A lot has been made recently about original television programming being produced by Internet properties. The prime example is House of Cards on Netflix, but now a spate of original programming is hitting Amazon, and what I've seen so far is great.
Admittedly, I've only watched the pilot episode of Zombieland, but it was hilarious. Betas looks funny as well, and who doesn't love John Goodman, especially when cast as a fratty dirtbag Senator like he is in Alpha House?
It's all a part of Amazon's push into every part of our lives, and the Kindle TV box looks like it's in the pipeline. More and more viewers are moving exclusively to streaming, so I'm curious as to what the cable companies' response will be.
The cable companies have sucked for a long, long time. They've refused to give viewers a la carte pricing on channels, their Internet service is often awful and is now feeling the heat from Google Fiber, and their phone offerings are virtually a non-product these days as more and more people disconnect their home phones in favor of their mobiles.
The one-two punch of faster Internet speeds combined with original streaming content could be the end of cable TV as we know it. If the quality of the new original content is any indication, Amazon and Netflix are able to bring the goods. Is it time to short the cable companies?
I'll leave you with the trailer for Zombieland. If you liked the movie, you're gonna love the TV show. Deliciously twisted:
Sorry Eddie, saw Zombieland and thought it was amateur. I think they did a really piss poor job with casting--which was really what made the movie so great with Tallahassee' craziness and Wichita's perfect snarkiness. I'll see another episode or two to give it a shot but I am not optimistic.
Saw Alphahouse with John Goodman about the 4 senators who share in a house in DC. Was decent and I would willing to see more. Right now the problem I am finding with Amazon is that the shows lack that "high quality" feel like those made by Netflix. Amazon feels like basic cable and Netflix's fhows could all go on HBO without a second's hesitation or most viewers knowing the difference.
I'm not sure I would go so far as to short cable companies, as at the end of the day you are still getting access to the internet through them. Granted, Google is absolutely threatening to upset that model with their fiber optic rollout which looks pretty awesome IMO. As far as content, House of Cards was absolutely amazing and I love the idea that all the episodes can be released at once for your enjoyment. I don't have an issue paying for premium content when it is good, and it is damn good. I can't speak for Amazon's content as I am one of the five people left on this planet who isn't a prime user but If it ends up being good that might change my mind pretty quickly.
@Gekko I can see where if you're a die hard fan of the move, Woody Harrelson is tough to replace, hell, all of them are tough to replace. But it honestly had me laughing throughout, and when the little girls busts out with, "This is fucked up" at the end I died laughing. It's better than anything I've seen recently on regular TV anyway.
Also, I just watched the first episode of Betas, and it was funny too. I think they're making the right move by rolling out comedies first because they hook people and they're cheaper to make than some space opera. Overall I think it bodes well for Amazon original content. I'd pay to watch it, anyway.
I've watched a few of them and found only 2 worth finishing. The "Onion News Network" is pretty good imo, and I think that one will get picked up. "Betas" is the other one I was able to finish, and is quite entertaining as well. It even touches a bit on the VC side of Palo Alto, so of course I am a bit biased towards it, as there is a serious lack of IB shows. Haven't tried Zombieland, but I thought the movie was awesome, so I will have to check it out. Overall I'm glad to see this type of original programming where creativity is able to flow more freely.
Checking out the pilots as soon as I get off work..
The push that Netflix and Amazon are making makes absolute sense from both the consumer and content creation perspective.
Really curious to see how the quality of original IPTV content evolves. House of Cards is fairly big budget and it seems to have paid off so far for Netflix. Creatives are now lining up to pitch ideas to these guys and I would imagine we see some really good exclusives released in the near future.
Releasing comedy first does make sense from an economic perspective, but the genre is often constrained by regional tastes / preferences. As Netflix and Amazon start to really scale internationally, I think they will start focusing on content that has wider appeal to a transatlantic audience.
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