What Does Netflix Still Having Going for It?

Image via Netflix

I got Netflix for the first time in 2012. Oh it was a magical time — experiencing the freedom of college and binge-watching late into the wee hours of the morning with my roommates seemed novel at the time, and maybe because it kind of was. Back then, Netflix was ahead of the innovative curve, brimmed with the most popular television shows on cable all at my fingertips. Hours upon hours of ‘South Park’, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’, ‘Scrubs’, and so many other shows kept my roommates and I up far later than we should have been on weeknights, but by god it was worth it.

Nearly seven years later the streaming landscape has changed dramatically. If Netflix was a physical grocery store, let’s say, you would no longer be able to find most big name brands, but an assortment of lower priced, Netflix-produced goods. Most of the cable television shows I learned to love in their entirety thanks to Netflix are now gone, replaced by sometimes questionable in-house productions. Sure, there are Netflix gems — just take a look at ‘Stranger Things’ — but the more of the company’s own shows I try to watch, the more I am disappointed by flimsy acting and subpar production quality.

I’m not usually in the mood to watch a movie after a long day — my brain wants something easy, comfortable and tailored for my short, stereotypically-millennial attention span. And I’m assuming, actually scratch that, I know I’m not the only late 20-something who feels this way. It’s why most people I meet around the same age who have Netflix have rewatched ‘Parks and Rec’, ‘The Office’ and ‘Arrested Development’ more than once — that’s all that’s left from the pre-original content Netflix days. It gives us hilarity and comfort from venturing out into the unknown to choose a new show to watch (God forbid).

I can understand why the company has been doing so well over the years and share prices have continued to rise. Netflix’s movie library makes Hulu’s movie library look like a barren wasteland, and continues to get recent theatrical releases in its collection (Star Wars: The Last Jedi). From a television perspective the creative possibilities for Netflix are endless, and the company is willing to dish out millions to create and produce shows, some of which are quite incredible. It’s why I can’t seem to cancel my subscription no matter how much I may want to.