7 ms·

Am I the only one who feels "Netflix Original" became a negative this year? When I first signed up, Netflix Original meant high quality shows produced/funded b

Am I the only one who feels "Netflix Original" became a negative this year? When I first signed up, Netflix Original meant high quality shows produced/funded by Netflix itself, like House Of Cards & Orange Is The New Black & Daredevil. Netflix Original meant the best TV you've ever watched. Now Netflix Original often means terrible unfunny stand-up comedy, or made-for-TV movies by big name stars phoning it in. Much of the new Netflix Original content is rated one-star - on my account I see Wet Hot American Summer, XOXO, Easy, Chelsea, A Very Murray Christmas, The Ranch, Mascots, Chewing Gum, Richie Rich, Lost & Found, all with one star. And there's a ton more. Worse is that it keeps pushing those as recommendations to me, even though it thinks I'll only rate them 1 star. I can't see myself cancelling my Netflix yet, but there have been times when I've been tempted to pause it for a month or so.

divanvisagie 10y ago
I love it when people complain about suggested content based on their preferences as if the results are the same for everyone.
- TomMarius 10y ago
  He's not complaining about the compilation, he's complaining that every single Netflix Original movie from the compilation has one star. It doesn't matter if the results are different from everyone, you can access this content on your account.
freyir 10y ago
Netflix is in a growth phase and, no surprise, they're catering a much bigger audience now. Besides all the shows you listed, it's recently aired Stranger Things, Narcos, The Crown, Longmire, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmitt, The OA, etc. These shows aren't going to appeal to everyone, but they're going to be somebody's favorite show. Daredevil never really did it for me. I thought their Wet Hot American Summer reboot was really entertaining. Go figure.
- DanBC 10y ago
  Longmire is a great example of the problem I have with "Netflix original". It started on A&E 2012 to 2014; it's produced by Warner Horizon -- how is this original to Netflix?
  - SyneRyder 10y ago
    I'm glad someone else picked up on this! Lots of the Netflix Originals aren't by Netflix at all. In Australia, The Expanse is a "Netflix Original", even though in America it's on Amazon Prime Video and was made by SyFy. Glitch is a "Netflix Original" in the US, but it was made by ABC Australia. And we have Designated Survivor as a Netflix Original in Australia, even though it's made by ABC Studios and currently airing on ABC in the US. It seems Netflix Original now just means "currently Netflix holds exclusive rights to this show in your country".
    - papercrane 10y ago
      > Glitch is a "Netflix Original" in the US, but it was made by ABC Australia. Netflix is on the production team for the second season. > It seems Netflix Original now just means "currently Netflix holds exclusive rights to this show in your country". That's not really out-of-line with current industry norms though. Larger production companies buy the rights to films made by smaller production companies and put their names on them all the time. For example, Moon comes to mind. Sony didn't produce it but it's a "Sony Picture". Or Primer, StudioCanal had nothing to do with the production but is currently listed as the production company.
  - Cthulhu_ 10y ago
    Nextflix Original is just a name for series that Netflix bought the exclusive rights to (in certain countries). There was an article the other day about an independent documentary maker that was approached by Netflix to make his documentary an Original, offering a certain amount of money (that I believe was higher than others would offer), but with the caveat that they would also give Netflix the right to make (big) alterations. The documentary maker declined.
  - 10y ago
RangerScience 10y ago
A Very Murray Christmas shows up as 3.5 stars for me. Note that the stars you see are how much Netflix thinks that YOU will like the show, not how much EVERYONE likes the show.
- dimillian 10y ago
  And this is the most confusing part of Netflix for me. I'm very selective in what I watch, and Netflix partly know it, but the star system is wrong. I have to check IMDB every time when I see a show or a movie with an interesting title/plot but 1 or 2 stars. It's almost as if they don't want me to watch their content. I would prefer a lot better if it's displayed the average rating on Netflix or from IMDB for example.
  - RangerScience 10y ago
    "The problem isn't thinking machines, it's letting machines do the thinking for you." Whether powered by algos or people, any rating system is "letting a machine do the thinking for you". Take the ten(?) minutes you spend researching the thing to watch ten minutes of the thing, and I bet you more often than not you'll know whether you want to watch it.
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  That makes sense. But in that case, it's bizarre to put 1-star recommendations in the "Top Picks For You" section. Feels like that section should be exclusively 4 & 5 star picks, no? [I'm glad someone got a higher rating for Very Murray Christmas, I like some of his movies. Perhaps I'll give it a try.]
  - ghaff 10y ago
    It's "OK." Not remotely one of Murray's best films but hardly a waste of time. On the broader topic, I'm not sure anyone has really figured out how to do recommendations well whether film, music, TV, restaurants, or other products. And the more "clever" and personalized a system tries to be, the more likely it is to throw out some really bizarre recommendations.
thirdsun 10y ago
I agree. I think their originals have become rather formulaic. That may be due to the sheer amount of content they are producing but to me it seems as if they try to make use of established categories, genres, themes and styles over and over again. Don't get me wrong - it's not bad content but I miss the willingness to experiment, to ignore their statistics to a degree and to stop working on faster horses. That's what makes exceptional content that stands out.
dagw 10y ago
I think it's more of a sign that Netflix is trying to go more niche. Instead of releasing a few show that everybody kind of likes, they're trying to make more shows that will each a have different smaller core audience that loves it.
TarpitCarnivore 10y ago
I wont be cancelling the service any time soon, but I agree a lot of the content is just not that great. Netflix is basically going with an approach of providing as much content as they can based on viewership data. The problem is when you do this the quality really begins to show. Further everyone is raving over Netflix and their quality with single seasons, but we're seeing what happens on shows that hit 2, 3, 4 seasons. OITNB is getting stale, House of Cards declined hard, Kimmy Schmidt season 1 & 2 were vastly different in feel, the Marvel shows are really beginning to turn into slogs, etc.
addicted 10y ago
After loving the first 2 seasons of Black Mirror I couldn't watch the 1st episode of the 3rd season till the end (this one was Netflix produced).
- abandonliberty 10y ago
  Black mirror episodes are often very divisive. I found the season to be pretty good, though a bit kinder and gentler than before.

divanvisagie 10y ago

I love it when people complain about suggested content based on their preferences as if the results are the same for everyone.

