I have to say this about netflix. As we would do in hip hop, lots of sales-doesn’t mean the MC is nice. He’s just popular. Is he a better at rapping? No.
Once I gave the guy the fact his favorite rapper has sold more than mine he had nothing else. Now my guy sold massive units but not like his. But his guy only outsold my guys cause he’s popular. Once we went line for line. Lyric for lyric, verse for verse, the picture changed dramatically.
He got that way doing things my guy doesn’t do and doesn’t have to do.
HBO is Nas, Kendrick Lamar. Netflix is Drake or Future. As for as popularity is concerned the latter of this group are gods.
Break their songs and verses down…they are slightly above mediocrity. (One huge knock with Drake is take away the hits and just listen to the other songs and it’s a snooze fest).
Lil Wayne worst rhyme is 1000x better than Drakes best. That’s HBO and Netflix. But Drake is much more popular than Lil Wayne (and he’s very popular nevertheless).
I don’t watch the service due to its Tsunami of programming much of which when scrutinized is underwhelming. (Line for line, bar for bar).
Netflix doesn’t lean on its legacy it just pumps out new things and moves on. But I know people under 30 discovering The Wire and The Sopranos along with the Last of Us which is why they subscribed to the service.
Fans don’t care about who won the war.
Just like I don’t care who sells the most records.
Netflix still wants to be HBO no one talks about anything with them.
Sure it’s Adolescence-for a weekend and then nothing.
And with that show, it’s more of the production tactics and subject matter that is more of the talk not the actual show itself.
People want to talk about the show, plots and characters. It seems netflix wants us to talk about “itself” and not what is on the shelves.
Industry people might care to do that, my sister and her husband couldn’t care less.
They have netflix but love what’s on Tubi and YouTube. And aren’t favoring Netflix over Tubi due to its catalog.
Thanks so much for this! Love this analogy with hip hop as a die hard Public Enemy fan… not sure who they would be in the comparison?? And yes - there is often an element of industry navel gazing that normal people don’t care about - they just want great shows.
PE was definitely in full effect! I guess you could from a popularity standpoint say they weren’t as popular as NWA?
But then again NWA modeled their whole group persona after PE and both were very controversial. Obviously for different reasons. And once Ice Cube left he then makes his solo work with the Bomb Squad.
But I have felt this way for a long time probably since I got HBO as a kid. In the projects in the late 80’s this was a major flex.
It may not have had 24 episodes of everything but they had some real good choice selections. Once Homicide Life on the Street came to its conclusion-which was hard to keep up with as a I was a teenager and this is linear tv with its changing air dates of shows on their way out made it tough.
HBO keeps their shows debuting new shows on the same night regardless of high or low ratings, that meant a lot. Here comes The Corner. I hit up the papers, a couple of names seemed familiar (I knew Levinson from the Diner and The Corner) one being David Simon. So I kept my eye out for his name, I heard he had something like The Corner but on a much bigger scale.
But time goes on and so far it was still decent stuff but then I noticed the original movies had some kick (And the Band Played On) I liked Inside the NFL, and they had boxing plus those comedy specials(Carlin alone was worth the subscription). But once Oz and SITC I knew things weren’t going to be the same.
Now ER had me locked in but again I’m at the end of my adolescence it was getting really hard (I’m a native Brooklynite at that) to be home on a particular night to see a show and if not oh well. HBO didn’t do that.
These were really good shows that you could rewatch again if you could stay up long enough or do like I did, I told my moms I’d pay the extra cost to get HBO2, and HBO West. Best money ever spent!
I found myself watching HBO’s original works exclusively and the licensed stuff was gravy. Add Six Feet Under, the Sopranos and then eventually The Wire makes its debut.
Sure I had to convince my boys, no son this show IS our lives, y’all MUST watch. Once they did it was on. We have felt that show was Nas first album, a classic that didn’t make a lot of noise because it didn’t rely on current gimmicks, just dope beats over top shelf lyrics.
To this day we still quote the show. That’s the kind of legacy an algorithm can’t get for you. And now my 27 year old nephew can’t get enough of the show.
I'm in for the book club, Jen. I loved the first chapter, and amen to Doug dealing in the shades of gray rather than retreating into determinism... 🙌🏼
I have to say this about netflix. As we would do in hip hop, lots of sales-doesn’t mean the MC is nice. He’s just popular. Is he a better at rapping? No.
