Discuss the changes made to the medium of television shows by streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime. When creators do not have to worry about nudity, cursing, or other network concerns, are able to create different length episodes, and explore new types of creativity and storytelling ideas.
Also, it would be pertinent to consider how the medium, being internet rather than television, might involve the viewers more directly than television does, which might affect the content it portrays. Meaning, the internet, such as Netflix, allows for immediate and easy feedback, ratings and comments directly on the viewing source while television viewers need to do a little more work in finding a location and crowd to complain to, all the while knowing the complaints might not even be heard by the producers/broadcasters. The direct interaction between viewers and broadcasters on Netflix/Amazon Prime might be in part responsible for the new emergence of progressive shows available, such as Transparent (Trans issues), Sense 8 (Cross-Culturalism), Luke Cage (POC protagonists) and Orange is the New Black (Queer leads) which, while not perfect, showcase in a comedic and accessible manner issues that are usually only considered viable subjects if they are dark and tragic (if you look at how award nominated works usually depict homosexuality, for instance). Also, it might accelerate the rate at which more problematic shows are discarded or corrected, making the content tailored for the public and thus generally more appreciated. As such, on top of the censorship, lenght and creativity concerns mentioned above, genre, tone, content, casting and subjects are also probably affected by the medium of the shows. – Arsen8 years ago
What makes Netflix very valuable is not so much their productions, but rather, their data mining abilities. Netflix is able to make shows based on user data and trends. I think there is obviously a level of creativity with this new medium, but at the same time, it is all carefully calculated. – AaronJRobert8 years ago
Also, how does the practice of binge-watching an entire show as soon as it's released on Netflix change the way we interact with the show and other fans? – sk8knight8 years ago
A look at HBO would also be relevant to this topic, as one of the initial cable networks. – Munjeera8 years ago
Netflix has also prompted several companies like Apple and YouTube to create original content, now knowing that people are happy to stream premium shows for a price. – Nate Océan8 years ago
What do you think now that Netflix is collapsing? – T. Palomino2 years ago