Netflix Has a Big Sitcom Problem
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- čas přidán 17. 01. 2023
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Netflix has been making original shows for over a decade now, and looking back on it, they've had a lot of successes. One area where they've often struggled though is sitcoms, even as shows like The Office, New Girl and Friends have done well on the service for years.
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Netflix has a big "letting their shows continue to exist" problem
Yeah, there's been so many great shows on there that got dropped before they got a second season :(
"Two seasons and a cancellation" - it's the Netflix way. :(
that's why now I always for a second season or even a third one to drop 1st, it's a long time but y backlog is always full soo
They're the new Fox.
Or canceling them after two seasons.
I do love how hilariously petty it is for Netflix to be using the Blockbuster name for a comedy now
Same! 🤣 Extremely petty
petty? no. Flex? yes
why? Netflix had little to do with Blockbuster failing. It was their own incompetence to move with the times.
@@rje024 didn't Netflix try to sell to Blockbuster but they were basically laughed at? Well Netflix kinda got the last laugh & they're still around hence the pettiness
@Rabia , ah yes. That is true. I was thinking the OP was referring to the myth that Netflix put them out of business.
Netflix can’t hold onto animated shows either.
Those cancelations felt personal
Except big mouth
Except avatar the last air bender god bless 💪💪
More like downright refuses to hold onto them
Or any series for that matter UNLESS it is a worldwide hit in the first weeks.
"Blockbuster" might have been more interesting had it been set in the 90's or 00's, when DVD rentals were in the heyday of their popularity, as opposed to in the modern day, and they're at risk of shutting down due to streaming competition. The actors are all likable and talented, but the jokes just weren't funny, and fell incredibly flat.
I'd have liked to have seen a plotline about the VHS and Betamax rivalry. I don't know if Blockbuster was on either side or supplied both (I was too young to remember the heyday of VHS in this context) but I'd liked to have seen it dramatised
@@Fireberries this came from the Blockbuster Wikipedia: The first Blockbuster store opened on October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, with an inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes.
So the storyline you'd liked to have seen would've been doable.
The moment I saw _Blockbuster_ on Netflix it just didn't sit right and seemed like a huge middle finger to Netflix's former foes. I'm not often great at detecting irony but I feel like there's some irony somewhere in this situation 😂
I thought this was based on the last blockbuster in bend, Oregon
@@mahirooyama9424 wasn't it?
Your point about the Netflix sitcoms only getting 8 episodes a season is so spot on. Imagine if the biggest sitcoms only had 8 episodes seasons. With Friends you'd get maybe one classic episode (TOW The Blackout) and one iconic recurring character (Janice). You wouldn't even get to one of the Thanksgiving episodes. If you cancelled The Office after season 1, you'd never get to the instant classic season premiere: The Dundies. In season 1 of Parks and Rec, the writers haven't discovered April and Andy's chemistry, or given Donna or Jerry much personality. 30 Rock takes until mid-season to start firing off jokes at the rapid pace of its best seasons. Community doesn't start doing full-fledged homages until the last 2-3 episodes of season 1. Few sitcoms hit the ground running in the first 8. Netflix isn't even giving them a fighting chance.
Also the Simpsons didn't really get amazing until season 3
But the episodes on Netflix are like an hour long so it pans out. To me, some seasons need to be shorter.. that’s why I like limited series 🎉
I see your point with the recently released That 90's Show, only 10 episodes while the original that 70's show had nearly 20 per season?.
I liked the show, but it's cut too short.
British sitcoms are doing just fine with seasons with 6-8 episodes.
@@MichaelSicker exactly, and the pace of the show suffers from that decision. Half the show was pretty good and as it's basically a revival of an already successful sitcom, it's getting renewed but it needs time, the chemistry of the group still feels off and that's ok, same thing happened for That 70's Show, Netflix needs to get that and allow them a few more seasons to achieve rewards from it. Trendy success from stuff like Stranger Things will leave you broken long term.
Even fans of Bojack agree that the first season was not the best yet but since they were one of the first series on Netflix, they were lucky enough to not get cancelled like the shows Netflix is launching now.
It's a gamble that the creators make. If you have a slow first season, it often times allows for them to find an audience and not have to just pander to the lowest common denominator. It also allows for more character driven plots as it can take time to appreciate and connect with some of those characters.
Yeah as a pretty big fan who's seen the early seasons probably 5-6 times I think seasons 2 & 3 are the best from a comedy stand point. The later seasons are still great and still hilarious but they do start to become heavier throughout as the intensity of Bojacks downward spiral picks up. I still think the 1st season is really funny though and never understood why people didn't seem to like it. Neal McBeal and the episode where they write his book on drugs are some of my favorites of the show.
they actually were cancelled... it was supposed to be a season longer but the writers were told it was canceled and so they wrapped the story cutting out a seasons worth of content
@@Shtummyyyyea I remember the last season feeling extremely rushed
I agree. Animated shows this year like Inside Job doesn’t have the luxury that Bojack horseman or Shera or Kipo had. All 3 of which had reached their conclusion. Netflix is too indecisive to pick w/c shows should be axed and too bankrupt to continue them or give them a chance
You'd be hard pressed to name any sitcom that aired within the last century that's first season was its best. I do not understand why Netflix can't grasp this and why they are not giving any of their shows a real chance to find their footing.
Himym?
@@canonogic the best season of himym was when Marshall’s dad died
I think the good place season one was really solid, but that’s in large part because it’s part comedy/ part drama and the plot was really solid for season one. So I guess maybe it doesn’t even apply since it’s not exactly a sitcom lol
@@canonogicThat did have an amazing first season (I just rewatched most of it) But I wouldn't say it's the best of the show. The characters aren't firing on all cylinders quite yet
That '80s Show's first season was its best. It wasn't good, but technically it's first season was both its best season and its worst season.
Edit: For a non-stupid reply, some of my favorite sitcoms, Married... with Children, That '70s Show, and Arrested Development, had rather good first seasons. They weren't the best, but I still will revisit them instead of skipping straight to a later season. Married... with Children in particular actually has a really good pilot, when even shows with good first seasons can have a stinker for the first episode.
