6 ms·

> comparable to HBO’s tentpole programming? I think this misses the forest for the tentpoles. Right now HBO's original programming is one episode per week of:

by Steko 8y ago

> comparable to HBO’s tentpole programming? I think this misses the forest for the tentpoles. Right now HBO's original programming is one episode per week of: Sharp Objects, Succession, Last Week Tonight, Vice and a Bill Maher special. Yes I think Netflix's better new content competes with that. Netflix supplements that with a huge array of quality third party tv shows. Non-English content is another set of moats for netflix, I wouldn't be shocked to learn that Netflix Japan has more hours of original-ish (lots of it is co-produced) content per year than HBO. Korean and Spanish might be behind but not too far and Chinese and Hindi are just a couple years away.

throwawaymath 8y ago
To be fair, you chose the bottom quartile of HBO content (two of those are not even the same genre of entertainment). Netflix's best content does compete with HBO, but it sure seems like it takes a lot of greenlights just to get there. I'm not really talking about how large of a selection either platform has, either. I don't think they should even directly compete. HBO's niche is precisely that its new content is generally of a higher bar than Netflix's (or other platforms). Strictly speaking, Netflix simply doesn't have a show like The Wire or The Sopranos. Those are cult phenomenon (and deservedly so). On the other hand, HBO also offers greater freedom and creative control to innovate in narrative storytelling. House of Cards fourth wall breaking is the closest I think Netflix has come to this (and after that maybe Stranger Things). But the gigantic ensemble cast of Game of Thrones and the heavy use of non-linear timeframes in Westworld are somewhat unimaginable in hithertoseen Netflix content.
- Steko 8y ago
  > I'm not really talking about how large of a selection either platform has, either. I don't think they should even directly compete. I don't think you can avoid the quantity argument, especially if you're going to hold up The Wire and The Sopranos, two shows that wrapped years before Netflix even got into the content game. Yes Netflix doesn't have any original content I've seen as good as The Wire or The Sopranos but they pair their many A- and B+ shows with the best of AMC (Breaking Bad, Mad Men) and British TV (Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders, UK Office), along with most of FX and Showtime's catalog and a large number of current and classic standouts (Twin Peaks, Fawlty Towers, Arrested Development, Cheers, etc.). If you want to watch high quality TV, there's a good argument that Netflix is absolutely where it's at. And if you're also interested in any kind of genre/non-highbrow TV, Netflix absolutely swamps HBO in pretty much every category.

by Steko 8y ago

throwawaymath 8y ago

To be fair, you chose the bottom quartile of HBO content (two of those are not even the same genre of entertainment). Netflix's best content does compete with HBO, but it sure seems like it takes a lot of greenlights just to get there. I'm not really talking about how large of a selection either platform has, either. I don't think they should even directly compete. HBO's niche is precisely that its new content is generally of a higher bar than Netflix's (or other platforms). Strictly speaking, Netflix simply doesn't have a show like The Wire or The Sopranos. Those are cult phenomenon (and deservedly so). On the other hand, HBO also offers greater freedom and creative control to innovate in narrative storytelling. House of Cards fourth wall breaking is the closest I think Netflix has come to this (and after that maybe Stranger Things). But the gigantic ensemble cast of Game of Thrones and the heavy use of non-linear timeframes in Westworld are somewhat unimaginable in hithertoseen Netflix content.

Steko 8y ago
> I'm not really talking about how large of a selection either platform has, either. I don't think they should even directly compete. I don't think you can avoid the quantity argument, especially if you're going to hold up The Wire and The Sopranos, two shows that wrapped years before Netflix even got into the content game. Yes Netflix doesn't have any original content I've seen as good as The Wire or The Sopranos but they pair their many A- and B+ shows with the best of AMC (Breaking Bad, Mad Men) and British TV (Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders, UK Office), along with most of FX and Showtime's catalog and a large number of current and classic standouts (Twin Peaks, Fawlty Towers, Arrested Development, Cheers, etc.). If you want to watch high quality TV, there's a good argument that Netflix is absolutely where it's at. And if you're also interested in any kind of genre/non-highbrow TV, Netflix absolutely swamps HBO in pretty much every category.