Ever since the birth of Netflix, it seems that the world of television has changed. The million dollar question, however, is if this will continue to get more and more popular and whether or not online television will mean the reincarnation of classic television as we know it.
What is most fascinating is how recently Netflix has had more ratings than even HBO, who, for a long time, has done a great job of maintaining its viewership and ratings. Perhaps what people find so great about Netflix is that you are able to watch whatever you want, whenever you want at the convenience of your laptop or even smartphone.
“I prefer Netflix because it’s less intimidating to be kept in suspense of watching it every week,” says Cindy Hernandez, 17. “Plus, I’ll often forget to watch episodes. With Netflix readily available, however, I can watch shows whenever I want and work it to my time frame. I’d say that limited shows would be Netflix’s downfall, but it did what TiVo stopped doing after the mid-2000s.”
Although with television you can still record television shows, it’s something about how this generation is gravitating more towards the computer that makes Netflix the great success it is today. Television on the web is not a new idea. Regardless, it’s back in a whole new way and it is booming.
Television is not dead yet, but it may be well on its way. People still value classic television almost in the same way people still prefer real books to e-books. If you want to watch Netflix to catch up on later shows you may want to have watched some parts of the show on TV. This, however, is not always the case, especially with the new original shows Netflix has produced such as House of Cards (who earned a Primetime Emmy Award) or Orange is the New Black.
Though it may be upsetting, in some ways, that many of us do not appreciate classic television as much as we do Netflix currently, we must accept that the world is evolving and will continue to evolve if we want to stay ahead of the game and allow ourselves to adapt with the rapidly changing times.
What Netflix has done is the same thing that online newspapers have done and the same thing that other media has done—adapted. Ultimately, when things do not adapt they die out. Maybe this is just a fad- a stage- that we are currently experiencing. Nevertheless, whatever it is, it surely is a craze that has revolutionized the way we see even television– something most of us still see as the new form of media that we never really thought would die out.
So then we once again consider: will Netflix be the new development of TV? Possibly.
It used to be that Netflix only delivered TV shows and movies to homes for viewing and later changed so that they can also be easily streamed online. In this aspect, even Netflix has evolved within itself. It has expanded its borders to become the fad of the future.
“Netflix’s form of television is so successful because people don’t lose interest because of a programming block and Netflix has more ways to let more creative opportunities into shows like with Orange is the New Black, for example,” says Hernandez. “What makes Netflix so successful, you see, is its convenience and originality. If they continue doing as well as they have thus far I don’t think there’s anything that can stop them.”
To quote one of the chief content officers of Netflix: “The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.” The amazing thing is, they’ve already done it.
