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Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

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Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#241
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soon there will be some service that bundles up all the streaming services into one service. They might even call it cable :p

They call these services "private trackers" and "VPNs". They're inexpensive and probably have a better UX than whatever other five streaming sites you'd otherwise have to use put together.

Don't even have to do that. There are tons of "free" streaming sites out there that have a decent interface and a massive library that blows every single paid service out of the water.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#242
post #2

The quoted "competing exec" is 100% wrong when he says Netflix is making a mistake ending shows after three seasons. Shows need to be pitched and run for three seasons max, period. Everyone has a life other than the show that's "hot" for the moment, from cast to writers to the source of money - the viewers. Shows that get dragged out inevitably suck. And yeah, go to weekly releases.

Under that rule of thumb, The Wire and Babylon 5 would never have been made.

And from a more recent sample, The Expanse would not have been allowed to get to the end of the story arc.

All three have a few things in common. A strong cast of good-but-not-a-star actors.[ß] Writers who knew what they were doing. A story that they wanted to tell, and knew how long it would take. And above all: the integrity to end the series once the story was told. No stretching into infinity with useless rehashing or replaying of old hits. No resets. No desperate attempts to magically reinvent itself.

You pointed this out yourself: Shows that get dragged out inevitably suck.

ß: Idris Elba became a star later.

(EDIT: grammar)

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that Netflix is failing because of identity politics is just ridiculous and doesn’t hold up to even the slightest examination. It’s just another reactionary talking point that feels right enough for people to not examine it.

Case in point, Dave Chappelle's stand-up. He doesn't say what you're supposed to say about certain subjects, leading to outrage and calls to take down the show, yet it's still up. Were Netflix that left-leaning, that show would already be gone from their catalog.

> Case in point, Dave Chappelle's stand-up. He doesn't say what you're supposed to say about certain subjects, leading to outrage and calls to take down the show, yet it's still up. Were Netflix that left-leaning, that show would already be gone from their catalog.

That's not the point. The point is "making money". Netflix is throwing a lot of money at their originals, the clear majority of which are "Woke" with a capital double-you. From all that I've read, the clear majority of Netflix originals are also losing money. Now before you claim that there is no reason to believe that the shows that lose money and the shows which are Woke are (in the majority) the same shows, let me clarify.

With their 220m+ subscriber base and deep knowledge of what people watch, there is no reason for Netflix to have this much uncertainty about what will be a hit and what will not.

They know exactly at which point each subscriber gives up on a show; they know which episode the subscriber saw last, they know which minute of that episode the subscriber stopped viewing at. They have much more detailed knowledge of what turns off viewers than Hollywood does, or any of the more traditional production companies.

They know what genres do well, they know what mix of genres do well, they know what the viewers appetite is for particular mixes, they know what most viewers want, they know what the long tail wants.

Netflix literally knows what doesn't sell, and yet they keep making shows that don't sell. The only reason for going against the data has to be due to a top-down directive from the company itself.

After all, if you have data that says "this will more likely be a hit than that", and you go ahead and make "that" anyway, the only reason you would do so is because you were told to do so.

Now, with all of that in mind, ask yourself what that top-down directive could possibly be ...

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#244
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

People who talk about things are people who care enough to talk about it, thus companies will assume that the people who do not care enough will accept woke or non-woke content equally.

Dont they fire everyone who speaks against the wokists?

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#245
post #233

“Content is King” We all know this, Netflix knows this. And yet for some reason for years they have been aiming for quantity and not quality. Money is not enough in this department and baseball metaphors don’t do justice illustrating just how hard it is to put together a team that has that special thing going on. Some would argue it’s impossible - teams like the one behind Better Call Saul are just extremely rare and…

There's a legend of when Sony bought Columbia Pictures which is probably not true but the story is, after Sony bought Columbia Pictures, some Japanese executives flew over to meet with the top management at Columbia. The Columbia management explained to the Japanese execs that only 1 in 20 movies makes a profit. The Japanese executives talked to each other in Japanese and then turned back to the Columbia management a…

I get your point, but it doesn't necessarily implicate that you should try to replicate precious hits? Why pretend you've found the formula when it's clear you have no idea?