Another problem for Netflix: Some shows need to have only one season but Netflix chose to renew them because they are extremely popular.
For example, 13 Reasons Why and Squid Game.
Or Stranger Things...
@@wwcyfd22 yeah it was still pretty good season 2 but season 3 it started to lose its edge and season 4, for me personally, was just bad
@@professorbaxtercarelessdre1075 yes!!! Finally someone else who feels the same. Season 1 was pretty self-contained; it had a couple loose threads, sure, but not so many that it wasn’t fitting for an open ending. Season 2 I could forgive because it picked up on those threads. But since the ending of Season 2 was so conclusive, Season 3 felt completely unnecessary.
@@arianab.8364 yeah exactly, season had some ok moments but by the end i just didn't care much anymore, tried watching season 4 but stopped caring halfway through
Stranger things should have been a 1 season mini series or an anthology show where every season is a new town or situation. Then they could slowly tease a bigger conspiracy instead of jumping the shark immediately and just getting bonkers. Every season ramps up the scale and stakes so much only to reset everything at the end without killing off any main characters so it feels like there's no consequences.
One thing that I haven't heard anyone mention is that, with these kinds of shows, as time goes on, the actors themselves tend to change the direction of the characters a little. For the first season, they're usually just hired to fill a role. As the seasons go on, though, they understand the character more and invent new ideas and quirks for them that "feel" right. If you don't get to a second or third season, there's no time for that kind of actor-character development.
The whole case of One Day at a Time was so sad. It was such a good show that got unjustly canceled on Netflix, took a while to find a new home on a network nobody watches, and then got canceled again after a shortened season due to Covid. I think it would’ve been an even more beloved show if it got the chance to end on its own terms. Thanks a lot for that Netflix.
And like other sitcoms was getting better and better as the show progressed.
It's the modern Community, for real, Yahoo Screen? What were they thinking!?
One Day At A Time was an awful, woke show.
Netflix wonders why subscriber count declines correlates with cancelled shows, and instead of not canceling stuff they cut costs and cancel more. Maybe they need to greenlight things for more than just one season, or start reselling a contract instead of cancelling them. Amazon saved The Expanse, maybe it could save 1899 and Inside Job if someone was selling them.
After the masterpiece that was Dark, I am so shocked and disappointed that Netflix had no faith in 1899. At least Dark managed to run its course.
Neil Gaiman made sure that was part of the deal with the Sandman, that if Netflix cancels they can't stop anyone else continuing it.
Netflix has 200 million subscribers. The reduce in count was just a covid/recession churn which happened to all services. But a 1% churn is still very big considering their numbers. Netflix is still running strong. You can be bummed about the cancellations but don't build up scenarios of Netflix losing which they aren't.
Most people are satisfied with the service for now at least.
@@anomanderrake5434it’s absolutely not JUST covid being over. It’s things like raising prices and trying to make account sharing harder. They’ve also gone so far downhill because they aren’t the biggest streaming service by a pretty big margin (you can’t find popular stuff like Disney movies, Pokémon stuff, or big cooking shows) on there anymore because everything is on its own steaming service. Netflix has very few exclusive things to make it worth buying over other stuff. Maybe they’re not at risk of bankruptcy but they’re definitely going to continue to lose customers at faster and faster rates
@@anomanderrake5434 most people are satisfied?? Um you mean few people? Cancelling Amazing show after 1 month of it released and isn't as popular as Wednesday or Dahmer in the first week.
I agree that if something doesn't preform well, its chopped from Netflix. I think releasing all the episodes at once, was once a great idea for binge watching, but now shows are talked about for 3 days out the year, and then never again. I think a slow burn is better. Releasing shows once a week is definitely better for newer shows.
Uncle from Another World has episodes released every week and the second season of Vinland Saga just arrived on Netflix and will also have episodes released every week. Baki was another anime which had episodes come out every week but then its sequel came in and got the Netflix tradition of having its episodes released simultaneously.
Yeah, I mean look at how much hype was generated by Stranger Things 4 thanks to their staggered release compared to their other shows just dropping all at once. You'd think they'd learned their lesson by now but apparently not
@@Highonwater3X yeah but that can’t be done with comedies cause you won’t have much to discuss every week or even month
@@MasterKey2004that doesn’t makes sense, the reason why tv sitcoms friends, office, and Seinfeld were hits before binge tv was bc it was the thing to talk about from week to week. Look at the success Abbott elementary is having by sticking to abc. Netflix would have definitely aired Abbott all at once with zero advertising and no homepage presence.
I definetely agree, plus previous sitcoms could guage audience reactions to certain dynamics, plots etc and change the show accordingly. I recently found out that in Community, Troy was originally meant to be paired off with Pierce instead of Abed but they changed it after positive reaction to their interactions in the second episode. If it was released on Netflix nowadays, the writers wouldn't know that audiences prefer Troy and Abed until the entire season was released and couldn't make changes until season 2 at which point it may have not even seemed natural
I would also kind of consider Santa Clarita Diet a sitcom too. And that's the direction I wanted Netflix to go, making sitcom-like shows that blend in tons of other styles, not just self contained stories but have more continuity, be for older audiences, have weird and out there premises, etc
I will never forgive Netflix for cancelling Santa Clarita
@@Tasha-ry6co Same. It's one of the few cancellations that still irks me. Like just remove the show all together and don't let it remind me often that it's incomplete.
Not a sitcom, but I still hate them over canceling Mindhunter too. Santa Clarita was the only comedy show that made me laugh in a very long time, it was just so awesome.
pour one out for Santa Clarita diet
@@YamiNoPri they didn’t cancel mindhunter. fincher found it too much to keep going
2 things:
1) the reason why sitcoms struggle on streaming is because all the great sitcoms were broken up week by week for seasons of 20+ episodes. They're about checking in with your friends at Dunder Mifflin or McLaren's or TGS. Watching the new Halloween episode of Community a few days before Halloween is what would make sitcoms amazing: they replicate life. This factor clearly doesn't make them any less enjoyable to binge, but it gives the shows as a whole longevity because it was released over a lengthy period of time. Weekly releases are a completely different medium than streaming shows, and it's clear that sitcoms can really only thrive in the former. As much as I love Bojack, it's way harder to watch a random Bojack episode out of context than an episode of 30 Rock, because weekly release episodes stand on their own much better.
