Netflix is sure uping the antis with increasing its number of "netflix original series" with the success of orange is the new black. Netflix is sure being smart and creating their very own market.
Now that Netflix has its own series, it is really putting a stress on TV networks. More and more people are turning to Netflix, hulu and other online streaming sites. What is next to come? Hulu original series? If networks were smart they would be doing the same thing and creating a place to stream their shows easier and more efficient. If its cheaper, people will sure flock to their site.
In 2015, Netflix will be releasing 9 new original sees and I'm sure there is more to come. Instead of wanting to work for a station, I much rather work for Netflix or Hulu with the rate this is going.
Not only is Netflix spreading across the United States, but it is also spreading around the word. Soon it will be launching in Japan in the fall as well. Currently Netflix is the WORLDS leading TV network with over 57 million members and over 50 countries. It is crazy to think about. I know where I want to apply when I graduate.
As each year goes by, several new products in technology are developed. Technology is what now drives our society. Everyone is always looking for the next big thing they can get their hands on and how fast they can get it. For example, the iPhone. Just this month, the iPhone 6 was released. And only about two years ago, the iPhone 5 came out. Think about that, within only two years a whole new phone was developed with so many more advanced features. And from an even bigger perspective, we've only been using smart phones for about six years or so?
Being that our technology is continuing to advance so quickly, what's going to happen to say classic American pastimes? For example, moving going. Going to the cinema has been something that Americans have bonded over a little less than 100 years. The literal action of getting in your car, driving to the theater, and then sitting in a huge room full of strangers, can be seen as a great experience. It is what helps connects us to movies and people throughout our life. But now that we have DVD players and blu ray, we can simply just wait for the movie to come out and watch it on our TV. And by doing that, we completely miss the experience of going
out to the movie. If anything it is also isolating us because if we go see a movie, we are more likely to ask a friend to accompany us, where as in the comfort of my own home I don't need someone to watch TV, or a movie with me. You can also go online and stream episodes that you missed on TV or want to re-watch. You can also subscribe to different websites such as Netflix, or Hulu Plus, and stream movies or shows. Netflix is one of the biggest streamers that people subscribe to. I know coming to college, mostly everyone has Netflix. And if you don't, then you need to find a friend with it ASAP and use their account. It has now become such an essential
part in our society. So much so that in some of my classes I have been told to watch movies on Netflix for homework. They literally have said, "it is on Netflix, so watch it there for homework", assuming we all had Netflix. This just proving that it is so common that professors are automatically assuming that everyone has it.
Even before you could stream it from your computer, Netflix was personally delivering to your home the specific movie you had chosen. Thus, just making it easier to not leave the house once they streamed online. And now, not only does Netflix stream movies, or past season of TV shows, they now have TV shows that premiere on Netflix. So now not only are we eliminating going to the movies, or leaving our home to go to the DVD store, we are also getting rid of the need to have a TV in our homes altogether. And if we do have a TV it is merely to say we have a TV.
Netflix, or shows like it come up in our everyday conversations. It is something we actually bond over which is weird if you think about it because by watching netflix we are isolating ourselves from social interaction. People are constantly blogging about it, like myself, or using it as an ice breaker in social settings, and they are even using it as an excuse to get out of social gatherings.
Netflix is everywhere we go! And it is ultimately eliminating the need to go anywhere. And what does that mean for our cinema fanatics? And does this mean it is eventually going to get rid of cinema altogether? Or having TV shows on a cabel channel, and waiting a week for each new episode to premiere? It is a scary thought because it is getting rid of things that we have had for so long. Cinema has been around for as long as I can remember, my parents can remember, or even my grandparents! I remember growing up I always wanted to go to the theater and watch every new movie that had come out. It was something I looked foward to because watching it at home just wasn't the same. Being put in a theater setting automatically makes you feel as if you're in the movie, watching from a distance. And don't get me wrong, I love Netflix. It's convenient and easy to use, but what does that say about us? Are we justing using it because we are too lazy to get up and go somewhere? Are we too busy with everything else that we can't and don't want to make time to go to the movies? I mean if that's the case, then America, along with other countries are going to never leave their homes. Especially because of how fast technology products are being introduced.
Needless to say I hope in my lifetime and several other people's lifetimes, that going to the theater to watch a movie is still going strong.
Over the Summer, my family decided to take a huge leap into the 21st century and not only buy a new TV to replace our 20+ year-old model, but to also spend an extra $8 per month on Netflix's streaming service. This opened up a world of possibilities; my dad could watch old episodes of Star Trek, my mom could finally catch up on Mad Men, and I had three whole months to binge-watch to my heart's content.