It seems like every celebrity had their shot at a sitcom in the 90s for example. Is it like the saying about nobody getting fired for buying IBM? But then, risk-taking within that narrow space was limited. From the Seinfeld Wikipedia article:

'The pilot was first screened to a group of two dozen NBC executives in Burbank, California, in early 1989. It did not yield the explosion of laughter garnered by the pilots for the decade's previous NBC successes like The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls. Brandon Tartikoff was not convinced the show would work. A Jewish man from New York himself, Tartikoff characterized it as "Too New York, too Jewish".'

It was almost not even aired.

Squid Game seems to have been a gamble. I'd like to see more like that, but I'm afraid they'll over-fit to that success as well. US remake perhaps? Sequels, prequels, spin-offs. "The 100 must-see dystopian Korean horror shows on Netflix 2023“?

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know multiple people which complained about it and made them unsubscribe (none from the USA, so these topics are neither interesting nor on topic for any of us) It was definitely a contributing factory that's for sure.

The number of people who care about this kind of stuff is very low. Most people just want to watch movies, laugh, cry. They don’t even know about the culture war. That’s only relevant in the bubble of malcontent that is mostly made up of twitter users.

> Most people just want to watch movies, laugh, cry. They don’t even know about the culture war.

That is true. It also means that if you are going to proselytise, you're going to lose the audience who just want to be entertained.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#247
post #161
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could be in the minority, but I'm perfectly content with just having Netflix. There's a long backlog of shows that I haven't had a chance to watch, and they keep adding new ones. Sure it would be nice if I had HBO max, hulu, disney, apple, but honestly I don't think I'd have time for them. How many hours of streaming video can a person possibly watch that one would find stuff on Netflix not adequate? Or is this mor…

Any reason you don’t do, say 3 to 4 months of each service so you cycle through 3 or 4 services in a year to see everything that interests you

This is the approach to take now IMHO.

We generally wait for an entire series before starting to watch anyway (so we can watch at a pace we want, rather than having it strung out over weeks) so it is not much hardship to just sign up to a service for a month or two at a time and then "bleed it dry" of things you are watching then move on to another service.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#248
post #200

I’m bored of Netflix. They have simply gone the assembly line direction instead of the direction of art, at least for some big niches. For example, every True Crime docuseries on Netflix is the same crap. Once you’ve seen three, you’ve seen them all. They get each cop involved in a big empty room, sit them on a solitary chair, put a dramatic light above them, and shoot them in 4k. Then they direct it at a pace to bor…

> …it is simply so cheap to pump out middling quality documentaries. Stock photography and interviews and cheap-but-good editing. You’ll notice solo YouTubers are making great documentaries. Reminds me of this hilarious video - https://youtu.be/9BUrNe3Vhtk

That was great thanks for sharing.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#249
post #28

Netflix really had a value proposition a few years ago before all the other players came in. A good selection of rotating movies and shows, sharing accounts with a good model (# of simultaneously running screens). This was way better than cable TV and more convenient than torrent. Now it’s mostly quite mediocre content across services that easily cost $100+ a month, so we’re back to the old cable days in terms of cos…

>The consumers just aren’t complete idiots. The consumers kinda are the idiots here. They know what they like, but they have no idea why the content is getting worse. Why shows are being pulled. Companies that had their content on Netflix realized they were facing an existential crisis. Ever played Settlers of Catan and find out another player had 9/10 victory points? Everyone does everything in their power to not tr…

>Ever played Settlers of Catan and find out another player had 9/10 victory points? Everyone does everything in their power to not trade with that player, send the robber, and limit their chances

This is why my group of friends stopped playing Catan after a while..

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#250
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all the shows i watch over and over and again are ones with 7+ seasons, 90's star trek (tng ds9 voy) all 7 seasons, M A S*H 12 seasons, Frasier 11 season, Scrubs 8 season (I skip season 9 and refuse to acknowledge its existance), Red Dwarf 8 season (+ more after the revival decades later), X-Files 11 seasons, How I Met Your Mother 9 seasons, Freinds 10 seasons, Stargate SG1 10 seasons, three seasons is to litt…

> How I Met Your Mother 9 seasons Luckily the last season only has 22 episodes! A lot of series jump the shark of they get dragged out for long. Even worse, if it's a slow decline, it kills rewatchability. Some manage, but it goes wrong more often than not. And especially if your concept does not lend itself to a lot of seasons (like Chernobyl, for example), you should stop while it's still good.

HIMYM was still going strong beyond the 3rd season. People don’t like the ending, but seasons 4, 5, 6, and 7 were damn great.
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