2) season 1 of Kimmy Schmidt is not the best season. It only gets better.
Good video
Santa Clarita Diet was the best comedy I’ve seen in a long time and deserved more seasons!
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olymphant had such good chemistry.
Slight correction: Bojack did not get to end on its own terms. The creators had way more planned for the show, but Netflix cut them off at season 6 after the workers there started demanding better treatment, hence the labor themes in the last season that make fun of Netflix.
Netflix dumping a whole season at once and expecting everyone to watch the whole thing in a weekend is the biggest issue. When episodes are released weekly, people talk about it and hype builds.
Also like, how many people have time to do this? I’ve got a job and a commute and hobbies and relationships, I can’t sit around watching tv for hours. I can maybe do 2 episodes?
@@cheetahslims7849 its something I do to be fair I don't have much going on in my life at the moment
so when I do watch a series I binge watch them all episodes at the same time.
longest I spend binge watching something would be himym after I found the show I spend 4 days binge watching the entire thing.
I did it during the summer vacation after school has ended so I had like a lot of time.
The way shows used to work was that they would always just come on every week, then they'd go away for a few months, then they'd come back. Modern shows are just eight episodes all at once that you're meant to binge through like some absurdly long movie, and then like five years later there's another absurdly long movie.
Exactly, and then they go out to say that the users watching decreases a ton after a few days and call it off a failure too because it's not getting the trendy fandom treatment like Stranger Things.
Agreed. That’s the downside to the binge watching method. The older I get the more I prefer weekly episode releases
I think an issue with your idea that they get cancelled before they find their groove, is that even if they do get a another season to improve, people still probably won't see it. With streaming, if you start a show, you're going to start at the beginning, so a new audience will start with the first season anyway and if it's no good, they probably won't make it to season 2. But when shows air on TV, someone might not have seen the first couple seasons, but will catch an episode from season 3 or 4 and enjoy it and become a fan from there.
This is a really good point that is sadly lost in the comments. The main chunk of these famous sitcom audiences caught wind of it in its heyday and started watching, and retroactively watched previous episodes/seasons, fully willing to suffer through some junk because they knew they were getting to gold (and/or because they were familiar with the characters and new content with familiar characters is itself a reward no matter how bad it might be hence the nostalgia-mining shows like Fuller House). I don't think it means there's nothing that can be done to stop insta-cancels, but this is for sure something to consider. How do you keep people from writing off a show by its bad first season when through the current streaming model it's inevitably, always, the first impression.
Bojack's show runners (or writers, I don't remember exactly) said Netflix force them to finish the series but they had ideas for many more seasons.
It was only one more but yes that's true
They definitely didn't resolve the Hollyhock storyline.
@@cadekachelmeier7251 That felt like a resolution to me. She pushed him out of her life without giving him a chance to reconcile and it felt very valid
@@StudioInkblot Sometimes you just need to cut people off because what they've done is unforgivable in your eyes.
It def felt like it could have gone on for an extra couple of seasons, but at the same time it didn't feel particularly rushed. I'd rather have a show where all seaasons are amazing than have more seasons but declining quality *cough* Game of Thrones *cough*
The funny thing is, Bojack still got cancelled early, the show runners wanted 7 seasons pretty sure, but netflix stopped it early so they made season 6 into a longer one.
The problem with Netflix is it's release model for everything. They just drop it all in one go for you to binge it. If it doesn't grab its audience from the get go instead of just letting it build, they'll just cancel it.
Which in my opinion is counterproductive
@@seyeolajuyin Most of the other services drop them in smaller batches, but Netflix is kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place as they started by dropping half seasons of their originals, and now there's likely to be a lot of angry subscribers if they change that. And, I think people know that it would be just to force people to subscribe for multiple months as most of their original content is 6 to 10 episodes, meaning somewhere between 2 and 3 months if they drop them on a weekly schedule.
That's why I prefer hulu
Worth noting that Bojack Horseman, and The Ranch had dramatic storylines spanning multiple seasons. Drama is a more bingeable format, because you want to see what happens next.
Truly serialized sitcoms are comfort food, and rely upon audiences being familiar with their characters. Like you say, that doesn't happen in the first season.
A related issue to what you discussed.
A comedy is about chemistry and nuance, making Michael Scott nicer or introducing Frasier to the bar. When Netflix produces and releases an entire season at once, they don't have weeks upon weeks to give little tweaks based upon the "live studio audience" or focus groups.
A drama, with a grand scheme story arc, or a well crafted comedy like Bojack, rely on NOT having that input. This, to me, is a big reason that streaming succeeds with drama over comedy.
This is exactly the problem. Sitcoms need time to react to popular reception.
I just watch Seinfeld when I want some sitcom time. "Feels like Abry's night". "Poppie got a little sloppy", "Festivus for the rest of us!".
I'm from Argentina, when I visit NYC 9 years ago, the most amazing moment for me was going to Tom's Restaurant. I'll never forget that.
SERENITY NOW SERENITY NOW !!!
Who the hell is abry?
I was going to scream if you didn't mention Superstore when talking about Blockbuster.
In fact, just nobody ever talking about Superstore makes me want to scream in itself.
The weekly release was critical to everyday sitcoms as well (Friends, Office, Cheers). The escapism of seeing something slightly off your life once a week is not as bingeable intrinsically: bingeability requires a more heightened gimmick. It's kind of the difference of elevator music and a musical theatre show: if you know your audience is just getting a burst that's very different than something you live with everyday.
What was critical to those was that there were relatively few options available. Those all were aired when you could reach a large enough chunk of the population to be something to talk about at the water cooler or on break. Even when something of similar quality does come along, there's no guarantee that everybody watches each episode each week, or that everybody will even be watching the same services. At least not enough for it to become the same kind of cultural phenomenon. I've heard about Tiger King and Squid Game, but I don't know more than a couple people that have watched either, and they didn't care for it. Whereas I remember when Cheers and Friends went off the air, those finales were a massive deal.
