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A Marathon Day at TCA Press Tour with Mammoth Netflix
July 28, 2015  | By Ed Bark  | 1 comment
 

BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- The summer Television Critics Association "press tour" began an edifying/jellifying two-and-a-half week run Tuesday with an unprecedented full-day presentation from the hottest non-TV network of our times.

That would be Netflix, the "streaming" Colossus whose international subscriber count has ballooned from 37.55 million to 65.55 million in just two years time. Not one, not two, but 11 panels paraded in and out of the Beverly Hilton’s International ballroom throughout the morning and afternoon.

Back in February of 2013, as Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos noted, Netflix had just two original series in-house -- Lillyhammer and its first big attention-getter, House of Cards. This year alone, Netflix plans to offer 475 hours worth of originals, he said.  Newly announced for a Sept. 18th premiere is Keith Richards: Under the Influence, a made-for-Netflix documentary on the iconic and almost miraculously still standing lead guitarist of The Rolling Stones.

Richards unfortunately was not among Tuesday's celebrity contingent. But Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, Tig Notaro, Aziz Ansari and stars from Orange Is the New Black and Longmire (rescued for Season 4 after A&E canceled the series) were among those flying the flag.

Netflix otherwise is not big on numbers, still declining to say how many subscribers are watching the likes of House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Fey's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. But tvworthwatching.com tried and arguably made a little headway after Sarandos left the door slightly ajar by saying in his opening remarks that Orange Is the New Black has become "one of the most watched and most beloved shows on television."

He then agreed that "by default it would be" Netflix's most popular show. Eureka! Sorta.

"The reason we don't line them up against one another is it's not the intent to draw the biggest audience for any single show," Sarandos said in a game effort to be slightly more forthcoming. "The shows are built and designed and we invest in them based on the audience that we think the show can attract. And it's successful if it attracts that audience segment."

After his session, Sarandos went a little further when asked if Netflix judges success or failure based on whether subscribers bail on a show before watching all of its episodes.

"It's an eventual factor for sure," he said. "If that continues to happen over a year's time, then maybe people just aren't reacting to the show, creatively."

Sarandos also revealed that its first original, Lillyhammer, won't be returning after three seasons. "It's become a very economically challenged deal," he said of Netflix's partnership with a Norway production company. Steven Van Zandt played former gangster Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano in the serio-comic series.

Other Netflix niblets: Fey, for one, likes the idea of ratings being out of sight, out of mind. She used to joke about the oft-lowly returns for 30 Rock. But with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (right, Ellie Kemper), which NBC passed on, she hasn't a clue about how many people have watched the show's first season.

"We know that Ted (Sarandos) is pleased," she said. "We don't have any actual numbers. It's very freeing to be free of that ratings system, for sure."

Production on Season 2 of Kimmy Schmidt is scheduled to begin on Aug. 17. There are no plans to inject any Netflix-ian nudity or profanity after making the initial 13 episodes in anticipation of them airing on NBC. "The tone of the show seems pretty set," and she wants viewers of all ages to be comfortable with its content, Fey said.

***

Chelsea Handler's new deal with Netflix will kick off with four documentaries on the subjects of racism, marriage, technology, and drugs. All will air under the umbrella title of Chelsea Does.

Her talk show won't premiere until 2016, probably at the rate of two new episodes per week, Handler said. She praised Netflix for the intelligence of their "notes" on improving content. Otherwise, "I don't know what streaming is. I don't even understand how that works."

Handler also said she was approached about dong a broadcast network late night talk show after leaving E! But "I was not interested in going to a network . . . It was never a very serious conversation," she said.

***

Michael Showalter, creator, co-executive producer and co-writer of  Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, insists that this eight-episode prequel to the 2001 original might not be the end of the line.

"The time commitment for this cast is really quite accommodating," he said. And Showalter would do everything he could to minimize any future demands on the likes of Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper and Amy Poehler. All were relative unknowns 14 years ago. And all three, plus many more familiar faces, have substantial parts in the prequel, which begins streaming on Friday, July 31.

***

Upon first hearing that A&E had sacked Longmire, "I thought it was a joke. I didn't believe it," star Robert Taylor said. But Netflix has picked up the pieces and will start streaming a 10-episode Season 4 of the straight-ahead law and order series on Sept 10.

Co-executive producer Greer Shephard said the network told them nothing, but she learned via a report in The Wall Street Journal that the show had "the wrong audience and the wrong owner."

In other words, it skewed old in terms of viewership and is produced by Warner Horizon Television, which is independent of A&E.

Greer said the Netflix continuance of Longmire will not ratchet up the so-called "adult" content because "we did not want to alienate the fan base that we considered essential to our survival." Older viewers, she lamented, were "disqualified (by A&E) because they were not seen as sexy to advertisers."

"Netflix said, 'We want human beings to enjoy the show,’" co-executive producer John Coveny added.

***

Aziz Ansari, formerly of NBC's Parks and Recreation, is getting a chance to shine on his own as a 30-year-old New York actor named Dev. The 10-episode Master of None begins streaming Nov. 6 on Netflix.

A brief clip shown to TV critics includes guest star Claire Danes, whom Ansari said he's known for a few years through mutual friends. It's her first guest shot of any kind since she began starring in Showtime's Homeland. Noah Emmerich from FX's The Americans also is doing a rare comedic turn in one of the episodes. Additionally, Ansari's real-life father is in three episodes.

Ansari's central character is described in Netflix publicity materials as a rather directionless dude who "has trouble deciding what he wants to eat, much less the pathway for the rest of his life."

Even so, "he's not completely stunted developmentally," says executive producer Alan Yang.

***

Netflix capped its marathon day with an appearance by six cast members of Orange Is the New Black. Notable for her inclusion was Natasha Lyonne (right), who as inmate Nicky Nichols was transferred to a maximum security prison early in Season 3 after being framed on a heroin trafficking rap. She was completely absent thereafter.

Production on Season 4 began on June 15, cast members confirmed. But Lyonne repeatedly declined to say if she's a part of it, calling her tvww.com inquisitor Columbo and then Philip Marlowe. But even Barney Fife could deduce that Lyonne wouldn't be on the panel if she weren’t a part of the Emmy-nominated series' future plans.

Earlier this month, Season 2 of OITNB received an Emmy nod for best drama series after being nominated as a comedy the previous year. Cast members agreed it's actually a "dramedy," and wondered why the Emmys don't have such a category.

Selenis Leyva, who plays the show's severe-countenanced kitchen head, Gloria Mendoza, said, "no one on this panel or on this show is afraid to be who they are." In that respect, "we started a trend" of increasing acceptance of "different and diverse" people, Mendoza said. 

 
 
 
 
 
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1 Comments
 
 
Mark Isenberg
Netflix did not promote the Denmark imported series Rita with Mille Dinesen? as a teacher with a complicated social life and now as grandmother,too. It was funded for season 3 by Netflix in part,but no word officially if there will be a season 4. You don't mind the subtitles as the writing and acting are that binge watch worthy. There is a little sex too but that is not why one will love Rita.
Jul 29, 2015   |  Reply
 
 
 
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