Television series are evolving. There is a new wave where series of shows are being produced but not being aired on the television. Instead, they are being shown through online outlets like Netflix and Amazon.
This growth has happened so much that one Amazon Studios series, “Transparent,” won a Golden Globe for best television series and Jeffrey Tambor won a Golden Globe for best actor for his role in the show. A Netflix original series, “House of Cards,” was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Popular culture lecturer Charles Coletta said there are so many more television shows than there use to be.
“There is such a big change from when I was younger,” he said. “There were only three news stations to choose from on TV.”
He said outlets like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Plus give people so many choices and they are here to stay.
“This is going to be the way it’s going to be for at least a while,” he said.
These new outlets have even created new vocabulary, like “binge watching”, which means watching more than a couple episodes of a show at a time.
“The technology available now and the fact that your TV and computer are one thing is amazing,” he said. “Now people can even watch their shows from their phone waiting for a bus. It’s also a lot easier to install and use technology now than it use to be as well.”
But the question still remains as to why these outlets started creating their own series.
Coletta said the answer is creative freedom.
“They are free to create their own contracts with people,” he said. “And on TV, the episodes have to be 22 minutes long with commercials breaks. For Netflix, they can make the episodes as long as they want.”
Junior Mackenzie Marquis watches “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix, along with other shows.
“I don’t pay for cable,” she said. “It’s so much easier and accessible to use your laptop or internet on your TV to watch shows.”
She said people do things like binge watch series to relieve stress.
“It’s a nice way to de-stress,” she said. “People can just relax and not have to think when watching them.”
Freshman Jed Kania likes all the different outlets and thinks they are creating original series for personal gain.
“I think it’s the individual outlets trying to promote themselves and step up their game,” he said. “It’s based purely on competition.”