After re-watching Breaking Bad, I decided to take what I thought would be a brief detour to the world of Friday Night Lights. I quickly discovered, however, that the town of Dillon, Texas had a certain magical quality about it, and I soon found myself falling deeper and deeper under its spell. All of the notions that I had about the show - that it would be a conservative, cliched story about a football team vying for an ever elusive spot at the Texas State High School football championship game - were thrown out the window after the first episode. (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)
Is it cliche at times? Certainly. But the fact that the Dillon Panthers end up winning the State title is in no way reflective of the show as a whole. In the pilot episode, all star, pretty boy quarterback Jason Street, who was predicted to lead the team to victory and maybe one day even play in the NFL, isparalyzed and told that he will never walk again. Throughout the show, characters are hurt, cheated on, lied to, and forced to deal with the hardships that come with being in high school, a football program, or any kind of relationship. It can be dark, and not everyone has a happy ending.
But through all the soapy drama and football action alike, there is one constant: Coach Eric Taylor. Played with a steel jawed, sparkling-eyed confidence by the incredible Kyle Chandler (who won the Emmy for best actor in a drama series for his performance in FNL's fifth and final season), Coach Taylor is everything that this show stands for. He is a symbol of hope for those who have none, and commands attention whenever he is on screen. Youtube videos can't do him justice, but for what it's worth, here's a highlight reel.
So I'll admit it: Friday Night Lights got me hooked. I watched the whole series, all five seasons, in just under two months. Now, this may not be binge-watching in the truest sense of the word (I've known people who have plowed through the show in a matter of weeks) but I still watched it much quicker than the creators ever intended it to be watched. Some people claim that this ruins the integrity of the show by not allowing you to connect to the characters as much as you should be and by also helping to promote the "gotta have it all right now" attitude that our generation tends to live by. Hell, Jim Pagels, a columnist for Slate.com, wrote a very convincing argument against binge watching. Read it here.
Maybe it's just my college student mentality, but I have to strongly disagree. Not only are sites like Netflix and Hulu Plus a resource for television students like myself, but they offer a TV watching experience that is 100% tailored to the viewer. If I wanted to watch three episodes of FNL back to back to back, there was nothing (besides my job) that could stop me from doing so. On the flip side, if I was busy for a few days straight and not able to watch an episode, I didn't have to worry about missing anything, since I knew that whenever I got back, Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen and all of my other favorite Dillon Panthers would be there, waiting for my return.
Which brings me to another point; all of the TV characters that I've felt closest to, that have connected with me on a deeply personal level, have come from shows that I've binge-watched. Whether it be Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad or the more recent Coach Taylor, these characters have all left their mark on me. It's not that I now find watching shows on a week to week basis to be boring: it's that I have had the experience of truly immersing myself into a world for two month's time that it's now hard to be torn in and out of that world once per week. The times are changing, and TV is learning to change with it. I'm just along for the ride.
I just finished Friday Night Lights, and after I choked back my manly tears, I got the feeling that you get when you finish a really great book and realize that everything is over; that there's no more story to tell. But with the recent news that Connie Britton (Mrs. Taylor) has a copy of a script for a potential FNL movie, the Dillon dream may live on after all. That sounds like pretty great news to me: any chance to hear Coach give one more goosebump-inducing speech or see Tim Riggins wistfully look off into a Texas sunset is an opportunity that I can't miss out on. The only advice I have to give for everyone involved with the possible film?
The ability to re-watch any show on television new or old is a technology of a generation. Since Netflix started in 1999 they have been the leader in changing the game of how we watch television on our computers. The technology spread fast and soon enough every television station will have some type of internet access for live viewing or re-programming. In 2010 HBO launched its internet streaming syndicator, HBOGO. This allowed HBO to maintain its credibility as a high powered premium channel with great respect for the quality of programming.
HBO has been reaching out to service providers to make deals so more people have access to HBO as long as they are paying the premium through the service provider. Once HBO made a deal with Optimum I immediately created an account with HBO GO. Since then I have been catching up on my favorite HBO shows like Entourage, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos and I can't wait till Game of Thrones season 3 comes out. What is nice about HBO that differs from companies like Netflix and Hulu Plus is that because HBO has its own programming they can put their shows up on their site immediately after they air giving the viewer the ability to access them anytime. Netflix has recently taking the role of studio with the release of their first original series House of Cards. I can't wait to view great television shows on my computer at home on my own time.
