triangulation.
But, the CEO or somebody from Netflix has actually spelled out in the past that though they're taking risks in making a bunch of their own content, the risk is smaller than it has historically been. They know the taste of their audience (on a nearly individual level) better than any entertainment company in history ever has. And, they extract the value of their viewers directly and without middlemen, unlike almost every other entertainment company in history. So, for them, a successful show is one that brings in X number of new subscribers and keeps them around through multiple seasons...and that X number is smaller than it's ever needed to be.
So, you're right; they are triangulating in on very specific sub-genres and very specific audiences in ways that entertainment companies in the past couldn't afford to do. This is long-tail television production. Stranger Things, while it is a niche market, is actually one of the bigger niche markets they've tapped into, thus far. It's gotten far more buzz than a lot of the other Netflix original programming.
So, they're either getting better at the triangulation (likely) or they got lucky with this particular toss at the dart board of niche programming, or maybe it's a little of both. And, maybe the people making this show happened to be particularly passionate about it, and it shows in the attention to detail; they're having fun with it, and it makes it fun for viewers who like this sort of thing (or, are at least nostalgic about it...I don't read/watch Stephen King novels/movies very frequently as an adult, but loved them as a kid).
I find the quality of the Netflix originals to vary pretty wildly, and I don't get hooked on most of them. But, I enjoyed Stranger Things. It's a fun escapist bit of entertainment. It's no House of Cards, or even Orange is the New Black, in terms of quality, but it delivers very effectively on what it promises.
I wonder how well Stranger Things is doing among viewers who aren't old enough to have grown up surrounded by this stuff? I know many of my friends on facebook are hooked, but mostly the ones really talking about it are around my age. It's an interesting phenomenon, I think; the stuff it is paying homage to and modeled after was mostly targeted at kids and young adults, but the people most excited about it are maybe middle aged. Weird how that happens.
The networks commission projects from studios. The networks are a delivery and financing mechanism; the studios are the actual content creators. Broadcast-focused networks are rightly being disrupted by internet-focused distributors, but the real substance is the studios.
House of Cards was created by Media Rights Capital, which has a portfolio of "legacy" TV and film projects [0].
Orange is the New Black was created by Lionsgate, which also did Mad Men [1].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Rights_Capital#Television_projects
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionsgate#Television
Netflix-originated content is absolutely produced by the legacy TV industry, it's just purchased for distribution by a company specializing in a different method of distribution.
Become a member of your local library and read. Choosing what to read can be difficult, but a good place to start is to read books that have movie and TV show counterparts which you like. I'm reading "Orange is the New Black" now. I'm 60 pages in and it's just as good as the show.
> I feel like I should go back to school but do I really want to rack up all that loan?
Always remember that you can learn for free. There is Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, edX, Saylor University and, formerly, Coursera (they charge for some classes now). I truly believe you will learn more from MOOCs than you will from classroom instruction.
I am probably going to wait for the season to complete so I can binge watch. Am I the only one?
My big concern is all of the media and spoilers that surround these popular shows. Why do I know who died in Orange is the New Black? Why does Google think I need this as part of my news feed that I check only once or twice a day because I just need the most important news items.
My point is I "can", not that I "do". Though, in fairness, I might if Netflix still had content worth watching.
At the moment I do have some Daredevil episodes queued up, but Netflix doesn't produce original content I watch at a rate worthy of keeping my subscription. Out of laziness or habit, I have my subscription year round, but the smarter thing would be to sub up for a month or two per year to binge watch Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Orange is the New Black.
If this is indeed forced by content creators, I think it is counter productive. They will just give more incentive to Netflix (and Amazon and others) to create they own content, as third part content lose them money.
Perssonal view: the "Original Netflix Content" sign already give me a more value perception. Between a recycled TV show and a new one by Netflix, I always chose the new on by Netflix. So far I watched all of: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Making a Murderer, House of Cards, Narcos, Sense8, Bloodline, Orange is the new black, Master of None, Better Call Saul.
And I'll probably keep watching the next seasons of all of them.
Outside of Netflix, I only follow the very best ones (IMO): Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad (that's over) and Walking Dead.
