How long do you have to develop your reputation as a streamer? We can't imagine it's very long.
Take CRACKLE. It's the place for repeats. That's the best reputation it has a chance at. Once upon a time, they tried to create original content (we strongly recommend season one of CHOSEN). They lost that ability as quickly as they lost their only hit show -- Jerry Seinfeld's COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE. At CRACKLE, it was a buzzed about show. Moving to NETFLIX, it lost its 'heat' and most lost interest. Many have probably lost interest in CRACKLE. There's just not anything that lets it stand out.
NETFLIX has been on an upswing in the last 12 months -- in fact, the pandemic was a golden age for the streamer. While every network played chicken -- afraid to air this or that show because sets could be shut down for some time to come and they had so little in the pipeline -- NETFLIX offered new content every week -- sometimes a new NETFLIX movie and more than one new NETFLIX series. Grasp that while this took place, established players like FOX were refusing to air summer shows NEXT and FILTHY RICH because they were afraid they'd have no content for fall 2020. Or, maybe more to the point, grasp that since the 1990s, HBO has made a point to debut a new film every Saturday night until . . . the pandemic. Soon HBO was using Saturday night's 'new' movie spot for such offerings as 1999's THE MUMMY and the KILL BILL films.
As broadcast and cable repeatedly stumbled and fumbled, NETFLIX kept pouring out content -- many of it turned out to be highly popular -- FIREFLY LANE, THE WINX SAGA, WHO KILLED SARA?, LUPIN, ENOLA HOLMES, etc. It really has been one success after another for the streamer, a golden path that, most recently, includes season two of SPECIAL.
What makes SPECIAL special is no one on the show's perfect. You don't turn against the characters when they screw up. In many ways, the relationship between Ryan (Ryan O’Connell) and his mother Karen (Jessica Hecht) sums up the series: You may grow frustrated with someone but you don't turn away. We grew more frustrated with Ryan in season two. In part that was because we expected more of him -- rightly. So when he started to date Henry and then welcomed Tanner back, we were frustrated. When he wanted to top Tanner for the first time, out of the blue, we weren't surprised that it was less than pristine but he was and we found his tantrum over feces on his penis to be very frustrating. He should have been prepared for it and if he didn't want it then he should have given Tanner a heads up before they hopped into bed.
He frustrated us. But we never stopped caring.
Karen frustrated us to when she found friends elsewhere and then started to chicken out on pursuing happiness. We were glad Ryan was there to offer her some common sense. Tanner (Max Jenkins) frustrated us throughout. Ryan saw him as the end-all-be-all while we were thinking, "What is he doing involved with Tanner when Tanner is already involved and has told him that?" Kim (Punam Patel) provided common sense there but Ryan wouldn't listen. Then he finally figures out that he can't share a boyfriend, it's not in his makeup. (Duh.) So he moves on to pursuing Henry but then Tanner leaves his boyfriend of many years to be with Ryan and Ryan is thrilled.
For a moment. It quickly falls apart -- as so often happens when you get what you think you want.
Tanner's supporting ways? Now he's an ableist who can't say anything right. And he and Ryan go off with Kim and her boyfriend on a getaway and mean old Tanner (sarcasm) expects to do things on the getaway and not just sit around waiting while Ryan spends hours writing. The trip destroys the relationship and soon Ryan's taking Henry (Buck Andrews) to the wedding of his boss.
Henry's frustrating too. He should have made Ryan grovel. He was dropped the minute Tanner came back. Henry also should have gone off on Ryan when, at the wedding, he explains he needs a best friend more than a boyfriend. Really? And it took you dates --- plural -- to figure that out, little boy?
Yes, he can be frustrating, but you don't stop rooting for him.
And it's not a one-man show. In addition to Karen, there's Kim and she really came into her own this season.
Her mountain of credit card debt remains. Her parents offered to pay it -- more her mother than her father -- and she ended up turning them down. She moved on from her current job to another before proposing to Ryan that they start their own business. She also began a relationship with her friend Ravi (Utkarsh Ambudkar) after new boyfriend Harrison (Charlie Barnett) couldn't offer her what she needed.
Karan Soni joined the cast as her brother Dev and he delivers in every scene -- only surprising if you haven't caught him before -- such as in Melissa McCarthy's SUPERINTELLIGENCE, among others. For us, he really nailed his single scene in WILL & GRACE's "With Enemies Like These" as the pizza delivery guy Mike that Grace tries to pass off as her boyfriend when deliveries have to take place in the lobby but Grace is too lazy to do more than open her front door. Ana Ortiz is another performer who always delivers and joins the cast in season two. She adds a grace note as Susan.
The eight episodes go by quickly leaving you eager for another season -- one, sadly, that is not coming. But better a show that leaves you wanting more than one that runs you off.
Ask ROKU. They're trying something different than NETFLIX. Instead of creating content that people watch, they've purchased content that no one watched. QUIBI proved yet again that Jeffrey Katzenberg was a talented second-level executive when given tasks and kept in place. Left to his own to try to become a mogul, he was a dismal disappointment. (Spielberg and Geffen found that out early on during DREAM WORKS.) The only thing more outrageous than all the money that Katzenberg ran through and wasted on QUIBI? The nearly $100 million ROKU spent to purchase those mini-shows. ROKU should have done more, should have done something. Also blinking when they should have charged? HULU. They had the product but kept postponing it -- probably due to the fact that they are owned by ABC-DISNEY. HULU, the ads kept insisting throughout the pandemic, is the place to go for live sports. Didn't American already have ESPN? And isn't ESPN available as a package with HULU and DISNEY+? Yes, it is. So HULU spent over a year treading water while NETFLIX soared past it.
Two other services made strides. PLUTO TV doesn't offer new product but it did raise its profile during the pandemic. The advertising helped but so did the James Bond Channel that they offer every few months where you can stream a Bond movie live (or on demand). DISNEY+ restored confidence and built up goodwill with THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER. That said, another hideous offering like season one of WANDAVISION and they'll find out just how quickly subscribers can leave and leave for good.
