TV networks better be perking up their ears, ’cause baby it looks like the times they are a-changing. And right quick, too.
For a while now, the big TV studios have been fretting about declining viewership. Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne and his team published a shocking set of numbers earlier this year, pointing out that old-school TV viewership has had a 50% collapse since 2002. And of course as viewers run to other sources for their entertainment, that means a whole lot of ad dollars are slipping away, too. Why do you think cable companies refuse to let you pick the TV channels that you want à la carte? It’s because the studio contracts say “all or nothing” and force the cable guys to keep the bucks rolling in.
The studios may be digging in their heels and hoping that we, the viewing public, come to our senses and get back in line. But there are other forward-thinkers out there who are suggesting everybody do just the opposite.
Providers such as Hulu, Netflix and now Amazon are flirting with a system overhaul by putting their clout and bucks behind original TV programing. The goal, of course, is to be able to sell the public what it wants when it wants it. Just earlier this year, Plugged In cast an eye on Netflix’s House of Cards, a well-reviewed original political thriller starring Kevin Spacey. And if merely creating an original series wasn’t enough, Netflix also made every single episode available immediately upon release, much to the joy of binge viewers everywhere.
As I just mentioned, Amazon is getting into the act as well. They may not have as big a video subscription base as providers like Hulu and Netflix, but they’ve got the cash. And they just released a group of 14 scripted pilots (8 adult shows and 6 for kids) on their Amazon Prime streaming service, some featuring some pretty recognizable performers (John Goodman heads the cast of Alpha House, for instance; Bebe Neuwirth of Cheers and Frasier fame stars in Browsers). They’re inviting the public in to check them out for free and opine on which ones they like.
Amazon reported that over this past weekend, 80% of its most-streamed videos were those 14 pilots. Viewers left thousands of reviews, giving feedback and then rating the shows on a scale of one to five stars (the implication being that public reactions will help guide the Amazon producers in their development choices). Of course, I’m sure Amazon is also hoping that when you drop by to check out the pilots, you’ll want to stick around for the whole video-streaming enchilada. But no matter how you slice it, it looks like people are appreciating the potential of choice.
I stopped by Amazon to check out a handful of the shows myself. And I definitely walked away with some strong reactions to it all.
The first thing that hit me was the creativity of the ideas I saw. The shows were fresh. Some were pretty out-there and edgy. And none of them appeared to have been run through a focus group to make sure they hit all the proper PC buttons.
Neuwirth’s show Browsers, for instance, is a comedy about four twentysomething interns who start working for a huge online Huffington Post-like newsmagazine. The characters are quirky and appealing. The script is funny and well-written. But here’s the risky part: It’s a musical. Out of the blue, the show’s characters are apt to suddenly make their point or advance the storyline by leaping into original staged tunes. And for the most part the musical blending works pretty well.
On the other hand … the show can easily veer to the profanely foul. Neuwirth’s Russian-accented news maven, for instance, sings a comedic romp, making it clear that she is “someone with whom not to f‑‑‑!” (I did mention it was edgy, right?)
And that’s the flip side of all that non-network freedom and creativity. Between us, my editor and I watched five of the eight adult-themed comedies, and all were rife with obscenities, illegal drug use and sometimes very lewd sexual situations. Add in some gory special effects violence in one and even some bare-breasted nudity in another, and you’ve definitely crossed well afield of family room TV fare.
Will those latter elements be adjusted and/or dialed back if any of these pilots gets a green light for further episodes? Well, that’s hard to say. But one thing’s for sure: Like everything else, the world of entertainment is shifting and stretching in brand-new directions. Give it five years and the face of TV will be hard to recognize.
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