What this means? I consume only the very best hits that these other content creators produce. For casual, day-to-day entertainment, that covers 90% of the time, I stay with Netflix.
I would almost certainly not choose to prosecute someone hungry for stealing my food. I might even steal food from another if I or my family were hungry enough. There's a need there that, if unsatisfied by any other option, is resolved through theft, and I accept that just fine.
We're not talking about food though, we're talking about Orange is the New Black, which is far from a necessity.
Beyond that, if I thought it was just broke teens pirating, then I probably wouldn't feel the need to speak up, but it's not nearly limited to that demographic. I have six-figure-income, grown up friends who swap pirated seasons of TV shows and in-theater movies with each other on Plex.
Netflix doesn't own all of its Netflix published content. Sony owns House of Cards. Lionsgate owns Orange is the New Black.
Netflix's early tv productions deals were similar to how regular TV purchased content. You custom order the show, but you only get "first run" rights. The production company keeps the rights to international markets and even re-run rights.
In the USA, you can buy House of Cards episodes from Comcast and Netflix doesn't get a penny for it.
This is unlike, say HBO, which owns control control of the content they create.
There isn't much confusion at all if you don't have any filters then it's clearly marked on the thumbnail of the video. When you search you can select filters. Depending on the app you use (browser, amazon firetv, mobile, smart tv etc.) you also (at least on my browser, phone and tv) select in the settings to filter out paid content.
Amazon has damn good originals: Alpha House(please make season 3!!!), Hand of God, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle and TMITHC as well as some of it's new pickups like Sneaky Pete and Patriot (the Patriot pilot and premise was amazing) are much better than most Netflix offers(which for the most part offers allot of esoteric comedy / stand up shows and well orange is the new black which I've never bothered to watch). At least to my subjective tastes before the Marvel ("webinatic universe?!") shows came about Netflix only had The House of Cards (and well Marco Polo) as far as originals go.
Can you check if the content served is uncensored or if scenes with any kind of nudity are blurred or cut outright? Check a few episodes of Orange Is The New Black or Dexter or Marco Polo, maybe? I also wonder if the movies are cuts or the originals as available in the U.S. Sometimes the shows become unwatchable when cuts are done wholesale.
Mom: "We got Sky now, so many channels and we get the newest Soccer and Movies!"
GF: "Oh nice... so where can I choose the movies?"
Mom: "You select the movie channel at 20:15 and it shows it"
GF: "What? I that's in four hours! Who pays a company to wait? This sounds like Netflix in bad to me..."
Classic cable TV is basically dead.
First Netflix&co had better airing times (on demand, haha) and now they invest in better shows.
Besides Rick and Morty and Game of Thrones, every show I watched last year, was made by Netflix or Amazon.
And this seems to be a good thing. Just look at stuff like orange is the new black. These new producers are far less conservative than the old media companies.
Except that Netflix is constantly adding/removing content. Movies become available and then stop being available.
This is one of the major reasons Netflix is hitting "Original Content" so hard.
They can take away South Park (or whatever it is NBCU owns) but they can't take away Orange is the New Black or other Netflix Exclusives.
The real problem then becomes what happens when Amazon Prime has exclusives. HBO GO has exclusives. Netflix has exclusives. Hulu has exclusives. etc. Now, to legally watch all the popular shows, you have to pay 3, 4, 5, etc companies $~10 a month on top of your internet bill.
à la carte that everyone has always said they wanted (Why should I pay for sports when I don't watch them? Or Holy TV? or spanish channels?)
I guess it depends what you're in to and how much you consume. I really like dramas and avoid reality tv. I also tend to watch one episode of something only during weeknights. The last few series I've worked through have been: * The Knick * Parks and Rec * Orphan Black
Next I plan to catch up on the most recent seasons of: * Orange is the new Black * Silicon Valley * True Detective
I seem to find new shows faster than I can catch up to old ones.
I usually watch shows in a similar way, which is also why I try to wait until all of the first season is available on-demand before starting a show. I'm also fairly cautious with shows and waiting until the full season has run allows a lot of critical opinion to have already surfaced.
Regarding the Wire, I've watched the series three times now and I'm still not sure the first episode is a good hook, or I even started to get hooked. What was a big surprise to me the third time through is how I still get transfixed on season 4.
