How Netflix Is Changing TV For The Better With House Of Cards & Arrested Development

Originally published on WebTVWire.com – a TV Technology blog.

Netflix is busy producing its own content to augment the classic content already on the service. It’s this original programming that is causing network executives to have heart palpitations, and with good reason.

Netflix Content

Netflix has always offered some good content, with a mix of old and new shows and movies that collectively add up to enough for people to be happy to pay for the service. However, when it started producing its own exclusive content it changed the nature of television as we know it. Possibly forever.

Netflix’ move into producing original content has had positive effects on the shows in question…

Positive Changes

The programme makers and actors involved appear to have been enthused by the move. David Fincher, executive producer of House Of Cards, believes that the idea of a captive audience all tuning in together at the same time is dead. So releasing every episode in a compelling series at once makes more sense.

This has turned out to be true, with Netflix users binging on the show by watching all the episodes back-to-back without the need to wait for a week between each one. There has also been the suggestion that House Of Cards is enough to make a high percentage of Netflix users continue their subscriptions.

Meanwhile, David Cross, who plays Tobias Funke in Arrested Development, has suggested that the new season of the show will “redefine what television can be,” all thanks to the Netflix model. Essentially show creator Mitch Hurwitz has been given the freedom to make the show he wants to make without any network interference.

Network executives have a much-documented habit of changing the nature of shows in order to appease audiences and attract advertisers. But if mainstream television is anything to go by, this effectively means everything is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, leaving quality way down on the list of important markers of a show’s success.

Conclusions

Programme-makers who are able to create the shows they want to, casts and crews who are enthused about what they’re a part of, audiences who are afforded the freedom to watch what they want when they want, and subscribers who know they’re directly contributing to the production of quality shows but who can still walk away whenever they want. No wonder the networks are running scared.