What Netflix (And Most Streaming) Needs

If you know me, you know I watch a lot of TV. I’ve been streaming sitcoms on Netflix since the earliest inception of streaming on the site. Through Netflix I’ve been able to watch The Office so many times I’ve lost count (probably around 20); and because of all of this streaming I have many opinions about the platform. So here goes. Also, if anyone at Netflix sees this, yes I would love a job and yes I think a 200k salary is fair.

Live Channels

Netflix needs channels where you can just tune in at any time and join the middle of a show. Not sure what you want to watch, but know you’re in the mood for a documentary? Go see what’s playing on the documentary channel. Max has a shuffle feature that accomplishes something like this, but you still have to decide what show you want to shuffle. With a channel, you just have to have a general idea of the mood you’re in. Channels are like literally made for ad-supported content, which Netflix rolled out like a year ago, you literally just plop a 22 minute sitcom into a live channel and take commercial breaks where they were meant to be. Honestly, I’m not sure why this isn’t a thing on every streaming service, it’s freaking brilliant. Especially for my next point.

Clear Release Times

Releasing stuff at midnight is great when it’s an entire series we’ve seen before, but literally nobody wants a new season just dumped at midnight. The entire human race wants weekly releases and we want to watch them at the same time as our friends. We want to be live-xing (seriously, Elon, why?) while seeing what our friends think without worrying about spoilers. The beauty of a streaming service, though is that if someone misses the premiere, even by two minutes, they can just start it at their convenience. But human beings miss the monoculture and we want shared experiences.

The other thing you could do, if you had live channels and clear release times are marathons. New stranger things is coming out, there’s a live stranger things channel that will be running all the episodes of stranger things for the week leading up to the release so you can get caught up and in the mood. It’s the holidays and you want to showcase all your holiday content, Christmas channel with a new Hallmark style movie released every night at 7. Like, I mean, it’s just common sense. It’s also just a really easy way to promote your obscure content.

Also, and this should go without saying, it shouldn’t take years to film a show. Shows need to be on a clear calendar schedule too. I shouldn’t have to wait three years for a season of Stranger Things.

News, Sports, and Curators

We want people. Enough with the algorithms. I want someone to tell me, not just what movies I’ll enjoy, but what movies I should watch to expand my horizons. When a new Ryan Reynolds movie comes out, there should be a playlist with all his favorite movies. There should be talk shows where Netflix people review movies on Netflix and then those people create playlists that I can subscribe to. So if I don’t know what to watch, I can see what James, my trusted curator says I should watch.

And seriously, it would not be hard to have some current event shows that don’t suck. Apple did it with John Stewart, Netflix tried it with Joel McHale and Hasan Minhaj and they just need to commit. Invest in some YoutTubers to do a nightly news broadcast, a weekly sports recap, and a nightly late show. These don’t need to be long, but should be thought of as like newsletters for Netflix viewers. Again, because we’re tired of the algorithms and want some topical content. Netflix is already producing some of the greatest sports documentaries and docuseries, just get one of the contributors to those to host something about sports.

Bring Back The Sitcom

Look, one thing I love about Netflix is the shotgun approach they’ve had to content. They’ve created some truly wacky stuff that frankly probably wouldn’t have gotten made without Netflix. A true gift to humanity. But I don’t think Netflix has produced one true sitcom. Every Netflix comedy is story driven and wacky and zany and weird, but not a sitcom. They don’t create shows where the premise is a good place to create funny situations like a bar (Cheers) or a workplace (The Office) or a group of friends (Seinfeld, Friends, New Girl); they create shows where something happens to someone and they do something to drive a funny story that lasts eight episodes. When was the last time you rewatched a streaming comedy? I can honestly say the only one I’ve rewatched is Ted Lasso and I’ve already written about how amazing that is. Honestly though, if Netflix wants to dominate, they need to hire some of the most talented comedy writers (Mindy Kaling comes to mind) and write an actual situational comedy where the audience can get to know the characters and funny things happen to them on a weekly basis - enough with the cliffhangers, we’re all still subscribing.

High Quality Content

I am not saying that Netflix should do away with the shotgun approach. I think it has worked well for them and it’s produced some awesome content that wouldn’t exist without it. I am however saying, they should also invest in high quality shows - the Apple TV+ model if you will. Apple TV+ shows are all engaging, well written, well acted, well directed; they’re just simply high quality. There’s clearly a formula to creating good content if Apple can do it over and over. So Netflix needs to just cut a sliver of their enormous content budget and deliver some tentpole shows that bring you back season after season. So far they have like 3 of these (Ozark, Stranger Things, probably another show or two I can’t think of) and they just need more.

I could go on, I have my qualms with the 8 episode season - I think it should be between 12 and 16 - and with some features in the app, but this is sufficient for now. Honestly, if Netflix did these things, I guarantee they would corner the streaming market for another decade (honestly, they probably will anyway, most of the other streaming services can’t turn a profit). And how, you might ask, can I guarantee this? I’m a bona fide expert, it’s literally the only thing I’ve got my 10,000 hours in. I mean I probably have 10,000 in watching sitcoms specifically, but watching Netflix generally as well. Anyway, Netflix is my service of choice and I only want the bests for them and I think if they seriously want to continue to be the dominant platform, it’s time they started listening to experts like myself.