One case where I was hooked by the third episode but ultimately gave up on is Orange is the New Black. I found most of the first season fairly compelling, but by the end, it was apparent the show was going down a road that I wasn't interested in. I would have preferred to keep the series relatively realistic, run a season or two in prison and then focus the end on the transition back. Instead, they kept the main character in prison, seemingly indefinitely, and started putting a lot more focus on the other characters. I skipped around season three a little bit and was deeply disappointed at how it treated meaty topics like private prison profiteering so flippantly. I suppose The Wire did set the bar unreasonably high for dealing with those sorts of topics.
Here's at least the press release with a little more details:
https://pr.netflix.com/WebClient/getNewsSummary.do?newsId=2603
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DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU WERE HOOKED? NETFLIX DOES Netflix Unveils When Fandom Begins For Some of Todays Most Popular Series Sep 23, 2015 Los Gatos, Calif., September 23, 2015 -- It may have taken Walter White nearly an entire season to become Heisenberg and Frank Underwood 13 episodes to become VP (spoiler alert!), but it turns out fans committed to these series long before those plot twists unfolded. Hint: it wasnt in the pilot episode.
Netflix analyzed its global streaming data* across the inaugural seasons of some of todays most popular shows - both Netflix original series and shows that premiered on other networks - looking for signals that pointed to when viewers became hooked. It turns out that when commercial breaks and appointment viewing are stripped away and consumers can watch an entire season as they choose, you can see fandom emerge. That is, 70% of viewers who watched the hooked episode went on to complete season one or more poetically, when members were hooked and there was no turning back.
“Given the precious nature of primetime slots on traditional TV, a series pilot is arguably the most important point in the life of the show,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix. “However, in our research of more than 20 shows across 16 markets, we found that no one was ever hooked on the pilot. This gives us confidence that giving our members all episodes at once is more aligned with how fans are made.”
While the data identified the hooked episode, it was shy on pinpointing exact moments, but we have a few ideas of our own to help jog your memory... For starters, in Breaking Bad it may have taken the flip of a coin to decide whether Jesse or Walt would put the finishing blow on Krazy 8, but when the decrepit heap of a former drug dealer rains down from Jesse’s ceiling, theres no denying viewers would stay to see how the season cleaned up (episode 2). Speaking of messes, Crazy Eyes drops both poems and fluids in her roller coaster romance with Piper in Orange is the New Black, but it was likely the throw of a pie to defend her (then) bae’s honor that had members asking for seconds (episode 3). For Dexter another episode equals another body, this time courtesy of the “Ice Truck Killer,” but our money’s on Dexter’s trip down memory lane reliving his inaugural kill that was the real tipping point - after all, fans never forget the first time (episode 3).
“There’s a unique sense of intimacy with creating a show for Netflix. Knowing you have an audience's undivided attention and that in essence, they are letting these characters in their home, we unfolded storylines at a more natural pace,” said Marta Kauffman. “In episode four, we see Grace and Frankie having no choice but to confront their fear, anger and uncertainty head on, which to me as a creator was a nice turning point to shift the narrative to focus on the future instead of the past; it is nice to know viewers were there right along with us.”
While around the world the hooked episode was relatively consistent, slight geographic differences did present themselves. The Dutch, for instance, tend to fall in love with series the fastest, getting hooked one episode ahead of most countries irrespective of the show. Germans showed early fandom for Arrow whereas France fell first for How I Met Your Mother. In Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill won Brazilians over one episode quicker than Mexicans. And Down Under, viewers prove to hold out longer across the board, with members in Australia and New Zealand getting hooked one to two episodes later than the rest of the world on almost every show. Despite these differences, the hooked moment had no correlation to audience size or attrition, regardless of show, episode number or country.
Methodology: The data in this research was pulled from accounts who started watching season one of the selected series between January 2015 - July 2015 in Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and US and between April 2015 - July 2015 for Australia and New Zealand. A hooked episode was defined when 70% of viewers who watched that episode went on to complete season one. Hooked episodes were first identified by country, then averaged to create the global hooked episode. The hooked episode had no correlation to total viewership numbers or attrition.
