In recent weeks, US television industry observers and critics were a dumbfounded mix of confusion, expectation and speculation at the news that broadcast network TV's biggest star, Shonda Rhimes, is jumping ship from ABC and heading to Netflix.
For a decade and a half Rhimes, the creator and producer of the hit shows Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, has been traditional television's great example of how to make old-school weekly blockbuster shows that may not be critical favourites, but they put viewers' bums firmly on their couches in front of their sets week after week.
While cable and streaming platforms have provided shows that push the nudity, language, violence and thematic boundaries enforced by advertising and moral majority influence on mainstream broadcasters, Rhimes's shows have made millions of dollars for Disney ABC and always provided a final, undeniable middle finger to the rapidly changing television universe of what's still possible on the US's largest home entertainment platform.
UNCERTAIN EVOLUTION
Rhimes's shows grew their popularity through the old-fashioned method of keeping viewers waiting to see what would happen next as well as incorporating social media like Twitter into their publicity campaigns in order to increase expectation and bump up the all powerful ratings from one episode to the next.Her decision to enter the streaming world is indicative of a number of changes to the way the world is moving when it comes to television watching, and could be the beginning of a broader and - for the networks - a much more uncertain evolution of the medium towards binge-watching and an advertising-, ratings- and restriction- free entertainment environment that will soon become the norm.
Whether or not Rhimes has the creative chops to produce scintillating, smaller episode order, genre pushing content remains to be seen, but her decision makes sense from the perspective of having reached the absolute pinnacle of traditional TV with nothing to prove and nowhere to go but where the viewers are - online.
With 100 million global subscribers and $6-billion to spend on content this year alone, Netflix is aggressively going after content providers and isn't afraid to poach them from wherever they can. The streaming service recently announced a deal with the Coen brothers for an anthology series, and they're not alone in offering creatives enticing deals in order to leave more traditional platforms.
Amazon has already produced series from Spike Lee and Woody Allen and recently signed a deal with Walking Dead executive producer Robert Kirkman to lure him away from cable channel AMC. Your zombies will soon be making an all-in-one-go meal rather than a 13-week tasting menu appearance on a streaming service near you.Disney, Rhimes' soon to be former employer has, in protest against their distribution deal with Netflix, announced it will start its own streaming service to market its massively profitable catalogue of content directly to consumers.
STREAM QUEEN
This year US audiences will be offered a massive selection of 500 new scripted television shows to choose from across all platforms. With the aggressive pursuance of content that the streaming giants are just beginning, you have to imagine those numbers are only going to get bigger and bigger in the years to come...