The Story Lab 2016 – Blog Post Week Six

This weeks readings and classes surrounded web series. With streaming companies like Netflix and Stan on the rise, it’s a no-brainer that web series are weaving their own path in mainstream media. But, unlike the other 1.89 million (and counting) Australians that have access to thousands of TV shows and Movies through the program, I am yet to venture into the Netflix world.

Why? If you asked any of my friends or family, they would tell you that without a doubt, I would have an account. I am the pop culture, internet loving, technology obsessed member of the family, so why wouldn’t I have an account?

Web series have always been something I’ve shied away from. While I know different (I assure you, I do) I can never seem to shake the argument; ‘well, if it was really any good, why hasn’t a production company/station picked it up?’ Please, don’t get me wrong, I understand that web series are great for a niche market, with people looking for particular stories and scenarios that a producer wouldn’t be caught dead putting on their TV stations. I’m also aware that web series are a platform for people to begin their filmmaking, writing, acting, etc careers – after all, we all have to start somewhere – unfortunately we’re not all born brilliant at what we love.

The immediacy of Netflix and it’s likewise streaming opponents is something I can understand. People want to watch what they want, when they want it. Gone are the days of hearing “Next week on…” and who even needs to hear “previously on…” when you’ve been watching the same show for the past 9 hours. And cliff hangers? No such thing. Not when you have the ability to flick to the next episode and find the resolution. But I also see other positive, such as how the money people spend on maintaining an account can, in some way, benefit the shows they’re watching (speaking in contradiction to pirating online).

So yes, I understand the benefits (including the plenty more I haven’t listed), but it will take much more to convince me otherwise. I think, for me, it really comes down to quality. I like to watch well produced, well acted, brilliant plotted shows. I like to be wowed – to be hurled into a world so realistic the fourth wall is never broken. Like the majority of audiences, I live a mediocre life. I know what it’s like to live it – so when I sit down to watch TV, to escape, I want anything other than mediocre.

One mans trash, is another mans treasure 

However, I am aware than an opinion on quality comes down to the individual. What I deem a masterpiece, another may deem a pile of trash, and that’s ok, because we’re all looking for something different. I am sure there are little diamonds out there in the Netflix universe that would snag my attention, because, I know Netflix contains some of the biggest names in the TV industry. House of Cards, Daredevil, Orange is the New Black and Arrested Development are just a few to mention. But take a closer look at whose involved in the shows… Kevin Spacey, Stan Lee and even Fox studios. These aren’t your average web series. These are TV quality shows put onto a more accessible platform. If Netflix were to shut down tomorrow (gasp!) there would be a TV station or production company sitting on the sidelines, ready to catch these types of shows, ready to mass produce them. So yes, there is quality out there – but it’s the issue of their platform that leaves me with questions.

For anyone that knows me (or anyone that’s read the blog), knows that I’m a HUGE Marvel fan. And yet, here I sit, still not having watched Daredevil. Despite the fact I have been assured by many out there that it is a brilliant series (of course it is – could you imagine the multi million dollar company of Marvel producing anything less?), I am in no way inclined to watch it. Why? For the simple fact that it’s on Netflix. To me, putting a new show on Netflix is almost a way of downgrading it. Because Daredevil sits on the web platform, I feel like it’s story isn’t central or detrimental to the Marvel Universe as a whole. If it were, Marvel would be shoving it at us on the big screen yelling ‘Here! look at this!’, not leaving it to the side where only people who pay a contract to another company could see it.

I also worry for the traditional form of the TV show. As I mentioned, cliff hangers aren’t such a big thing – not when the prime audiences sit back and binge watch. The key elements that make up a TV show don’t necessarily need to exist anymore. Sure, it still costs to get your show out into the world, but not as much as it would to create a production that lands a tv-network deal.
Last week, I was shown the first two episodes of The Ranch, a show about ‘A former semi-pro football player returns home to help run the family business with his brother.’ Now I couldn’t care about the actual plot, but what drew me in was the casting of Danny Masterson and Ashton Kutcher. For anyone who doesn’t know the pair, they starred together on the sitcom show ‘That 70’s show” for eight years. And, being a massive fan of that show, I headed to The Ranch, to see what they could do. After all, who doesn’t love seeing favourite actors reunite?

The Ranch (2016)

That 70’s Show 1998-2006

By now it shouldn’t surprise you that I was left utterly disappointed. Aside from the acting, the show lacked…everything. I don’t think I laughed once, while I was constantly cringing at the shows setting (literally… the shows set). And I hadn’t gone in with a bad mind either – before starting, I was truely interested to see if I could be swayed to the Netflix world, to what it could do. I wanted to find another series with Danny and Ashton that I could enjoy as much as That 70’s. But unfortunately, the shows quality really didn’t live up to my expectations.

Another reason I feel as though I don’t connect to the world of the web-series is because I don’t deem myself a fan of any particular niche group. I mentioned before I am mediocre, and that I am. I love my crime shows and my supernatural shows, all of which are already  accessible to me.  So its ‘s in all honesty that I say that I am not trying to sway people off Netflix or web series. I think it’s absolutely brilliant on account of I am all for accessible media. I also admire it’s ability to capture niche markets, and love the idea that it can give people something they can’t find anywhere else. I also love that it supplies a platform for up and coming filmmakers to get their shows noticed. Unfortunately though, at this stage (never say never) I am yet to be held captured by one of these shows, and for now, I will remain Netflix-less until swayed otherwise.