Denotes shows where for one or more countries, the show was unavailable to watch on Netflix and therefore the average is comprised of data from less than 16 countries
*The Netflix research didnt indicate exact plot points, but it did confirm episodes.
What is truly meta is that this entire "misunderstanding" is CENTRAL to the Poem's popularity.
Variations of this story and headline have been popping up for years - like in the wonderfully informative "Top 10 Most Misunderstood Lines in Literary History" (1)
Or heck, as a monologue in Orange is the New Black (2)
Didn't see it there because you're too high-brow and busy, so saw it in business insider last year like me (3)?
The poem's dual-meaning is central to its popularization - similar to the "big reveal" that drove the Six Sense to become one of the top 100 grossing movies of all time.
(1) http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-misunderstood-lines-in-literary-history.php
(2) http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/15/orange_is_the_new_black_on_road_less_traveled_show_gets_robert_frost_poem.html
(3) http://www.businessinsider.com/frosts-road-not-taken-poem-interpretation-2014-3
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken
Netflix's USP isn't access to movies anymore. It's access to exclusive-to-Netflix content like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc.
The fact that you get some movies along with that original content is just a legacy of their old strategy, which means that (1) their movie library is never going to get much better than it is now, and (2) things like feature film release windows are now more or less irrelevant to Netflix's market appeal, since they have full control over when their original content rolls out.
Interesting question. I for example use netflix mainly to view series that have not been available in my country before (or only packed with lots of useless stuff in some expensive cable subscription) or for their own content (House of Cards, Orange is the new black etc).
I vaguely recall having heard that movies are actually not the main interest of their viewers but that might have been some PR ;)
> So the recommendation engine just has to come up with something you'd try to watch and perhaps enjoy.
Heck, if it did that I'd be happy. I don't even know why I still have my Netflix subscription. The selection is basically as good (bad) as Hulu and Crackle, the price is higher and the recommendations are laughable (right now they're pushing: Velvet, a TV series about a Spanish fashion house; Sense 8, the latest lameness from the Wachowski brothers; Elsa & Fred, aimed at old people, a Robert Pattinson vehicle, Orange is the New Black, The Butler and piles of other stuff I would never watch if you tied me to a chair).
Frankly, I don't believe they have a recommendation engine anymore: I think they just suggest whatever is cheapest for them to play.
Actually, Netflix in the US is largely like that for me as well. I never get on expecting to find a specific movie I want to watch. However, I believe Netflix's original content (House of Cards, Daredevil, Chef's Table, Orange is the New Black, and Print the Legend to name a few) are high quality content, meaning that when Netflix has to get its hand dirty, it shoots for quality unlike many cable television providers. I think this may be what the parent comment is referring to.
I happen to agree, I don't like Murakami all that much, and I've read 6 or 8 of his novels. I feel a bit similar about him as I do about Stephen King or TV series like Games of Thrones, Orange is the New Black or House of Cards: more manipulative and plain than genuinely interesting. Throw in a little bit of cheating, a little bit of drama, "lovely breasts bouncing violently in the air", "Emotions that, if cut, would bleed", a little bit of vagina, the "bloody weight of desire and the rusty anchor of remorse", to substitute for lack of substance. Then again, who am I to criticize, what have I written that has any substance...
All that said, I wonder what it is that makes us feel that trying to pander to the general public is so bad... If by using "cheap tricks" he reaches a bigger audience and connects with more people... More power to him?
This is a misrepresentation of the problem here. You're restating the corporate arguments.
> There just isn't enough user demand for freedom to overcome the loss to businesses of losing control of their content.
DRM doesn't prevent businesses losing control of their content. Orange is the New Black has, AFAIK, only ever been distributed through EME, but it's all over the Pirate Bay, every single episode.
> maybe it means coming up with alternate ways to monetize
We have alternate ways to monetize. The simplest being doing exactly what they are doing except not DRM-ing their content, which demonstrably has worked for multiple content distributors. There are others.
DRM isn't about controlling content or monetize that content. It's about maintaining an outdated business model because business executives don't understand the internet. Which would be fine, except that it's hurting the open web.
