Last night’s show may have been the “Worst Emmys Ever” - but it was historic in one respect: Netflix scored a statue for David Fincher‘s directorial work on House of Cards.
[The] Emmy win is a strong indicator that Netflix can compete with television’s major players, even though it redefines “primetime” by presenting shows in much different ways than traditional networks. Netflix does not have linear programming and all episodes in a season are made available at once.
The positive critical reception Netflix has received for its original series, including House of Cards, Arrested Development, Hemlock Grove and Orange Is The New Black, calls back to the way HBO and other cable networks changed the TV landscape in the early 1990s.
Cable networks like HBO were able to change perception - from being the repository of cancelled and discarded programs to legitimate sources of content along with their major network counterparts. But for many viewers, cable and traditional networks shared the same dial and presented programs the same way. Those networks didn’t change viewers TV watching habits, they simply asked them to change the channel.
The House of Cards win means Netflix is a player in the world of TV programming - but more than that, it recognizes that the viability of on-demand content.
