Blog Archives
Streaming is the New Cable: Why TV Networks Should Be Afraid of Netflix
Nine nominations is not a fluke, it’s something to brag about. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored House of Cards with nine nominations including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kevin Spacey) and Outstanding Drama Series. Not too bad for a series that a majority of television viewers have never heard of.
How could this be? How could a show with such amazing talent, near perfect writing, and incredible pacing be overlooked? Surely this show is on a major network during a competing time slot; going against programs like Breaking Bad. The truth is, this show has no competition and doesn’t need a time slot. All one needs is a Netflix account and a device to stream it through. This allows them to have access to every episode of the first season of House of Cards and another fantastic show called Orange is the New Black.
The dangerous part of having access to full seasons of a program is a new addiction that comes with owning an account to Netflix or Hulu, most commonly known as “binge-watching”. Binge-watching occurs when you have total access to a program and you sit around all day and night until suddenly you realize hours have passed and you’ve watched 13 episodes of a show. Here in lies a problem that major networks like Fox and NBC are facing. There is no doubt the instant streaming has infiltrated every house hold and has changed they way people catch up on programming. There is no doubt that networks are using DVR and on-demand to their advantage, but what programs are left to record?
Episodes’ Season Finale
Jaimie Lapidus
It’s been an intense season of Episodes full of issues that manifested themselves in painful yet hilarious ways. On Sunday’s season finale, all those issues came to a head. The issues are starting to repair themselves in a way that’s very ungraceful, yet very funny. It worked quite well. The episode opened with another one of Beverly and Carole’s exercise running sessions. This time, it wasn’t quite as repetitive, but the dynamic still isn’t very interesting. Nonetheless, it did move the story forward. As Carole is venting about her job offer from Elliot Salad, she starts to realize she could never betray Merc, which doesn’t seem to make much sense considering he does very little to contribute to their relationship and has been a terrible boss.
Over the course of the entire season, Merc wanted to get away with immoral behavior. Carole watched it happen because she loved him. Carole especially laments the fact that he is still married to Jamie, who Carole considers to be a “saint.” Beverly seems hesitant to concur that Jamie is a saint, but then admits that she knows about Jamie’s affair with Matt. The exercise session is a little more interesting than usual at this point. Instead of going over the same issues with Sean and Beverly as they do on every run, the focus shifts to gossip about Jamie and Matt. Now, the viewers have a reason to pay attention. Carole insists that she has to tell Merc about the affair, but Beverly begs her not to for fear of losing her job and Sean. Carole finally agrees to keep quiet after Beverly threatens to tell Merc about Carole’s meeting with Elliot. There was probably a better way to reveal the details of Matt’s affair to Carole. The scene was sloppily written with too much dialogue.
Cool TV Video of the Day: The Most Censored American Talk Show Interview
On March 31, 1994, Madonna appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Throughout the interview, Madonna brought up topics that are inappropriate for network television and cursed excessively. Because of Madonna’s language, the interview is the most censored in American talk show history with 13 bleeps (in this case audio drops) just for f*** alone.
Part 2 is after the jump.
Previewing The CW’s Fall Season
Since The WB’s merge with UPN in 2006, The CW has not fared very well. Some of its solid hits remain, such as Supernatural, but many of the shows that have premiered since the merger are gone. Now, the network has a strong presence online. Of all the networks, The CW seems the least reliable. Maybe it’ll get lucky this fall.
Arrow
This Action/Adventure drama revolves around billionaire Oliver Queen. Queen returns to his hometown of Starling City after having been stranded on an island for five years and presumed dead. After struggling to mend the relationships of those he left behind, Queen creates the persona of Arrow, a vigilante committed to protecting the city. I am really not sure what to make of this show. Character development will be a must. If it is simply Arrow saving the citizens of Starling City multiple times, it could get boring. Aside from that, the premise and casting of this show seems poorly executed. Oliver Queen was already a main character on Smallville. Justin Hartley’s portrayal was brilliant. This show’s continuity will be reworked and Queen is now being played by Stephen Arnell. I do not understand why this is not a direct Smallville spinoff. I’ve seen The Green Arrow before. Arnell isn’t as good as Hartley. I don’t think this show is going to last too long.
Wait! What's A Dial? 