The argument of the article is that Netflix's dataset doesn't really help them make decisions like what the content of their next documentary should be. It argues that what happens instead is that Netflix's programming honcho, Ted Sarandos, picks projects based on the person who's putting them together, looking for creators with a solid creative track record and an existing cult following:
> I began to sense that their biggest bets always seemed ultimately driven by faith in a particular cult creator, like David Fincher (“House of Cards”), Jenji Leslie Kohan (“Orange is the New Black”), Ricky Gervais (“Derek”), John Fusco (“Marco Polo”), or Mitchell Hurwitz (“Arrested Development”)... I do think that there is a sophisticated algorithm at work here—but I think his name is Ted Sarandos.
So take the case of the Nina Simone doc. It was directed by Liz Garbus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Garbus), whose previous films have been Sundance- and Oscar- fare for a few years now. So it could just be that Sarandos looked at her track record and decided that Garbus was an up-and-coming talent, and that mattered more than the specific content of whatever her next project was going to be. He was just betting that a Liz Garbus documentary was going to be great, no matter what story it told.
I've been watching Orange is the new Black lately, and the Con-Air scene was pretty similar to their description. Sounds like it's true that you really don't want to use the bathroom there, doubly so if you're a girl. And that they really don't want to take your cuffs off for any reason. And the guards all act like everybody there is planning to pull a Con-Air movie style hijacking, and so will not tell you anything or talk in any way that isn't strictly required.
I'm also in Australia and use the same DNS tricks to access Netflix. A couple of days ago I started watching Orange is the New Black and am enjoying it immensely so far. House of Cards is also on My List too but I need a few more hours in the day to get to it.
The most frustrating thing about Netflix is that so often I hear of a movie I'd like to watch but it's not on Netflix so I often download it instead. Sometimes it will be available via Roku's movie service (M-Go), but even then sometimes the movies are Buy only with no option to rent. Why do the studios make it so hard to give them money?!@?
Releasing all the episodes at once is definitely a good idea for a kids show. Parents can schedule in the show whenever they want, they can use an episode as a reward or push one back as a punishment, they just get maximum control over their kid's entertainment.
For House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc. you can make the argument that weekly episodes would be better, but for a kids show I think there is no question that more control is the best strategy.
I have not had a TV/Cable for about 8 years. I've also managed to avoid having a Netflix subscription and/or having home Internet fast enough to stream Netflix/Hulu.
Giving up at the time, a most addictive show - Lost (Season Two) was incredibly hard. I had to go cold turkey. But after the Season Two ended - I realized that it would never end - there would be a Season Three, Four, other shows etc. Watching TV is one of the most socially acceptable forms of numbing oneself (or entertaining oneself) depending on what your perspective is (paraphrasing Karl Marx - 'TV is the opiate of the masses').
Leaving TV is just a choice. So much easier if you don't physically have a TV.Doing so does not magically free you up to pursue a life of passion and interests - it simply gives you more discretionary time (if you are single). Not having a TV doesn't mean you don't watch TV when at family/friends (for instance, I remember watching 5 episodes back to back of the incredibly captivating Wallander from BBC at my sisters - they binge watch because of kids). Not having a TV is not a magic solution to the 'I'm too busy to X' - it is just a choice that you choose to spend your free time in other manners. Yes, I've missed out on 'Orange is the new black', 'Sopranos', the one with the Meth lord, etc. Yes, you miss out on the water cooler conversations - but is that really a common bond? I know its gone back to Dallas and the 80s and maybe even June Cleaver - talking about TV is just a way to assert that you are in the same loose tribe.
So many people just consume all day, I think - when I meet people socially - I always dig down to find out what they create - like write poems or stories about the people they see on the street - because that is what makes life more interesting.
I really hope this doesn't mean that they're going to kill the all-at-once "binge" releases for new shows.
I've been doing this for TV shows since long before Netflix streaming existed - I would wait until a season (or show) ended, and then rent the entire series from Blockbuster, one disk at a time.
