#2051
Posted: 4/27/13 at 6:26am
"Isn't Arrested Development coming back as a Netflix production? House of Cards was that way too, right?
When I watch Hulu and see the ads for their original series I think, 'Damn, some of this looks really good and has a decent budget.'"
Yes, and Netflix apparently did better than expected with House of Cards, and are doing pretty well now with Hemlock Grove, their Eli Roth horror soap, despite much lesser reviews. I admit, the thing I don't like about the Netflix angle is what many people love--unlike Hulu's original programming, they release the entire season at once, to try to encourage the sort of viewing people do with TV-on-DVD. My problem is that if I know I can watch all 10-13 episodes in a few days, I usually put off watching a show for months, even years, even if I am interested in it. I just prefer to have one a week...
But I do think these streaming sites have a big future--something which only two years ago I wouldn't have seen.
Speaking of online original programming, Amazon just released a bunch of free pilots on their site and apparently will pick up a couple of them depending on viewer feedback. I haven't seen any comments here yet, but one of them, Browsers, is a musical sitcom staring Bebe Neuwirth. We can't access it in Canada, and I wouldn't have even known about it except that a friend was an extra in it, but...
"You watch something like American Horror Story and think THIS is what 666 Park Avenue wanted to be, but cable (and a variety of other factors) allowed them to do it better.
Smash is interesting in the context of this discussion. It's a niche show that seems to have a passionate fanbase, but can't find an a live viewing audience and has practically been sabotaged by its network this season. "
Exactly agreed--and I know people have mentioned this before. With much of the same team as last year planned for it, I'm not sure Smash would have been a *better* show on Showtime as intended, but I feel it may have done better (I'm still annoyed that HBO didn't pick up Miraculous Year, the pilot they had Kathryn Bigelow direct that apparently was about a troubled gay musical theatre composer--a portrayal that gossip columnists said Sondheim was horrified by--it had a killer cast and sounded interesting.)
At any rate, I think network tv now basically only can handle scripted dramas that go for the broadest possible audience--and niche shows have to stick to cable (or if they're a teen drama, maybe the CW which only needs young demos to have a hit, not big numbers.) Increasingly, there's just no room for them to work on network tv, and frankly, as you point out about 666 Park Ave, cable can just do niche programming so much better, it seems unfair for the networks to try to compete with watered down variations. I love Parenthood, and it just barely sneaks by on its numbers but even there--with a well written family drama--much like with Jason Katims' past shows from working on My So-Called Life to Friday Night Lights, it would probably have more of a chance of survival on cable.
Anyway I only now was able to watch last week's Smash. And... I enjoyed it. All the same problems we're used to (plot points suddenly brought up and being focused on for the next 30 minutes, etc) but it does seem to have found some sort of rhythm in the past few weeks.
When I watch Hulu and see the ads for their original series I think, 'Damn, some of this looks really good and has a decent budget.'"
Yes, and Netflix apparently did better than expected with House of Cards, and are doing pretty well now with Hemlock Grove, their Eli Roth horror soap, despite much lesser reviews. I admit, the thing I don't like about the Netflix angle is what many people love--unlike Hulu's original programming, they release the entire season at once, to try to encourage the sort of viewing people do with TV-on-DVD. My problem is that if I know I can watch all 10-13 episodes in a few days, I usually put off watching a show for months, even years, even if I am interested in it. I just prefer to have one a week...
But I do think these streaming sites have a big future--something which only two years ago I wouldn't have seen.
Speaking of online original programming, Amazon just released a bunch of free pilots on their site and apparently will pick up a couple of them depending on viewer feedback. I haven't seen any comments here yet, but one of them, Browsers, is a musical sitcom staring Bebe Neuwirth. We can't access it in Canada, and I wouldn't have even known about it except that a friend was an extra in it, but...
"You watch something like American Horror Story and think THIS is what 666 Park Avenue wanted to be, but cable (and a variety of other factors) allowed them to do it better.
Smash is interesting in the context of this discussion. It's a niche show that seems to have a passionate fanbase, but can't find an a live viewing audience and has practically been sabotaged by its network this season. "
Exactly agreed--and I know people have mentioned this before. With much of the same team as last year planned for it, I'm not sure Smash would have been a *better* show on Showtime as intended, but I feel it may have done better (I'm still annoyed that HBO didn't pick up Miraculous Year, the pilot they had Kathryn Bigelow direct that apparently was about a troubled gay musical theatre composer--a portrayal that gossip columnists said Sondheim was horrified by--it had a killer cast and sounded interesting.)
At any rate, I think network tv now basically only can handle scripted dramas that go for the broadest possible audience--and niche shows have to stick to cable (or if they're a teen drama, maybe the CW which only needs young demos to have a hit, not big numbers.) Increasingly, there's just no room for them to work on network tv, and frankly, as you point out about 666 Park Ave, cable can just do niche programming so much better, it seems unfair for the networks to try to compete with watered down variations. I love Parenthood, and it just barely sneaks by on its numbers but even there--with a well written family drama--much like with Jason Katims' past shows from working on My So-Called Life to Friday Night Lights, it would probably have more of a chance of survival on cable.
Anyway I only now was able to watch last week's Smash. And... I enjoyed it. All the same problems we're used to (plot points suddenly brought up and being focused on for the next 30 minutes, etc) but it does seem to have found some sort of rhythm in the past few weeks.