I do think that having a weekly release probably would help out as many of the Netflix shows get drown out before anybody has a chance to discover them. If you don't see them when they're on the top list, there's a good chance that you won't find out about them before they're canceled. Plus, the standards are a lot higher since Squid Game where they've been canceling things that had been popular enough to justify more episodes previously.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I think there were many more options during the '90s than there are now. You forget about the Prince of Bell Air, Seinfeld, Married with Children, Family Matters, etc a whole bunch of sitcoms who all aired at the same time. People had options, and the shows were good, they had huge global success.
The problem is that current shows are bad. Look at all the stand up comedy we have today , so many of them, so bad and /or forgettable. When was the last time we had a good comedy in the theaters ?
You can't make good comedies in today's political and socio-economic landscape, for obvious reason.
What we have now is just content, in software that stuff is called "Shovelware". Netflix buys them to fill the grid between big releases, that's all.
I think it would help build excitement/anticipation for the show to release it in a spread out way, with proper marketing. The marketing aspect feels lost now. It's like they dump a whole show out and pin it to the main page for you to see for like a week, and then call it a day. Hulu does the same thing quite often. Seeing a still shot of a show isn't going to make me look at it and if I'm scrolling along it won't ever be anything but that because I'm not triggering the preview.
It does work with streaming shows when done correctly, similar to the old days of cable. Think of Game of Thrones. That show was one episode each week, and people were talking about it every week leading up to the next episode. People would be ticked if they missed it the first night and someone mentioned what happened before they could see it because anticipation was so high for what might happen this episode. Obviously that show was in a different league than many, but it shows the model can work
I definitely hear what you're saying about sitcoms often needing their time to bake a little, especially in the first season, I think one distinction is that when network episodes were airing in primetime slots, there were a lot of viewers left over from other more successful programs. Sometimes viewers wouldn't seek out that sitcom, it just happened to follow the thing they were seeking out and they got sucked in. And then the characters become really important -- it's the characters people are sticking around for. Streaming sitcoms do not have this luxury of getting viewers from other shows, so they need to come out with a bang and be really good right away to keep viewers. I agree that they shouldn't cancel shows a month after S1 airs, but I also think those other sitcoms had some help from the scheduling.
Good sitcoms are hard to come by. I’m sure those with a decent script and premise wants as many eyes as possible and not locked into a streaming service.
It is, I've been pleasantly surprised by how well they did at capturing the original feel of That 70's Show with That 90's Show. Apart from the unrealistically diverse cast, they don't seem to have sacrificed too much of the original feel when broadening it out. And it feels like a worthy successor to the original show in a way that That 80's show wasn't.
This is crazy, but I think if I gag to pick only one streaming service to have for the rest of my life, I’d pick Peacock at this point. Sitcoms aren’t the only thing I watch, but they are very comforting, and with NBC having The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Community, and I believe even Modern Family on Peacock now, that’s just such staggering quantity that I can’t ignore it. I mean, I pretty much watch the office nonstop anyway…
I'm excited for the day when _Crazy Ex-Girlfriend_ gets new life via Netflix. It was critically acclaimed while airing on The CW even though it has the (dis)honor of being the network's least watched series. It was originally pitched as a half hour sitcom for Showtime but eventually was picked up by The CW & now resides on Netflix. It's a decent show with a small yet mighty fanbase.
Its on the uk netflix if you have a vpn, youre sorted
@@Little-Hill-Comics it's on Netflix US as well. I meant that I'm excited for when more people discover it on Netflix.
THat show literally, as in, actually for realsies, saved my life. Helped me understand myself more and why I do as I do (I got a Diag-NOSIS!) And then learn how to manage myself a hell of a lot better.
Me and Becca are BPD buds.
@@WizWiteKnight I'm so glad CXG saved your life! I saw what you did there with the diagNOSIS part lol. I do the same thing sometimes with Josh GROBANNNNNN!!!! While I don't have BPD, I am Autistic and the show helped shake loose suspicions I had pretty much my whole life that sum'n was going on. Y'all are friends friends friendly friends y'all are really friends 😉
Another show I've rewatched a number of times and will keep me loyal to a streamer providing it
I'm still shocked they cancelled 'Inside job' as we'll never know the reason as to why it could be that Netflix is very strict in trends (and unforgiving on dips in viewing) or they need immediate success, apprently they have been pulling back in subscribers but if all their doing is cancelling shows beyond first season then I find it hard to see how anyone will stay subscribed to the show if what you see won't make it past 10 episodes.
ah man I didn't know inside job was cancelled, that sucks I was really enjoying it.
Tbh I’m not. The first episode left a lot to be desired. An inmate who helps a journalist solve a crime across the ocean is basically a thin Silence of the Lambs rip-off
The biggest hurdle from a production standpoint is also the fact that network sitcoms often air while still in production and can course correct AS they go. Netflix shows are shot all at once and released all at once instead of weekly so there’s no time to make changes to character or plot lines as they go
Streaming services' constant cancelling of shows that haven't even been out long enough for most people to hear of them yet is my biggest gripe with tv/streaming for sure. They want every single show to be Stranger Things famous immediately, and if it's not then it's gone before it has a chance to gain an audience organically like all of the best shows of the past. So many shows start off slowly and gain a following over a couple of seasons, but it's becoming rarer and rarer for that chance to be given. When I was younger, I used to want to write for tv, but now even if I could I don't think I would want to just because I would never get to finish telling any story I wanted to tell. I miss the days of watching characters grow over the course of five seasons of twenty episodes each instead of one season of 8 episodes.
I miss TV shows that make me laugh. Friends has it's issues, but it's consistently funny as was Cheers and Frasier.
Yeah it's still a great show, although going back, it's hard to watch some of the '90's "haha he's gay" and the "haha Monica was fat" style of humor in some of the episodes. Will forever have a place in my heart as one of my favorite shows though. Iconic.