Once I gave the guy the fact his favorite rapper has sold more than mine he had nothing else. Now my guy sold massive units but not like his. But his guy only outsold my guys cause he’s popular. Once we went line for line. Lyric for lyric, verse for verse, the picture changed dramatically.
He got that way doing things my guy doesn’t do and doesn’t have to do.
HBO is Nas, Kendrick Lamar. Netflix is Drake or Future. As for as popularity is concerned the latter of this group are gods.
Break their songs and verses down…they are slightly above mediocrity. (One huge knock with Drake is take away the hits and just listen to the other songs and it’s a snooze fest).
Lil Wayne worst rhyme is 1000x better than Drakes best. That’s HBO and Netflix. But Drake is much more popular than Lil Wayne (and he’s very popular nevertheless).
I don’t watch the service due to its Tsunami of programming much of which when scrutinized is underwhelming. (Line for line, bar for bar).
Netflix doesn’t lean on its legacy it just pumps out new things and moves on. But I know people under 30 discovering The Wire and The Sopranos along with the Last of Us which is why they subscribed to the service.
Fans don’t care about who won the war.
Just like I don’t care who sells the most records.
Netflix still wants to be HBO no one talks about anything with them.
Sure it’s Adolescence-for a weekend and then nothing.
And with that show, it’s more of the production tactics and subject matter that is more of the talk not the actual show itself.
People want to talk about the show, plots and characters. It seems netflix wants us to talk about “itself” and not what is on the shelves.
Industry people might care to do that, my sister and her husband couldn’t care less.
They have netflix but love what’s on Tubi and YouTube. And aren’t favoring Netflix over Tubi due to its catalog.
Thanks so much for this! Love this analogy with hip hop as a die hard Public Enemy fan… not sure who they would be in the comparison?? And yes - there is often an element of industry navel gazing that normal people don’t care about - they just want great shows.
PE was definitely in full effect! I guess you could from a popularity standpoint say they weren’t as popular as NWA?
But then again NWA modeled their whole group persona after PE and both were very controversial. Obviously for different reasons. And once Ice Cube left he then makes his solo work with the Bomb Squad.
But I have felt this way for a long time probably since I got HBO as a kid. In the projects in the late 80’s this was a major flex.
It may not have had 24 episodes of everything but they had some real good choice selections. Once Homicide Life on the Street came to its conclusion-which was hard to keep up with as a I was a teenager and this is linear tv with its changing air dates of shows on their way out made it tough.
HBO keeps their shows debuting new shows on the same night regardless of high or low ratings, that meant a lot. Here comes The Corner. I hit up the papers, a couple of names seemed familiar (I knew Levinson from the Diner and The Corner) one being David Simon. So I kept my eye out for his name, I heard he had something like The Corner but on a much bigger scale.
But time goes on and so far it was still decent stuff but then I noticed the original movies had some kick (And the Band Played On) I liked Inside the NFL, and they had boxing plus those comedy specials(Carlin alone was worth the subscription). But once Oz and SITC I knew things weren’t going to be the same.
Now ER had me locked in but again I’m at the end of my adolescence it was getting really hard (I’m a native Brooklynite at that) to be home on a particular night to see a show and if not oh well. HBO didn’t do that.
These were really good shows that you could rewatch again if you could stay up long enough or do like I did, I told my moms I’d pay the extra cost to get HBO2, and HBO West. Best money ever spent!
I found myself watching HBO’s original works exclusively and the licensed stuff was gravy. Add Six Feet Under, the Sopranos and then eventually The Wire makes its debut.
Sure I had to convince my boys, no son this show IS our lives, y’all MUST watch. Once they did it was on. We have felt that show was Nas first album, a classic that didn’t make a lot of noise because it didn’t rely on current gimmicks, just dope beats over top shelf lyrics.
To this day we still quote the show. That’s the kind of legacy an algorithm can’t get for you. And now my 27 year old nephew can’t get enough of the show.
Great podcast on The Town with Neal Mohan about Netflix v Youtube. Youtube is in its own lane.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/51bac5ogv4HeMBsI7cF59J?si=pC_gLzQmROqSyqauPwOBnA
Going to buy Doug's book, thank you for the recco.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will go have a listen.