Reviewing shows on NETFLIX

It can’t be done. Not without totally ruining them. Since everyone watches NETFLIX series on their own schedule there’s no way to review anything without being a spoiler.

This is fine for me, but my heart goes out to poor TV critics. Some of the best shows on television are on NETFLIX (or AMAZON for that matter).  How often can you analyze EMPIRE?

I guess the best you can do is say you liked one series or another. Or discuss in very general terms. I liked season two of HOUSE OF CARDS better than season three. I loved season one of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK then gave up after four episodes of season two. Why? I can’t tell you without spoiling the storyline.

Obviously, this is the wave of the future. It’s only a matter of time before networks as we know them will either cease to exist or become a subsidiary form of programming. It may be five years; it may be ten. At the rate things are going it may be July.

But one casualty in the wake of this new trend will be the water cooler. No more will people gather the day after a show is aired to discuss it. Instead, someone will mention a show and six co-workers will wave their hands and say, “Don’t tell me anything. I’m going to watch it this weekend.” I will miss that shared experience. We as a nation have so few anymore. Making ass-fun of Donald Trump today is one. (I’d add bitching about all the characters they killed off on GAME OF THRONES as another but for all the hoopla, still only a tiny fraction of the country saw or cared.) But Donald Trump? Everyone knows that moron.

Word-of-mouth and social media will take on bigger roles in attracting audiences. TRANSPARENT has become a big sensation sans a network promotional campaign. Imagine if it were on NBC. “And after UNDATEABLE it’s “unwearable” as Mort tries on a new dress. TRANSPARENT – all part of NBC’s ‘Racy Monday’!”

The trouble will come when there are more and more of these new series premiering on streaming sites. For now there are only a handful. If you’re a baby boomer you have the Jane Fonda-Lily Tomlin show, so there’s some buzz about it among its target crowd.

But what happens when there are ten series aimed at that audience – when Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn and Geena Davis and Oprah Winfrey have their own sitcoms? It will be easy to come and go in absolute obscurity once there is a glut of product.

And one way to draw attention to your show is through reviews. But again, how do you review these streaming series? Maybe you can discuss that around the water cooler today. Nah, you’re going to dump on Trump. I don’t blame you.