The humor is really lacking now. He's 100% right that jokes are more "hey remember..." vs actual *situation* based jokes. I also noticed so many of these comedies are very over-acted and more closely resemble Disney tween comedies than actual sitcoms for adults
Although The Upshaws is really really good.
Agree. I loved Frasier....I was pretty young when I watched it as well, same with Cheers but it was like a true family sitcom.
We tried to watch the last blockbuster...eh, we gave it 3 episodes I think before we gave up. It just wasn't funny and pretty cringe. I'm curious as to how a show like that and various others make it through these days.
Friends wasnt friends in first season. Office was essentially British comedy which didnt hit the 1st season. Simply put Netflix has made its money on other ppls work and tread. They refuse to let shows develop. Unless they want to pay for Sienfield, Office or friends they gotta move past serial short series dramas and give a few sitcons a 2-3 yr window to connect w audiences.
To be fair, I think a part of this may be structural. Netflix makes its money off of subscriptions, so the only way for revenue to go up is for their current customers to spend more (increasing fees, customers upgrading) or for the base to grow. And considering the millions of views Netflix gets each day, it's not going to be easy to get actionable metrics from any particular show.
But based on their behaviour, it seems like they may primarily be interested in initial hype correlating with growth. So if a show doesn't produce this correlation, then that's it. It doesn't even matter if it gets a lot of views, it has to drive growth.
In contrast, ad-based incentives are sustained by viewership alone. Netflix would still win even if a show didn't drive subscriptions, so long as the watch time made up for it.
Thanks for talking about this. You make some excellent points (as someone who just watched The Good Place on Netflix.). I want things to have a chance to find their audience when there has never been more money in media production.
Archive 81 is Amazing and they Need to continue it!
Edit
And yes we are tired of these short ass seasons. We need longer seasons.
Don't longer seasons mean more work for cast and crew?
@@rahbeeuh Exactly, which means more stable work. They don't have to worry about whether or not they have to go find work in a few months or year because of how fickle some idiot executive at deciding if a show is "good enough" to survive. Short seasons suck. Give me the traditional 20 episode seasons again any day of the week.
Schitt’s Creek was one of most amazing shows which gives same coziness and comedy with pinch of emotion like friends and Office, other than that I don’t think there’s are any other shows that good.
I think "How I met your Father" (not Netflix but bare with me) was a really good example of a show that has a decent breathing room first season but it will need more time to really grow into its full potential. I really enjoyed it but there are some growing pains in the first half and I think it should be allowed to do that. We can't just cancel shows cause they aren't immediately iconic or brilliant because almost all our favourite just weren't that upon release. Nostalgia is a powerful tool and we can forget that some shows (like Arrested Developement) weren't super appreciate upon initial release but became great through time and audience appreciation. Idk I just feel like we are so hard on media nowadays that we aren't even offering ourselves the chance to find a new great thing
exactly. im glad that himyf is renewed cause that way we can see the whole potential of the show, but netflix dont understand it. Its sad, im very excited for That 90s Show, but im going to watch it knowing itll be cancelled 1 week after
That show was the definition of terrible
The cancellation of One Day at a Time hit me so hard, that show just hooked me so much and seeing it slowly killed and later unfinished because of covid was just horrible, but what I wonder was that show was popular or at least with the ratings of the time I always saw it trending and the creator Gloria Calderon Kellett said it was succeeding, but I do know she also said she disliked that Netflix seem to never actually advertise the show.
Another thing to note is James Burrows interviews in Conan O'brien needs a friend and he mentions its seems Hollywood is not interested in sitcoms anymore even thought they are cheap to make and all you need is good writers and a good cast. I love sitcoms but it does feel to me like they are sadly becoming a dying breed
One day at a time is my comfort show and I would sell my kidneys to at least get a finished session 4
One Day At A Time’s cancellation was one of the ones I was most disappointed to see canceled.
I didn't like One Day at a Time until episode 5 of season 1.
I wish they'd just budget for one more hour long special to wrap up most of their shows. But, I think that anybody creating a show for any network or service would be well advised to make the last ordered episode one that ties up most of the loose ends and is something that is satisfying for the viewer.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I feel like Season 4 episode 7 of ODAT was the strongest episode because it does call out toxic elements of Cuban culture and hypocrisy. I feel like most representation of other cultures only highlight the good and not the negative qualities.
I think the market is evolving. The problem is that netflix has the data on what people like, but ignores it to create only the top few concepts. There are a lot of groups of off center interest that could work. But Netflix seems to be run by traditional media. Maybe the oligarchy needs to change or move out of the way. Creativity would SKYROCKET
Thankfully they have caught onto the fact that viewers really like high-quality international dramas like Dark and Squid Game, so they're funding and streaming more options like them.
Maybe then they could get rid of Emily In Paris
Also I’m VERY glad that Disenchantment is still going strong, that show is so good and I hope that Netflix lets them end that show on their own terms when they want
Great show
TBH, I have a bad feeling about Disenchantment. The last season felt rushed a lot, and I can't say if it was a mistake from the writer team, or push from executives.
I really hope for the same with Disenchantment, but I think read something saying it would probably not be renewed. I hope that’s wrong.
@@nikolaysargsyan6349I'm pretty sure they are running out of plots, the last two seasons we're pretty average compared to the rest, and it seems it can only get worse from here
To be fair, Alexa and Katie was a pretty good bittersweet sitcoms. And Mr Iglesias is such a hilarious show I mean its unbelievable how many jokes land so hard.
Hello Captain, my wife and I are busy watching "Mom", and I think you'd find it a fascinating tale of a sitcom reinventing itself. The whole secondary cast changes by the second season, characters are written out, and new ones are written in or given bigger roles. By the time the third season comes around it's almost a completely different show.
I don't explore Netflix for something new to watch (they have way too much to rifle through), so I often only come to view things that I've heard about elsewhere. Therefore, I am often not part of the first wave of viewers, coming to things a year or more after they were released. It's just easier to find high quality offerings in other platforms that aren't releasing a million things at one time. I have a few things I go to Netflix for but I'm likely keeping my subscription more out of inertia than actual watch time.
