Netflix changes the way people watch TV
USINFO | 2013-11-29 17:47

Last week was an important one for Netflix, which announced that it was both in discussions with the people behind “House of Cards” to film a third season and interested in getting more heavily involved in the movie business — whether it’s releasing films the same day as theaters, or financing its own pictures. Then, this past Thursday, the streaming giant announced a partnership with Marvel Studios to produce four new series based on lesser-known Marvel properties like “Luke Cage” and “Daredevil.”

To keep up with the Joneses, Amazon Prime, one of Netflix’s biggest competitors in the video-streaming game, began rolling out their own original content, starting with the political comedy “Alpha House,” starring John Goodman, whose biggest role prior to that was voicing Robot Santa in a single episode of the short-lived sci-fi cartoon “Futurama.” The company also announced on Halloween that it green-lit a pilot being produced by “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter called “Bosch,” based on a series of crime novels by author Michael Connelly.

Unlike Netflix, though, Amazon also announced that while it will be “dumping” the first three episodes of “Alpha House” on Nov. 15, the rest of the series will be released on a week-to-week basis in a way not dissimilar from that of broadcast television.

And by doing so, even if “Alpha House” doesn’t compare in quality to Netflix-produced programs like “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black,” the conversation about the program will almost certainly be improved. And in this day and age, thanks to social media, the conversation is just as important to the viewing experience as actually watching the program.

For example, “Breaking Bad,” (RIP) aired at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights. By 10:01 p.m., Twitter was alive with discussion about the show and every entertainment site worth its salt would post a recap and analysis of the episode first thing on Monday morning. This experience isn’t just limited to great programs like “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men,” either. Lesser programs like FX’s new drama “The Bridge” and HBO’s dragon-filled melodrama “Game of Thrones” get the same treatment week in and week out.

With the Netflix model, though, that conversation cannot exist because viewers watch the programs at their own pace. Never was this more apparent than when Netflix Frankenstein-ed the cult hit “Arrested Development” earlier this year and dropped the entire 15-episode season on May 26, truncating what should have been a four-month decline of disappointment into a two or three day sprint. Essentially, by dropping the entire series on May 26, Netflix changed TV watching into a competition rather than the leisurely activity it should have been.

Unlike “House of Cards” and especially “Orange is the New Black,” “Arrested Development” already had an incredibly devoted fan base that, even during the show’s extended hiatus, spent a large amount of time asking “Her?” and discussing what a chicken looked like. Simply put, this was a fan base that was clamoring to break down every episode of the show into the tiniest of details, something that was impossible because of the sprint to finish.

The ironic part of this, of course, is that what Netflix is doing with its original programming is exactly what made the company so successful with the programs of other networks. “Breaking Bad” famously saw its viewership dramatically increase prior to its final season due in large part to the fact that Netflix began streaming the entire series, as well as FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.”

With those shows, though, the end result of binge-watching is to watch the show as it airs, to participate in the discussion, whether it’s at the water cooler or on Twitter.

With original programming, though, the end result of binge-watching is to simply finish.

Like anything new and different, there are kinks that need to be worked out and ideas that need to be tweaked. And Netflix dropping an entire series at one time is the first thing on that list.

 

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