I think Vulture nails the buzz-building conundrum that Netflix’s “House of Cards” is gonna deal with by releasing all episodes of a season at the same time.
Is this a review of Netflix’s House of Cards, a partial review, or a review-in-progress? That I’d struggle over what to call it says a lot about the significance of the streaming giant’s first original series, a Beltway drama starring Kevin Spacey and executive produced by David Fincher. Netflix put the whole thing up at once Thursday at midnight, frustrating recap culture’s junkie like hunger to micro-analyze each chapter and guess what’ll happen next.
Having watched the show, I agree; it’s meant to be binge-viewed but the way great shows (anything on HBO, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc.) build viewer buzz is by critical reviews, dissecting huge turning points in the story (which are then satirized on national television), etc. and “House of Cards” doesn’t have any of that well deserved publicity.
Or maybe Netflix lives in a post-PR world, where their data analytics team can help target people with the show and thereby generate their viewership.
Either way, for Netflix to beat HBO they need to become a cultural juggernaut and for that to happen, they should release their shows on an episodic bases so the nation can start talking about their shows.
Thoughts? Holler in your tweets.
Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him the longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of the confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.