Lilihamer was my favorite Netflix sitcom from the early days… I wish they still had the old seasons available to watch
This is why new comedies (Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, and possibily now the Night Court revival) strive on network nowadays: they're not limited to short streaming episode orders, they get to be episodic, and they actually /are/ comedies instead of disguised dramas with overlong episodes (looking at Ted Lasso)
Well, NBC has adopted the streaming model for some strange reason. Look at episode orders for Young Rock, American Auto and Grand Crew. They're 10 episodes. I'm going to find out why NBC is doing that but it really makes me mad.
I can't remember whose video it was but I heard this exact argument on a video essay about FRASIER and how it would never have finished with 10/11 seasons today cuz it took them around 4 seasons to get their audience and really dig deep into the characters. They said TV Networks used to invest in shows and just give them a chance to find their voice and audience and that today, the chance is much less freely given.
That 90s Show just came out and it's a great example of something that has potential to grow. The legacy characters are always good for a cheap thrill, but we have a dozen new characters that are played by young actors with little experience and it needs time to let both the actors and writers get a feel for these new characters. It's not a perfect first season but it has that potential to improve so long as they give it time.
It was interesting that the pilot was a riff on a fairly well done 70s Show conceit (we have a keg but no tap). Not in love with the new cast working in the zombie set of the old format but time will tell
i felt like it didn't know if it should have been a more innapropriate edgy comedy or cheesy nickelodeon sitcom. At points they'd curse and talk about kegs but the overall setting and jokes felt really childish and cheesy. Also, i watched the first episode and in it a girl i assume is 13 or 14 drinks beer and the parents don't scold her on it once. like what?
I'm on episode 5 right now, and I have to say it's quite solid, better than what I expected. My only complaint would be casting. I don't think the show is particularly woke, at least by Netflix standards, and I have nothing against gay people or anything, but so far, everytime Ozzie has been on screen it has been a bummer. I hope the actor gets more comfortable with his role, but his comedic timing is off, his tone is off and I'm finding him to be butchering a lot of the scenes he is in
I hope the show can grow into something that is really good, but all in all, it has been at least somewhat decent and not a complete waste to watch
I was thinking about how modern day sitcoms are done when I was watching That 90s Show. It surprisingly wasn’t as cringey and terrible as the trailer made it seem. The way it was written does make it feel like it’s part of that 70s show, and bringing in legacy actors definitely helped. Erics daughter feels like his daughter. Some of the characters are a bit gimmicky but so were some of the characters in the original. It does feel like a Nickelodeon sitcom sometimes tho. Ozzie is my favorite out of all of them so far.
@@vgcreviews8277 that character was insufferable from the moment he appeared onscreen. Not because he’s gay, but because he’s the cross section between all the annoying traits of know-it-all, sarcastic, and “woe is me” characters. Definitely a good 50% of why I didn’t continue after episode 1.
This vid couldn’t have come at a better time. I was just looking for videos like this that talk about these kinda stuff about sitcoms.
Melissa Fumero should fire her agent as soon as possible. Just look at her works after Brooklyn 99.
- MODOK (canceled after first season)
- Blackbuster (canceled after first season)
- And now, Velma (renewed for second season but it’s god awful)
When I think of weird Netflix sitcoms, I always think of "Merry Happy Whatever." It's shot like a classic, multicam show that's intended to run forever but it's centered entirely around a girl bringing her boyfriend home for Christmas the first time, which is a premise that's extremely limited in scope and only relevant for a couple months out of the year. It only makes sense in a world where binge watching is a thing.
They also can't do animation either, it seems. At least, not without scrapping them.
Arcane, Dragon Age: Absolution, Baki Hanma, Scissor Seven, Bastard!! 2022, Spriggan 2022, Kengan Ashura, B: The Beginning, Beastars, Dorohedoro, Kakegurui, Sirius The Jeager, Eden's Zero, Tiger & Bunny and Love Death + Robots at least have chances of getting renewed. Plus there are upcoming projects that are worth getting excited about. Such as shows based on The Terminator, Gears of War, Horton Hears a Who!, Skull Island, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider and BRZRKR. These upcoming projects have the potential to save the platform before it destroys itself.
The biggest Netflix problems for me are, as mentioned, the lacklustre promotion of their own shows (hell, even Glass Onion, their big recent release, was buried away on my Netflix while Knives Out was the big main card when I logged in, bizarrely - this is in the UK, btw), and honestly just the binge format.
For some things, releasing an entire season at once is ok (although I'm now moving toward preferring it to be spaced out as the pressure to watch a whole season asap to avoid spoilers is hellish for some shows) but for sitcoms, imo the content is generally too samey and if you sit and binge them, they sort of blend into one homogenous whole that doesn't really stand out. Releasing maybe two per week and spreading it out would give these shows much more chance to breathe and feel fresher for the audience.
Hyped for the upload! Hope you had a nice holiday. This is easily becoming my favorite channel.
The only problem with New Girl is getting used to Winston, most newcomers need a few episodes to a season just to get settled in with his quirkness. Well, Jess is quirky, Winston is on a whole other level
I really wanted to like Blockbuster… but… just couldn’t do it.
2:45 Bojack creator Raphael Bob Waksberg said that they planned for a seven seasons run but had to cut one short because Netflix canceled them. They compacted the two storylines of the two season into one longer one (15 episodes in season 6 compared to 12 in every other). He also says that for him the sixth season feels rushed because of that. The original plan was for Bojack’s redemption to last a whole season and his fall another
I don’t know if new slow-burn sitcoms work in the streaming age. Shows like Golden Girls were practically engineered for syndication, and really, Netflix has reinvented that business model. That’s why old sitcoms work but new one s don’t. So long as you know the basic personalities of each character, you can turn on any episode and enjoy a self-contained story. The characters make progress and learn, but on a whole, most things don’t change. If I’m binging a show I’ve never seen, and I know that, by design, things don’t really change too much, why would I immediately want the next episode? Watching shows like Friends and Seinfeld in their day was like checking in with the gang and getting a glimpse in their lives.
The plot-driven miniseries works so much better for streaming new shows. You know the plot will evolve in the next episode.