I don't always have time to watch shows regularly, and it's great being able to do it at my own pace. Plus, I'm impatient when it comes to cliffhangers[0]
[0] This sort of behavior can be very lucrative for Netflix. Many episodes of Weeds ended with cliffhangers or twists that caused me to watch an episode or two more at a time than I'd originally planned. To a lesser extent, Orange is the New Black (also created by Jenji Kohan) used the same technique as well.
> I'm aware this happened with Season Four of Arrested Development. There was a massive hype right up until it was to premiere on Netflix and then … nothing. People watched it, then moved on.
This pretty much happened with HoC season 1 as well. Massive hype for this Fincher/Spacey series and then... nothing until a month or two ago for season 2. On the contrary, shows like "Orange is the new black" didn't have much hype initially and slowly grew as more and more people binged through it and became pretty popular.
Andy Greenwald said it best: "I’ve argued before that encouraging this sort of bingeing does no favors to the art or the audience. It takes a pleasantly coursed dinner party and transforms it into a hot dog eating contest." http://grantland.com/features/breaking-bad-black-mirror-year-television/
None of us are completely okay. But the pressure to conform to being perfectly functional and happy is a burden that we should neither want nor bear.
We are playing Elsa in Frozen. Be the good girl you always have to be. Conceal, don't feel, don't fear, conceal.
College is certainly very different. Well, also, depending on the people you rely on in school.
I want to say that we should recognize depression and mental illness is just part of life and don't be afraid when bad things come to us.
When I was in HS I had a severe depression. Starting in the junior year I had multiple anger issues and I had to drop some AP classes due to stress. In senior year I had several serious incidents within and outside of school. The stress was killing me. I couldn't resist to see my grade going down, losing grasp of the new shiny robotics club I just started and couldn't get the girl I really like at the time.
I was sent to hospital twice for evaluation. The second time, I was called by my counselor. She told me someone wanted to see me and I asked who. Two NYPD officers showed up and they escorted me to the hospital. I was really scared. I cried and I thought I was under arrested. I was only 17 at the time. I have never been arrested. I thought my counselor betrayed me. I thought everyone sold me out. My counselor said someone else from the school would come with me. A school aid came with us. Both evaluations are dull and tiring. My whole family had to stay with me until 2, 3AM in the morning. Some times later my mother said they all cried when they heard how sick I was. When the MD confirmed I was sick, it was like someone just sentenced me to death. I could finally tell people "yes, I am sick", but at the same time I was sick and people would look at me slightly different.
We all have some experience with depression and anxiety. The experience is never pleasant. For me, it involves sleeping late and feel unmotivated. My day and night reversed. I could sleep for 12-14 hours a day. Nothing felt real when I was depressed. Just watch Frozen.
I could go on and on with a novel writing here (well I suck at writing..). But I can see I am a lucky person. I knew a lot of the people in HS. I used to work in the principal office, I was the go-to IT guy so I knew many people. When I was sick they would tell me "go on John." The school didn't ban me from entering the school. They hired psychiatrist to come to school on a weekly basis (apparently I wasn't the only one having issue in my high school). The social worker and the psychiatrist were both Chinese so my parents could actually talk to them. My teachers didn't penalize me much for the tardiness and would encourage me to come to school. PE became my favorite class. I could run 10-20 laps around the track and the sweat made me happier. Yes. Sun light is important. Locking a patient in a concrete building forever is not going to help much. Socializing with other patients won't help much either... If my senior year last 10 months, I lost probably 7 months fighting depression with 3 months somewhat happy, crazy moments with classmates, friends and teachers.
College is different to me. People come and go. I go to a commute type of school. I get to come home. I get to sleep in and stay inside my room for a whole week if I want to. My parents can worry or feel angry but they are my parents. Unlike people who dorm they have to put up with other "strangers". College is like going for a boring interview for a boring job. That's just me. That's just my experience.
We shouldn't treat people with mental illness as third class citizen. We need to make rehabilitation more human. Drugs can damage brain and can change people. If you have watch Fringe you would know how much the drug and the environment affect Dr. Walter. And if you watch Orange is the New Black, prisoners are afraid of going to the psycho solitary.
I am proud to tell people my story because this is part of my life. I feel like a real person. I am not a Disney character. I have desire and my desire pushed me beyond my limit and so I become depressed, stressed and hopeless.
