La Ron S. Readus
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The Netflix Binge Watch Scare (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2019-09-09 20:00:02 +0000 UTC
Readers, I wanna assume that it’s been a minute since I had to let people know that a thing the internet said was gonna happen isn’t gonna happen
Unfortunately, I know better.
Part of me wanted to say that I haven’t had to do this since I burst the bubble about the rumor of Sega creating a Dreamcast 2 console early in the life of my channel
Then I had to think about it, and immediately remembered that I recently made a video explaining the difference between Daniel Craig’s James Bond and Lashawna Lynch’s 007 in April of 2020’s “No Time To Die.”
I clearly give humanity too much credit.
But by the time this video is out, you have probably been made aware of the situation.
If not? (Pauses, then smiles) HI! Let’s talk about Netflix!
More specifically something that Netflix has been doing since 2016 that’s beginning to get a bit of a resurgence.
/You see in October of 2019, Netflix will be releasing its original reality show Rhythm + Flow, which has Chance The Rapper and Cardi B judging an American Idol like competition to find America’s next big hip-hop artist/ trailer
Now this isn’t the first time Netflix has hosted reality competition shows, let alone produced its own. But this IS the first time that the like will opt out of the service’s traditional full season availability in favor of weekly episodic releases.
/And simultaneously The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show -- a famous reality competition show Netflix has the streaming rights to that’s currently airing in the UK -- is ALSO following suit with that same strategy on Netflix, currently being implemented with the seventh collection by releasing one episode a week. That way Netflix in the US watchers can stay up to date with the show as it airs in the UK and not have to wait months after its initial run is finished before its available to watch in its entirety state-side./
Now as I stated earlier Readers, this isn’t Netflix’s first rodeo with once a week episodic releases.
The first was Chelsea Handler’s talk show “Chelesa,” which premiered in 2016 and ran for 2 seasons
Then Joel McHale and Michelle Wolf took a whack at it with their shows before each of them getting cancelled before their first seasons even finished.
But despite my opinions on whether or not they were capable of establishing something outside of their binge watching format, Netflix finally struck late night gold with Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj in 2018, which is currently 4 seasons in and airing new episodes every Sunday.
Then of course there was the hybrid of traditional TV and binge-watching a complete season that not only they tested out, but actually worked out in Netflix’s favor
/With The Get Down, Disenchantment and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina having the first half of their first seasons released, then taking a mid-season break before releasing the remaining episodes/ cuts from all 3 trailers
So yeah, the handling of these two reality shows aren’t Netflix’s first rodeo when it comes to experimenting with ways of distributing content outside of the binge watch formula that they’re known for
However, the reason why it feels that way is because it was presented to us in the form of misinformative clickbait, thanks to the website ComicBook.com
/Who through the headline attached to the article on the matter made it sound like Netflix was going to give up dropping complete seasons of contracted and original shows all-together, using Rhythm + Flow and The Great British Baking Show as the “Multiple” shows it would be making the change to./ https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2019/09/02/netflix-dropping-binge-shows-experiment/
I mean, yes; technically 2 is in fact a multiple of one. But if you’re bringing that up, you’re clearly being an asshole.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: But La’Ron, this is just one website using clickbait. How much damage and misinformation can one website spread?
The answer to that question, is a lot.
/Because with the release of that article, multiple websites have referenced it as a source and named their articles about the news similarly, implying that this was a MAJOR CHANGE that Netflix was gonna go through./ various headline and source images
So much, that actual consumers were starting to get worried that Netflix was gonna change right outta the blue
/And Netflix had no choice but to address both their customers and the media outlets who sourced the ComicBook.com article in order to do damage control regarding how the misinformation was spread/ pics of tweets and update adjustments/ various correction images
So if you’re one of those individuals who was legit worried, let me be the first to let you know that Netflix is not doing away with their binge watching brand.
However, if you’re one of those individuals who weren’t fooled by the clickbait but still wondering how these media outlets were able to string clickbait that was so successful that Netflix THEMSELVES had to intervene?
Well, I have a theory. And it involves Disney Plus
You see, starting November 12, 2019, Disney’s streaming service Disney+ will be the only way consumers can legally stream the majority of Disney-owned properties.
Their Day One properties will include titles from Marvel Studios like Captain Marvel and Iron Man 3
Every Pixar movie save Toy Story 4
The Disney Plus exclusive Lady and the Tramp movie, and both the prequel and the original Star Wars trilogies. And of course, that’s not even scratching the surface.
/Because one of their original series that’ll be released on Day One will be LucasFilms’ very first live-action Star Wars television series, “The Mandalorian.” The thing about the Mandalorian however, is that like with Hulu’s original series -- whos Head of Content Craig Erwich stated that they want to preserve the element of water cooler talk that television provides -- The Mandalorian and other Disney Plus exclusive shows will only be releasing new episodes every week/ The Mandalorian Trailer, Hulu - LA Times
Of course, part of this decision definitely came from Disney’s agreement with Comcast in May of 2019, giving them complete control over Hulu...
...In order to gain access to their technologies and use what they’ve studied to enhance Disney Plus.
But with Disney Plus, the reveal of it’s day one and year one line-up, and how the service will operate upon its launch being the talk of the town
Not only are news and media sources going to make it seem that the upcoming arrival of Disney Plus means that Netflix is in trouble for the sake of clickbait as seen by ComicBook.com
But they’re also going to embellish said clickbait by taking a very small no big deal ass thing regarding how one or two shows will be operating, and imply in their headline that it’ll be the status quo for the entire service moving forward.
The only difference here is that people have been so vocal about clickbait when it comes to situations like the Netflix binge watch scare
That because they only read the misleading title or the Facebook/Twitter post promoting the article, they don’t read the actual article -- mostly out of protest of the clickbait tactics --
And take what they’ve read regarding the promotion of the article at face value if it sounds direct enough.
It’s because of that, things like this happen, and people and companies like Netflix have to go on social media to provide damage control to their now worried fanbase.
That’s why unless you’re just poking fun at the subject matter at hand, I’m a HUGE advocate for fact-checking multiple sources as opposed to just going off of a headline.
Thanks to ComicBook.com, there have been plenty of entertainment sources that implied in their headlines that what Netflix is doing with these two shows is happening across the board.
And if Netflix themselves didn’t step in and correct them, that misinformation would’ve continued to spread.
So fact check, and fact check often. And if you find a source you trust over the course that doesn’t rely on heavy misinformation clickbait, keep it as a resource.
Because the reality of the situation is that clickbait headlines aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But just because they’re here to stay, doesn’t mean that they get a free pass from us.
