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Welcome to the new golden age of Television
Oct 23, 2017, 1:54 PM | Updated: 4:49 pm
In 2013, Netflix expanded from streaming and DVD rental into producing original content. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
I opened up Netflix this weekend and there’s a countdown clock on their main screen for the debut of “Stranger Things” season 2. You know, the sleeper hit about the paranormal activities surrounding four junior high pals.
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I was there to finish my binge watch of “Mindhunters,” Netflix’s latest series about the formation of the FBI’s behavioral science division where actual historical serial killers are dramatized.
Netflix, and now Amazon Studios, have ushered in the new golden age of TV. There has never been more great content available at home.
Remember when you had to get in your car and drive to Blockbuster to get a DVD or VHS tape if you’re of a certain age. I still remember the “Be Kind and Rewind” sticker. Half the time, all the new releases were already checked out and you’d wander the aisles with people in their pajamas doing a deep dive for something that looked interesting.
Then Netflix changed the game the first time by mailing the DVD you wanted to your house, and there were no late fees. What a game changer. Seriously, the concept of a late fee on a DVD seems like a joke now. There was that impulse-buy rack by the checkout stand at Blockbuster with Red Vines and Milk Duds, though. Good times.
This year, Amazon will spend $4.5 billion on original content looking for a runaway hit. They did “Transparent,” which has been a critical darling, but it didn’t bring in a big audience. I caught some of the filming of “Man In the High Castle” up in Monroe and Duvall. That was a surprisingly good show, but it’s no “Game of Thrones.” “Goliath” with Billy Bob Thornton was great, but evidently the showrunner didn’t like working with Amazon, so season 2 is in limbo.
Netflix is upping the ante and spending $6 billion on its original content. The company has stated it wants half of all their shows to be made in-house over the next few years.
With just these two companies combined, they spend more on entertaining us that the entire gross national product of the Bahamas. That doesn’t count all the other giants jumping into this space — Hulu, YouTube, and Starbucks to name a few.
So what are we talking about here?
Grab some popcorn, fire up the flat screen, and enjoy the best TV shows in the history of the world.