Don't be afraid to tell people when you are not okay. It's fine. Knowing you are not okay is the first step to rescue yourself. It's okay to feel depress and get depress for a while. Just remember, one day, when you wake up, you will feel better and you will force yourself to go out there. When that happens, don't let the freedom run away from you...
For the first time in forever, there will be music there will be light. For the first time in forever, I will be dancing through the night.
But of course, luck does play in a role. Some people are just not so lucky. They don't get the nice people on their side and they die because of that...
As a side note, I was depressed recently again. I feel better now. I set my foot out of the house. I went to realworldcrypto conference and did volunteering for local FLL (FIRST Lego League). I chilled with friends and people I used to work with and then I saw two great movies. I built a snowman and now I feel better.
So audience data when you're talking about original productions can be a blessing and a curse. We don't need big data to tell us that the top four favorite subjects of Netflix users are marriage, royalty, parenthood, and reunited lovers. We've been telling stories about those things for hundreds - if not thousands - of years.
The data can also be misleading, because sometimes what audiences want isn't what's good for dramatic effect. Both Dexter and Homeland suffered from audiences reacting positively to the main character, which caused Showtime to stop the writers from making creative decisions that yes, would have alienated the audience initially, but on the other hand would have made for shows that would have in their later seasons been better received.
Another example: I'm pretty sure that if you looked at the Netflix data it would show that people liked to watch movies and TV shows that either had happy endings or twist endings. The former makes you feel good, the latter makes you appreciate the writing. What people really don't like are ambiguous endings. If we based creative decisions purely on audience data a show like The Sopranos wouldn't have the ending it does. The upshot of all of this is that many writers end up 'cheating' the data to get their shows made. Take Orange is the New Black, where the creator Jenji Kohan has gone on record saying she basically used the main white, engaged protagonist as a trojan horse to get the show commissioned. What I'm basically trying to say in this rant is that using data to inform what shows to commission is one thing, but using it to direct the shows as they progress is another (and something I'm against).
"Netflix makes 0 additional marginal dollars from an existing subscriber watching an extra hour of video. What they care about is producing something "must see" for a particular niche that would convert a non-member into a paying member."
Netflix makes 0 marginal dollars on a hit show, but for Netflix, this isn't about the marginal dollar. This isn't even about adding more subscribers per se. This is an attempt to preserve subscribers in the face of a rapidly diminishing content library.
As I mentioned in the article, a lot of the networks and movie studios are raising their rates on Netflix, or pulling their libraries altogether. In the long run, Netflix risks becoming a "dumb pipes" commodity business, no more special or different from Amazon, iTunes, and all the rest, if it doesn't have something exclusive to keep viewers interested.
That's why they're betting the farm on original content. HoC won't appeal to everyone, but it signals to Hollywood and to tastemakers that Netflix is a serious buyer, and that it's in town to buy a lot more where that came from. Hollywood has a strong signaling / social proof system in place, and moves like this are often great ways to break the ice and establish credibility in a town that will shut up and listen to money. :)
"That means a rabid fan base and buzz is far more important than broad popularity. That's why shows like Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black have been so good for them, because they have an in built audience they can bring reliably."
Correct, and I don't see us in any disagreement here. This is what I mean about Netflix's home-field advantage in "audience development." Netflix knows its niches better than networks know theirs, and furthermore, it can afford to be in the niche game, because it's not dependent on mass advertisers. This is a significant advantage Netflix can draw upon.
The business model of Netflix is entirely different from broadcast TV. Netflix makes 0 additional marginal dollars from an existing subscriber watching an extra hour of video. What they care about is producing something "must see" for a particular niche that would convert a non-member into a paying member.
That means a rabid fan base and buzz is far more important than broad popularity. That's why shows like Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black have been so good for them, because they have an in built audience they can bring reliably.
I'd argue the opposite from you which is that Netflix is worse than traditional TV at developing audiences. For someone to adopt a new show on Netflix, they have to be interested in the show AND a subscriber of Netflix or so interested in the show it would compel them to subscribe to Netflix vs just switching over to the right channel at the right time to check it out.
Instead, Netflix's strength is in supporting a pre-existing audience.