Sigh.
Regular readers of SciFiHistory.Net know how much I truly, madly, deeply hate politics. Yes, yes, yes, I know that I'll slip in the occasional barb in the Daily Pages (here's looking at you, Matt Damon), but I honestly do it with a sense of love, not animosity. I genuinely don't hate anyone -- though my wife will tell you I'm constantly going around saying "This is why I hate people" -- but I do operate with a general sense of distrust until proven otherwise. It might be naive or it might be modest political bias, but it's honestly served me well for the past ... well, past several decades in which I've walked God's green earth. (That's a phrase, people ... not an endorsement of any organized religion.)
Still, there are times -- like this morning -- when I can't help but venture into some mild controversy: that Liberal/Progressive entertainment stomping ground, Netflix, is bringing audiences yet one more adventure set in the world of Resident Evil. I bring this up, largely, because the trailer has dropped; and I wanted to post it ... yet, in thinking about the property and the current 'state of the economy' for the Netflix I can't help but make a few observations.
In case you missed it, they had an absolutely awful first quarter 2022 that I don't believe is fully grasped by folks who follow entertainment whatnot: at a time -- and with a set of circumstances fundamentally ripe for streaming platforms to grow exponentially (thanks to the continuing COVID-style lockdowns) -- when they should've been adding subscribers, Netflix actually lost them. Yes, that hurts ... but what hurt far more was the fact that they'd be operating on the assumption -- as well as assuring investors -- that they were adding customers when they were losing them not in a trickle but in droves. In short: you can't have a negative subscriber growth. EVER. It just can't happen. Somehow, Netflix managed it.
(FYI: here's the political part, peeps. You've been warned.)
Even though no one really wants to talk about the elephant in the room -- that being Netflix as a production entity has embraced some curiously obvious left wings ideas (like pedophilia, men getting pregnant, and other lifestyle choices I don't feel the need to mention) -- it shouldn't be understated that this aggregate loss comes on the heels of essentially the company shackling itself to such anti-American zealots as the Obamas, Harry & Meghan, and some lesser figures in the Democrat Party. (Again, feel free to disagree; I'm only penning my thoughts on the subject, not yours.) I guess when it isn't enough that your CEO goes on record calling regular Americans to be amongst the globally ignorant, then you have to double down and force feed them propaganda while advertising it as entertainment. (Here's looking at you, 'Cuties.')
Again: there's nothing wrong with Netflix making all of those decisions. It's a company, it has every right to engage in whatever form of expression -- political or otherwise -- and that's not my point. What my point is remains: when you insult your customer and then try to tell them how to think, your customer is likely going to become someone else's customer. That's just simple economics, and methinks it's caught up with Netflix.
The circumstances aren't dire, indeed, but they should open some eyes in senior management, though I doubt it will. They're still trying to prop up Stranger Things as some must-see experience -- my take is that it's a good show, one that's probably gone on too long, but that's an argument for another time and place -- and seriously trying to milk what they can from Ozark. (It's another good show -- exceptional cast -- but I had issues with how unbelievable some of it was.) And now they roll out ... Resident Evil? A property that's had a handful of semi-successsful films, a somewhat failed reboot, and now a serialized attempt?
Look, I'm all for more genre shows when the opposite is less genre shows, but hasn't this one been -- pardon the pun -- done to death?
I guess stranger things have happened. (Pun intended. Again.)
Trailer is below. You folks know what to do.
Regular readers of SciFiHistory.Net know how much I truly, madly, deeply hate politics. Yes, yes, yes, I know that I'll slip in the occasional barb in the Daily Pages (here's looking at you, Matt Damon), but I honestly do it with a sense of love, not animosity. I genuinely don't hate anyone -- though my wife will tell you I'm constantly going around saying "This is why I hate people" -- but I do operate with a general sense of distrust until proven otherwise. It might be naive or it might be modest political bias, but it's honestly served me well for the past ... well, past several decades in which I've walked God's green earth. (That's a phrase, people ... not an endorsement of any organized religion.)
Still, there are times -- like this morning -- when I can't help but venture into some mild controversy: that Liberal/Progressive entertainment stomping ground, Netflix, is bringing audiences yet one more adventure set in the world of Resident Evil. I bring this up, largely, because the trailer has dropped; and I wanted to post it ... yet, in thinking about the property and the current 'state of the economy' for the Netflix I can't help but make a few observations.
In case you missed it, they had an absolutely awful first quarter 2022 that I don't believe is fully grasped by folks who follow entertainment whatnot: at a time -- and with a set of circumstances fundamentally ripe for streaming platforms to grow exponentially (thanks to the continuing COVID-style lockdowns) -- when they should've been adding subscribers, Netflix actually lost them. Yes, that hurts ... but what hurt far more was the fact that they'd be operating on the assumption -- as well as assuring investors -- that they were adding customers when they were losing them not in a trickle but in droves. In short: you can't have a negative subscriber growth. EVER. It just can't happen. Somehow, Netflix managed it.
(FYI: here's the political part, peeps. You've been warned.)
Even though no one really wants to talk about the elephant in the room -- that being Netflix as a production entity has embraced some curiously obvious left wings ideas (like pedophilia, men getting pregnant, and other lifestyle choices I don't feel the need to mention) -- it shouldn't be understated that this aggregate loss comes on the heels of essentially the company shackling itself to such anti-American zealots as the Obamas, Harry & Meghan, and some lesser figures in the Democrat Party. (Again, feel free to disagree; I'm only penning my thoughts on the subject, not yours.) I guess when it isn't enough that your CEO goes on record calling regular Americans to be amongst the globally ignorant, then you have to double down and force feed them propaganda while advertising it as entertainment. (Here's looking at you, 'Cuties.')
Again: there's nothing wrong with Netflix making all of those decisions. It's a company, it has every right to engage in whatever form of expression -- political or otherwise -- and that's not my point. What my point is remains: when you insult your customer and then try to tell them how to think, your customer is likely going to become someone else's customer. That's just simple economics, and methinks it's caught up with Netflix.
The circumstances aren't dire, indeed, but they should open some eyes in senior management, though I doubt it will. They're still trying to prop up Stranger Things as some must-see experience -- my take is that it's a good show, one that's probably gone on too long, but that's an argument for another time and place -- and seriously trying to milk what they can from Ozark. (It's another good show -- exceptional cast -- but I had issues with how unbelievable some of it was.) And now they roll out ... Resident Evil? A property that's had a handful of semi-successsful films, a somewhat failed reboot, and now a serialized attempt?
Look, I'm all for more genre shows when the opposite is less genre shows, but hasn't this one been -- pardon the pun -- done to death?
I guess stranger things have happened. (Pun intended. Again.)
Trailer is below. You folks know what to do.
As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
-- EZ
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