If there was ever an entertainment entity that flawlessly captured the essence of sheer chaos, it would have to be Netflix, and that’s saying quite a bit considering one of its competitors just dropped “HBO” from its name before immediately proceeding to adopt the tagline “the one to watch for HBO.”
Indeed, from its spontaneous roster choices to its counterproductive creative meddling to its apparent willingness to do the very opposite of what it’s become infamous for, you can always count on Netflix to throw a wrench into the proverbial bingo card without breaking a sweat.
Midnight Mass is scary, but not quite as scary as Netflix’s notes to Mike Flanagan
It’s safe to say that studio interference with most all creative projects often end in a reduction in quality for the film or series in question; just ask the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whose creatives are probably contractually obliged to give the studio full control over every third act, CGI army and all.
Such was the case for Midnight Mass, which creator and consistent critical powerhouse Mike Flanagan received more than a fair share of less-than-helpful studio notes on, but none quite so heinous as that cat-murder scene from the inaugural episode, which Flanagan didn’t hold back in expressing his disgust for.
That toxic relationship is a thing of the past now that the horror mastermind has moved on to Prime Video, and frankly, we couldn’t be happier for him.
In a stunning turn of events, Netflix pulls an anti-Netflix and gets rewarded for it
Netflix has become synonymous with the word “cancellation,” with the streamer showing particular apathy towards animation and young adult fantasy; from Inside Job to Lockwood & Co., the rule of the thumb at Netflix is “cancelled until proven renewed.”
So it was all the more uncanny when the streamer completely went against type and picked up Manifest, complete with the promise of a fourth and final season, after it got axed by NBC following its third, inconclusive season. The show would then go on to claim one of the highest completion rates — meaning the amount of households who watched the series from start to finish — on the platform.
Between Manifest and Nimona, hopefully Netflix begins to notice the karmic pattern that comes with taking in stray cancelled shows, instead of piling the shelters themselves.
Dark Universe 2.0 is a bold move, but less so when you have Guillermo del Toro at the helm
Taking another shot at a shared universe that both debuted and bit the dust in the mid-to-late 2010s doesn’t sound like something that inspires much hope. When that shared universe happens to involve Frankenstein and has its keys given to one of the most influential horror maestros of our time, however, it’s a different story.
Indeed, we were all ready to line up for Guillermo del Toro‘s take on the classic monster (not to be confused with the doctor), but the idea of granting him access to the rest of the Universal Monster library – the odds of which are reportedly more than zero – is enough for us to at least mostly cast aside the trauma that was the initial attempt at the Monster Universe and look ahead to what could be an unprecedented step forward for the horror genre.
When in doubt, adapt Journey to the West
Forty adaptations in 23 years apparently hasn’t deterred Netflix from placing their bets on The Monkey King, an upcoming animated feature film due to hit queues on August 18; in fact, the streamer seems to take some sort of perverted glee in adding on to the dense collection of Journey to the West-inspired projects, if only for the cheeky way in which it allows the streamer to spit on the notion of originality.
It can’t be knocked too harshly just yet, of course; at a glance, it seems like completely harmless family entertainment that will at least do its job on the charts before fading into obscurity, but especially in a world that’s somehow both obsessed with and repulsed by the industry’s fixation on IP, there’s no shame in feeling lukewarm about this one.
Want Netflix to stop cancelling your favorite shows? Too bad, here’s a sports docuseries instead
But even when Netflix does dip its toes into something a bit more adventurous, a sour taste is still unavoidable if it jumps to new projects without finishing the ones they have going on.
To the streamer’s credit, a docuseries about the United States women’s national soccer team, which houses some of the most intriguing and dynamic sports personalities in the world, definitely sounds like a worthwhile watch. Still, as Netflix continues to wield the cancelation axe with impunity, you have to wonder just how sincerely (or not) the streamer approaches each new project, and whether or not every new show is just another broken toy waiting to happen.
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