Netflix CEO: There’s “Not Nearly Enough” TV | Hacker News Reader

Netflix CEO: There’s “Not Nearly Enough” TV

techcrunch.com

There's not enough TV worth watching.

IMO, it's about equal parts of TV show quality dropping and other forms of entertainment becoming cheaper and more available. At my office plenty of people got into The Witcher 3, but nobody talks about TV.

Something like that, yeah. That's how I understood it.

We're re-watching Arrested Development because we can't find anything else to follow.

Currently waiting for new seasons of:

   * Sunny in Philly
   * Curb your Enthusiasm
   * Game of Thrones

So.. I'd say he's right. We did try Halt and Catch Fire and other shows but honestly there isn't' nearly enough 'good' TV for our household to watch

I guess it depends what you're in to and how much you consume. I really like dramas and avoid reality tv. I also tend to watch one episode of something only during weeknights. The last few series I've worked through have been: * The Knick * Parks and Rec * Orphan Black

Next I plan to catch up on the most recent seasons of: * Orange is the new Black * Silicon Valley * True Detective

I seem to find new shows faster than I can catch up to old ones.

I was skeptical going in for "Orange is the new Black", but damn...I haven't binged watched like that in a long time...

Was TV ever better than Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Sopranos, etc etc?

Every era of TV had its gems, but for every Seinfeld in the 90s there were 10 "The Nanny"s.

1 of those shows is still on TV. Sopranos ended all the way back in 2007.

Anyway, from a business standpoint only having 2 or 3 good shows mean people get out of the habit. Fox fed viewers from Simpsons into American Dad and Family guy, but when most channels are filled with junk people got out of the habit. When The walking Dead has a bad season there is nothing keeping people tuning into AMC.

Think filler B TV like Roseanne or Home Improvement the kind of show where the mass of humanity don't just turn them off even if nobody is lining up for a new episode.

PS: It's also all the same formulas and if you like it that's great for you. But, we are missing a lot of the off the wall TV like the twilight zone or MST3k.

> But, we are missing a lot of the off the wall TV like the twilight zone or MST3k.

Black Mirror? Rick and Morty's pretty off the wall. Intense nihilism, interesting sci-fi concepts, "what if" ideas carried far enough that they become horrifying more often than not, et c. I haven't gotten around to True Detective yet (how are people in this thread watching so much TV that they're running out of good content?!?) but I understand it didn't/doesn't exactly follow one of the usual formulas.

MST3K-influenced shows are all web-only AFAIK, so it's not "TV" but there's more content of that sort than ever.

The Black Mirror is an interesting case. It's got 7 episodes over 3 years and is exactly the kind of show Netflix wants so there going to produce another 12.

Honestly, I think really demonstrates a failing of TV and not a success. Like how firefly got 1/2 a season @ 14 episodes.

The Nanny was not that bad! Not Game of Thrones, but there's a place for those kind of sitcoms.

I really wanted to say "Small Wonder", but that ended in 1989.

TV has never been better. The amount of quality shows is astounding. From Sopranos til today has been a TV golden age.

There isn't enough TV for Netflix because Netflix sells TV to binge watchers who always want the next show.

FX wants to sell high end content at a premium. They don't want so much TV that anyone can find great rerun content on Netflix. FX wants you to watch a new episode of the Americans. They don't want you to binge watch 8 seasons of X-Files.

Netflix actually benefits if content is cheap. FX benefits if content is expensive.

There's way too much good TV. So much. Way too much for anyone to watch.

I found it interesting but entirely unsurprising when I realized I watched more Netflix than TV (and when the latter dropped to zero).

I found it far more surprising when I realized I watched more YouTube than Netflix.

I sometimes wonder why TechCrunch still exists.

Netflix CEO - then order up more than the measly 10 shows per season of Trailer Park Boys. Episodes...let's go.

Says the guy with an extreme vested interest in more TV watching. [eye roll]

Says the guy that has bet heavily that creating more TV will pay off handsomely.

Actually, no. Netflix has every incentive for you to pay for a monthly membership and use as little of their product as possible, as they have to pay licensing for each show you watch, the bandwidth, etc.

Production studios that sell ads, they have a vested interest in you watching more TV, as the more you watch the more ads they can sell.

CEO of <insert company here> says there is not enough demand for <insert their product here>.

And yes, I know he is saying there is plenty of demand, so he needs more product, but the point is an extremely biased agenda.

there's “Not Nearly Enough” non-watchbait TV.

*fixed

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