Suits, Ted Lasso, and the Rise of Comfort TV: Is the Desire For Easy Viewing Creating a Barren Streaming Landscape?

Perhaps you’ve got had this expertise:

You hear about an fascinating film or present, otherwise you bear in mind an outdated favourite, and you motive that because it’s a well-known title, it is a number of years outdated, and you subscribe to a number of streaming providers, it is best to be capable to watch it free of charge someplace.

Then you conduct the analysis that is crucial to seek out something in the huge streaming panorama, and you notice that you just’re gonna need to shell out to lease or purchase this factor.

Or worse, that movie or collection merely isn’t accessible. Anywhere.

If you are fortunate, you’ll be able to go on Amazon and have the DVD delivered in a couple of days, however you have not seen your DVD participant since Obama was in workplace, and you want one thing to look at now.

From comedy classics like Cocoon to Oscar winners like Il Postino to beloved youngsters’s films like The Brave Little Toaster to motion favorites like James Cameron’s The Abyss, the record of traditional movies which can be unavailable for streaming is lengthy and miserable.

And then there are the TV exhibits:

Boston Public, Get Smart, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Drew Carey Show, Murphy Brown, Homicide: Life on the Street, Chicago Hope, Knots Landing, thirtysomething … the record goes on and on.

So what is going on on right here?

In an age when Suits was the most-watched present on Netflix final 12 months, you’d assume streamers can be scrambling to inventory their libraries with semi-forgotten favorites.

But the feeling amongst execs is that whereas beloved collection of outdated may rack up the most streaming minutes, it is unique programming that brings in new subscribers.

And with publicly traded corporations like Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery underneath fixed stress to create progress for the profit of their shareholders, stagnation isn’t an possibility.

As an added bonus, if Netflix produces an unique collection, they personal the rights in perpetuity, and they do not have to fret about a scenario like the one which arose in 2020.

That was when NBC launched Peacock and immediately needed unique rights to exhibits like The Office, which was then Netflix’s most-watched present.

Needless to say, that was not the type of scenario that Netflix wanted to fret about once they had been the solely sport on the town.

But extra streamers means extra competitors for the enduring titles of outdated.

So streamers are devoting extra of their funds to unique programming, which is a tremendous — a good factor, in reality! — however there’s solely room for therefore many exhibits to achieve success.

Unfortunately, Netflix’s resolution to that specific downside is to provide exhibits precisely one season to seek out an audience- in any other case, they get the ax.

That’s created a tough atmosphere for more difficult, grownup-oriented content material, leading to a scenario the place teen-focused dramas like Virgin River, Outer Banks, and Ginny & Georgia high the charts.

To be clear, there’s nothing improper with any of these exhibits, however they are not the type of content material that is more likely to spark full of life debate round the water cooler.

They fall into the class of what some business observers have dubbed “laundry-folding TV.”

Slightly of that’s tremendous, of course. We all must shut our brains off typically at the finish of a lengthy day.

But for those who’re questioning why TV’s second “golden age” appears to have come to an finish, it is as a result of “easy” viewing — in the type of actuality exhibits and nighttime soaps — presents much less of a danger, and it is typically less expensive to supply.

Now, typically, audiences join with a new present that is in contrast to something they’ve seen earlier than.

That’s how Ted Lasso, a single-camera sitcom about a British soccer crew, grew to become the most-streamed unique present of 2023.

But Jason Sudeikis’ fish-out-of-water collection nonetheless falls underneath the class of feel-good TV.

Many of the more difficult exhibits launched by streamers lately appear to have struggled as a result of they’re tough by design.

Thankfully, there are indicators of a turnaround, largely coming from FX and Hulu.

Shogun, The Bear, and Reservation Dogs have all managed to ship strong rankings lately.

None of them come inside shouting distance of Suits reruns on Netflix, however we’ll rejoice any indication that viewers are partaking with content material that calls for their full consideration.

We’ll additionally rejoice enterprise fashions that do not contain locking your new content material behind a paywall.

In addition to streaming on Hulu, Shogun is obtainable to look at free of charge on FX, which could assist to clarify how a dense, intricately plotted present that takes place 400 years in the past was in a position to construct such a sizable fan base.

So, there may be nonetheless a demand for extra high-minded tv, however will streaming execs heed the name?

Would the tough exhibits of yesteryear, The Sopranos, Deadwood, Mad Men, and so on., have survived in an period when TV is making an attempt to tailor itself to our TookayTok-shortened consideration spans?

Will streamers acknowledge the want for “classic” content material as a substitute of persevering with the push to seek out the Next Big Thing?

The future is tougher to foretell than ever as of late, and anybody who tells you they know they know the place this business is headed is mendacity to you.

But we stay hopeful that TV’s greatest years are nonetheless forward — however that vibrant future may require you to shell out for a few extra subscriptions.

What do you assume, TV fanatics?

Are we being too optimistic?

Hit the feedback part under to share your ideas!