TomMarius 10y ago
He's not complaining about the compilation, he's complaining that every single Netflix Original movie from the compilation has one star. It doesn't matter if the results are different from everyone, you can access this content on your account.

freyir 10y ago

Netflix is in a growth phase and, no surprise, they're catering a much bigger audience now. Besides all the shows you listed, it's recently aired Stranger Things, Narcos, The Crown, Longmire, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmitt, The OA, etc. These shows aren't going to appeal to everyone, but they're going to be somebody's favorite show. Daredevil never really did it for me. I thought their Wet Hot American Summer reboot was really entertaining. Go figure.

DanBC 10y ago
Longmire is a great example of the problem I have with "Netflix original". It started on A&E 2012 to 2014; it's produced by Warner Horizon -- how is this original to Netflix?
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  I'm glad someone else picked up on this! Lots of the Netflix Originals aren't by Netflix at all. In Australia, The Expanse is a "Netflix Original", even though in America it's on Amazon Prime Video and was made by SyFy. Glitch is a "Netflix Original" in the US, but it was made by ABC Australia. And we have Designated Survivor as a Netflix Original in Australia, even though it's made by ABC Studios and currently airing on ABC in the US. It seems Netflix Original now just means "currently Netflix holds exclusive rights to this show in your country".
  - papercrane 10y ago
    > Glitch is a "Netflix Original" in the US, but it was made by ABC Australia. Netflix is on the production team for the second season. > It seems Netflix Original now just means "currently Netflix holds exclusive rights to this show in your country". That's not really out-of-line with current industry norms though. Larger production companies buy the rights to films made by smaller production companies and put their names on them all the time. For example, Moon comes to mind. Sony didn't produce it but it's a "Sony Picture". Or Primer, StudioCanal had nothing to do with the production but is currently listed as the production company.
- Cthulhu_ 10y ago
  Nextflix Original is just a name for series that Netflix bought the exclusive rights to (in certain countries). There was an article the other day about an independent documentary maker that was approached by Netflix to make his documentary an Original, offering a certain amount of money (that I believe was higher than others would offer), but with the caveat that they would also give Netflix the right to make (big) alterations. The documentary maker declined.
- 10y ago

RangerScience 10y ago

A Very Murray Christmas shows up as 3.5 stars for me. Note that the stars you see are how much Netflix thinks that YOU will like the show, not how much EVERYONE likes the show.

dimillian 10y ago
And this is the most confusing part of Netflix for me. I'm very selective in what I watch, and Netflix partly know it, but the star system is wrong. I have to check IMDB every time when I see a show or a movie with an interesting title/plot but 1 or 2 stars. It's almost as if they don't want me to watch their content. I would prefer a lot better if it's displayed the average rating on Netflix or from IMDB for example.
- RangerScience 10y ago
  "The problem isn't thinking machines, it's letting machines do the thinking for you." Whether powered by algos or people, any rating system is "letting a machine do the thinking for you". Take the ten(?) minutes you spend researching the thing to watch ten minutes of the thing, and I bet you more often than not you'll know whether you want to watch it.
SyneRyder 10y ago
That makes sense. But in that case, it's bizarre to put 1-star recommendations in the "Top Picks For You" section. Feels like that section should be exclusively 4 & 5 star picks, no? [I'm glad someone got a higher rating for Very Murray Christmas, I like some of his movies. Perhaps I'll give it a try.]
- ghaff 10y ago
  It's "OK." Not remotely one of Murray's best films but hardly a waste of time. On the broader topic, I'm not sure anyone has really figured out how to do recommendations well whether film, music, TV, restaurants, or other products. And the more "clever" and personalized a system tries to be, the more likely it is to throw out some really bizarre recommendations.

thirdsun 10y ago

I agree. I think their originals have become rather formulaic. That may be due to the sheer amount of content they are producing but to me it seems as if they try to make use of established categories, genres, themes and styles over and over again. Don't get me wrong - it's not bad content but I miss the willingness to experiment, to ignore their statistics to a degree and to stop working on faster horses. That's what makes exceptional content that stands out.

dagw 10y ago

I think it's more of a sign that Netflix is trying to go more niche. Instead of releasing a few show that everybody kind of likes, they're trying to make more shows that will each a have different smaller core audience that loves it.

TarpitCarnivore 10y ago

I wont be cancelling the service any time soon, but I agree a lot of the content is just not that great. Netflix is basically going with an approach of providing as much content as they can based on viewership data. The problem is when you do this the quality really begins to show. Further everyone is raving over Netflix and their quality with single seasons, but we're seeing what happens on shows that hit 2, 3, 4 seasons. OITNB is getting stale, House of Cards declined hard, Kimmy Schmidt season 1 & 2 were vastly different in feel, the Marvel shows are really beginning to turn into slogs, etc.

addicted 10y ago

After loving the first 2 seasons of Black Mirror I couldn't watch the 1st episode of the 3rd season till the end (this one was Netflix produced).

abandonliberty 10y ago
Black mirror episodes are often very divisive. I found the season to be pretty good, though a bit kinder and gentler than before.