I wonder if Dead to Me counts as a sitcom. When it was nominated for emmys it was considered a comedy series but it's like half comedy half drama
but anyway it was great and ended on its own terms (though with Christina Applegate's MS diagnosis the 3rd season was going to be the last regardless, but it was already gonna be the last one)
Sitcoms having an awful first season is practically a rite of passage
I think the reason for all of that is the format. NBC can only show a single show at a time on cable, so every choice is a commitment. There's an opportunity cost there that Netflix doesn't have to deal with. They would also order 24-episode seasons a lot of the time. That upfront investment goes a long way toward incentivizing giving shows time to breath. HBO Max has somewhat mitigated this issue by continuing to do weekly releases, and actually releasing them at a specific prime time. House of the Dragon is an event on Sunday night. You watch it at the same time as your friends, give or take. Gives you a chance to really go over every episode on Slack or w/e virtual water cooler your company has.
The irony of Netflix having a show about Blockbuster is not lost on me.
The best sitcoms require an awkward season 1.
I think one thing that Netflix and other streaming services miss with their sitcoms is that shows like the Office, Parks and Rec, Community, and 30 Rock were bound not only by the form factor but also by content restrictions of public broadcasting. And they used it to their advantage. They pushed against those boundaries and worked within those confines to great success. Adults could watch the shows and pick up on jokes that their kids may miss. Teenagers could watch the shows and feel edgy without getting in trouble with their parents.
On streaming services, writers and show runners can create a show where there are no content restrictions or time constraints. They can essentially say and do whatever they want. And then it’s not as interesting without the boundaries. This is why Space Force failed. It was the same creative team behind the Office and even starred Steve Carell. But then people got on to watch it. It was profanity laced unlike the Office which rarely swore and never dropped an F bomb. And without commercial breaks and strict 20 minute runtime, the show wasn’t as tightly edited and snappy.
I don't know, Schitts Creek was pretty adult and it was wildly successful! I think there's something else going on in the company culture of Netflix that is causing their original comedies to suffer.
Even sitcoms that have solid first seasons tend to become more enjoyable as you watch more of them. The problem with a streaming sitcom is that it needs to compete for attention with every show in existence where television sitcoms only had to compete with every other show in their timeslot, so it's harder to get people to stick with something because it'll get better later.
Great take on this! I agree part of the struggle of modern day sit-coms is getting overlooked by the volume of content out there. In the 90s (one of the best eras in sit-coms in my opinion) everybody was watching certain shows and networks really gave them a chance, and we all grew into them. Now we are too quick to switch to something else.
I actually really liked that 90s show. I hope they don’t cancel it and I hope season 2 has more than 10 episodes
I liked Leia and I liked the dynamic between Red, Kitty, and the neighbor. I also want to see what would happen if Fez became an unconventional father figure to his girlfriend's kids
personally i didn't like it. I watched the first two episodes and it seems like they couldn't figure out if they wanted to be a more innapropriate edgy show or nickelodeon sitcom.
Huge disagree.. its forced and the writing is terrible.
@@All-ze9cl the characters definitely feel more human towards the end of the season. Netflix needs to let it keep going and let these characters bake in the oven more
@@johnnyobeid6822 well that's good that it gets better. Just not my cup of tea
I'll never forgive Netflix for cancelling One Day At A Time
For me it was Everything Sucks
@@jdtroup198683 for me it was "I'm not OK with this"
i felt this way about the Joel Mchale show with Joel Mchale, which was just a remake of The Soup, but better cause he had more freedom and more fun, but they cancelled it before it had the chance to take off in popularity, meanwhile other shows that i didn't enjoy went on for multiple seasons
I was wondering where Space Force was and there it showed up towards the end! Great vid - very thorough. I always love your content. Although I’m kinda surprised you didn’t bring up Sex Education as I think that’s an incredibly successful sitcom on the platform. One of my favorites is Daybreak and I’m pretty sure that’s classified as a comedy too. Anyways, if you’re calling BoJack Horseman a sitcom then I think it’s totally fair game to bring up Sex Ed, Never Have I Ever, Everything Sucks, and other shows like that. I dunno, maybe I just wanted to hear you talk about more shows.
I could only last the first 10 minutes of blockbuster
arguably I should've given it more of a shot but it just wasn't working for me
i don't comment much but I just wanted to tell you to keep up what you been doing. I just realized I haven't missed a video of yours in over a year
I honestly feel like the binge model makes sitcoms incredibly hard to sustain, especially with Netflix insisting on short seasons. Network tv would typically run a season of 20 episodes or so. A lot of the time, they would take a short break off the air for a few weeks in the middle of the season which meant the season was being consumed and gaining steam over half a calendar year. Sitcoms work brilliantly when they balance the use of short digestible storylines that happen entirely within an episode or two AND long developing storylines that happen over the season. Crushing through a 10 episode season of a Netflix sitcom in a weekend pretty much kills the long story because it inevitably feels rushed. The best sitcom characters grow alongside you over time, but it’s difficult to attach to that growth when it happens in such a short time and then you have to wait a year plus before you get another slice of the world. By the time a season was finished airing on network tv, the next season was likely already well into production meaning the wait was never agonizing. Combine this with Netflix being blissfully ignorant to the fact that sitcoms almost always get better as the episode count goes up and they find their footing, and the future of streaming original sitcoms feels pretty bleak.
The episodic nature of many sitcoms doesn't work with the binge model of viewing. After a few episodes the jokes and scenarios all blur together and become repetitive.
Rewatching sitcoms which the viewer already knows the characters and can watch their favorite episodes on demand is why picked up, revived and 'classic' shows do so well on streaming.
You really nailed what a successfull sitcom is about - the people and relationships. And that it takes time both for a show and the audience to develop it. Blockbuster might have become that given at least one more season to get into a groove, like Parks & Rec, but Netflix only understands instand hits - not the longterm investment sitcoms require. I agree the show was not as funny as it needed to be, and some of the tropes a bit too tropey, but I love Park, Fumero and Smoove and would have beenn loyal for at least another season for that feelgood viewing you mention. I guess I just have to rewatch Brooklyn 99 for the 8th time instead.
