(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* I watched Blue Eye Samurai. It's a really interesting show written from a unique perspective. It's got a complicated plot that will need at least 4 seasons to resolve, but it's on Netflix so nevermind.

Yeah, no way it's worth getting invested in this show.

I watched it because I watched some best / worst of 2023 videos and it piqued my interest. I feel like there isn't going to be much TV I'm interested in for a long while. I am intrigued by The Bear and a few other shows, but I am not going to get all the streaming services. I might even drop Netflix. I'd hate losing access to Stranger Things, but honestly it feels to pointless to have right now.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

that will need at least 4 seasons to resolve, but it's on Netflix so nevermind
LOL So true!

They have some great k-dramas, though, and those get resolved in 1 season (well, not necessarily if they're made by Netflix like Squid Game, but they have lots of k-dramas not made by them).

[olivermoss]

Oh yeah, if it was Netflix just licensing rather than making the show it would be a different situation. Perhaps I should have said 'a Netflix show' instead. This is something that in a different year from a different source would be generating a lot of hype.

[mistressofmuses]

I keep hearing really good things about Blue Eye Samurai, but that's exactly it: it sounds like it'd be something I'd get invested in, and knowing it's on Netflix makes that feel pointless. I don't watch a lot of series, but it feels like the few that I did try to really get into were immediately cancelled, which burns me out even more!

[olivermoss]

Yeah, season 1 of Blue Eye Samurai has no resolution at all. It just has the plot just explode into more complexities without having any sort of ending to anything. Would be cool if it wasn't Netflix.

[mistressofmuses]

I think I heard it was definitely renewed for a season 2 (though sometimes those are clickbait headlines that I've skimmed past, not legit announcements.) Even so, I don't feel any real sense of confidence that a second season will wrap up any dangling, complex plot threads with any satisfaction, either.

It's upsetting to me, how little I feel I can trust getting invested in a series. I don't watch a lot of stuff, and some of that is because I don't WANT to be invested in something, only for it to just end without resolution. (And sure, that's what fixit fic is for, lol, but still!)

I know it's a vicious cycle of "people don't watch the thing" "thing doesn't get renewed" "people are reluctant to watch future things" "more things don't get renewed," but this is a problem these studios and streamers have created. The whole format seems fucked.

Blue-Eyed Samurai - One season per white guy!

[disgruntledgirl]

It is a gorgeous anime and so many characters to actually love. It's interesting to see the protagonist get 3 different hero's journeys.

[olivermoss]

With Netflix, I don't even trust a season 2 announcement.

With Netflix, they do bombastic projects to get people to sign up, but them drop the projects. It's not even a matter of whether enough people are watching. Stranger Things is only safe because it's a massive, homegrown IP and they got really lucky with it. They make shows to create PR and feelings of FOMO, not to create shows. And they buy rights to books, do just part of it, so they have the IP and not anyone else. It's all marketing strategy.

[mistressofmuses]

That's exactly it. It's such a miserably cynical way to produce things.

And like, I do *get* that there's a profit motive, and it's not *all* purely about ~the art~. But ideally, this is a situation where everyone gets what they want. Good art gets made, chances get taken, and they get subscribers who stick around because they know that they'll get more of what they want, and will be satisfied by how something ends. They could make money while also letting a series be completed... but not when ALL that matters is what some BRAND NEW thing does in the first 48 hours before it gets cancelled.

Stranger Things was such a lucky hit for them, but I think it was also a bit of a curse. Nothing else lives up to that sort of viral runaway success, so everything else gets shelved in the hopes that the next one will be the next Stranger Things.

It is just playing to the FOMO, because *you* (general) wouldn't want to miss the Next Big Thing, would you???

[olivermoss]

I don't want to miss the next big thing. I want to be on top of all the media, but even if I had the time I've just been burned too often.

I don't know how much is Netflix's incentives being different or them just chasing them with naked greed that competitors can't quite match.

[mistressofmuses]

I'm fairly well trained out of FOMO, but I still feel it sometimes. But I really HAVE been burned too many times. The last couple shows I started to watch on Netflix (other than ones that were intended as standalone seasons) were... Archive 81 and Shadow and Bone. The two of the most recent that I *wanted* to watch, and was literally just about to before they were announced cancelled, were The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself and The Midnight Club.
I enjoyed Sandman, but I don't trust it'll get more than a second season, honestly.
So four out of the last five series I had interest in have been cancelled before they were intended to end, and the one that did get renewed, I already feel like I should prepare to be disappointed!

(I also like Stranger Things and The Umbrella Academy, and am glad they have intentional ends planned. I also plan to watch Bodies, still, but at least I think that one sounded like a self-contained story.)

I don't know what it is to blame that makes this seem worst at Netflix. I know Amazon cancelled a series or few that had previously been renewed, but if I recall it felt like that was an attempt to skew perception of the strikes. Still shitty, but feels less like "business as usual". I don't USE many platforms, so maybe I just don't see and remember shows that get similar cancellations elsewhere, but it's a cliche about Netflix shows at this point for a reason.

[olivermoss]

Archive 81 being dropped so hard was weird. It had a lot of buzz and a built in audience from the audio drama. It just wasn't worth as much as being able to do a new project announcement.

Some of the projects they did do got badly mishandled. I am not a Witcher fan, but I have heard a lot about how the show was made by people who openly disliked Witcher. They made a mess of Shadow and Bone. Not wrapping up Midnight Club will always be baffling for a laundry lists of reasons. Some of the ads I see for Netflix feature Archive 81 and Midnight Club and it's like... but... what?

Yeah, I'm glad I watched Bodies. Seems like it stuck close to the source material.

It's sad that Netflix's business model of making mincement out of so many IPs may have finally caught up with them only now, but also I am still subbed so I am part of the problem.

[mistressofmuses]

It really is painfully cynical to have everything be a measure of immediate profit over all else. It doesn't matter how well-liked something is, what its critical reception is, or how likely people are to keep watching it... Something newer and shinier will generate NEW buzz, and we want NEW not ONGOING.

Yeah, I've heard a lot about the issues with The Witcher. It's one that I wasn't into, but a lot of people I followed got into all at the same time. I've read some fandom-blind fic for it because I liked the writers in question, but never saw any of the series. (Though then benefited from the enthusiasm for Joey Batey's band, because turns out I really like their stuff.) But yeah, I heard a lot of the same, about how a lot of the production side was pretty openly derisive toward the books, which was really frustrating for people interested in it because they LIKED the series.
I definitely think Shadow and Bone was a mess - trying to blend multiple series (even if they were from the same universe) meant that TOO MUCH had to happen constantly, and the whole thing felt choppy. The second season (which I only watched about half of) felt disjointed, and like it would have benefited from a lot more breathing room, and like they were trying to cram as much in as possible... and of course it DID turn out they didn't get a chance to finish the series, so I guess they were right to do that. Except that it made what they did make into something that wasn't the best it could have been. I have zero idea why they didn't finish up Midnight Club. But same - I still see cancelled shows being used to promote the service, which just feels insulting!

I do want to watch Bodies, and at least that's self-contained so I don't have to worry about premature cancellation.

And same. I haven't cancelled my subscription to it yet, either. I don't even subscribe to that many services. I guess I probably should just try and finish watching the last of the things I was interested in and then cancel, because it HAS hit the point where I actively DON'T want to watch the new things that sound cool to me, because my interest and enthusiasm will be punished, ha.