I actually think that the quick cancellations actually makes sense given the way that shows are watched these days. Most people give a new show one or two episodes, maybe not even that much, and if it isn't clicking then they'll move on to something else. There's a lot of options, so there's no reason to watch something that you're not enjoying. Maybe a show would get better in the second season but only the people who really connected with season 1 are going to move on to season 2. Compare that to the era of live TV where you watched what was available. So you might have ended up watching a mediocre sitcom because it was on. And you might watch an episode of season 2 without having seen season 1. Nobody does that anymore.
Yess I've been thinking about it so much these days, especially with that 90s show coming out and being kinda underwhelming, that 70s show is my favourite sitcom and really a comfort show for me so I was super excited, but the new one doesn't live up to the prequel... but I'm still trying to binge watch it so that it can get renewed, I'm hoping it can improve!
If I watched a sitcom on NBC twenty years ago, it was part of a set of programming. I had relatively few alternate options. The episode would marinate for a week, giving me time to forget jokes that fell flat, and if the programming surrounding it was good, it would probably get some warm feelings by association. Today, if I'm streaming the first episode of something and jokes fall flat for seven minutes, I have hundreds of other options on the same service. I don't even have to watch a sitcom- I can switch to a comedy movie, or a stand-up performance, or decide the thing soured me on comedy for the moment and change genres entirely. And frankly, making something that isn't pleasing you stop has its own mean satisfaction.
American Vandal and Disjointed were such good shows, I was so sad when they canceled them after two season :(
I am gutted that American vandal did not continue. It’s one of my favourite shows of all time.
Netflix can't do a lot of things, like faithfully adapting an anime or video game series :D
Arcane, cyberpunk, and Castlvania
@@dogoo5867 Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, The Witcher
Nebula and curiosity stream are not creator owned. Curiosity stream was founded by the guy who invented the discovery channel. It's run by him, his daughter, a lawyer for oil and gas, and a senior advisor for private equity investing in SE Asia.
It's basically run by super villains, or the reality equivalent.
Thanks for mentioning archive 81, I really liked it, was hoping I would open social media to see it was trending but alas, another sacrifice for the shareholders.
Sitcoms are character driven instead of drama. Modern "creators" make crappy characters. The characters are barely tolerable even in a drama or horror setting. But in writing sitcoms you have to rely upon the quirks of their characters to make people feel like watching.
that 90s show is pretty good, i laughed and had a good time with it really hope it gets a season 2
I was watching a video on the making of Arrested Development, and one thing stuck out to me... the video mentioned that he showrunner had to heavily edit the episodes down to meet the limits imposed by the network (the typical 22-ish minutes for a 30-minute show). Of course, cutting your show to nicely fit in a time slot with the appropriate amount of ads isn't required for Netflix, so the edits weren't required... and well... we know the result. It's almost like the frenetic action of the quick editing was part of the show's charm.
Thank You for acknowledging the bloated running times!! It's not even about attention span the 5 extra minutes just feel like padding and is very flimsy
Netflix has just gotten worst and worst over the years.
I’m surprised you didn’t discussed Kim’s Convenience, one of the few single-cam sitcoms Netflix has made and had any level of success
Nope it was a CBC Television production from Canada. I've replied to a few other comments like this but there seems to be a general trend where people think international shows that Netflix is distributing and maybe acting as a secondary producing partner on in later seasons are "Netflix shows" when that's not the case. I blame Netflix for using their misleading originals label even for shows that aren't technically Netflix Originals. CBC also made Schitt's Creek and Working Moms, not Netflix.
When I recommend some of my favorite shows, more often than not I say "The first season is a bit meh, but it's awesome from the second one on!". It's so easy to get loads of audience feedback (not all useful of course) these days, and showrunners should get a chance to look at it and tweak their series if they're up for that.
Kind of the first to see a Captain Midnight video just consisting of Still images over just footage or clips of a film/show like his other videos.
But back on the topic I think Netflix if they want to improve and redeem themselves they need to start focusing on Quality over Quantity for specific shows (especially Sitcoms) and at the same time have future series be released weekly to draw Discussion cause ever since Disney+ launched 3 years ago and had their shows released weekly which led to Prime Video, HBO Max and Paramount+ releasing their own series weekly it led to the "binge vs weekly" debate and a lot of folks are now criticizing Netflix's binge drop practices for some of their recent and older shows and are another contributing fact for most of the critically acclaimed shows getting canceled.
One day at a time was one of the better Netflix shows, and they’ve not managed to recapture that energy again.
I mean if we’re being real, Netflix misses the mark more often than not with original programming. The few successes they have just end up becoming huge. Overall though, not good.
I liked Merry Happy Whatever, and Netflix cancelled that after 1 season. I don't know why they expected a Christmas themed sitcom would be binged all year long. It should have been a recurring holiday sitcom. Something to look forward to every year around the holidays.
Grace and Frankie is absolutely amazing. Hope they actually spin off Brianna
BOJACK is more of a sadcom than sitcom
Yep, I respect it but I'm sad enough. There is a pandemic and a huge war I want comfort food TV but it doesn't seem to exist anymore.
@@jimmyryan5880 true but there are plenty of classic comedy shows that you've still not seen.
All sitcoms i`ve ever completely watched I discovered when they where already finished or had at least 3 seasons:
himym (in year 5), new girl (4), the office (after it was finished), communtiy (finished), B99 (5), BBT (3), Scrubs (finished), modern family (7), 70s show (finished), 2 and a half men (6), friends (finished), king of queens (finished), malcolm in the middle (finished),...
and I think there are a lot like me and netflix wont have us as their sitcom fans, because all their sitcoms dont get to that point.
This was an interesting video about sitcoms. It does seem the most popular sitcoms on the platform are the ones that aren't exclusive to it. It does seem Netflix is good at allowing shows to gain more of an audience but unfortunately, it seems they aren't good at promoting their new exclusive content as well.
Want,why is Blockbuster not set in the 90s?
I actually got a Nielsen letter a couple days ago and I was surprised it talked about streaming. If you want, I can try and let you know what that process is. I haven't read the fine print yet though