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House of Cards - S1 on Netflix - Spacey & Fincher - *UNMARKED SPOILERS FOR ALL OF S1*

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C

Cornballer

Member
iboIUfgMRebX7o.jpg


Hey folks - it's been a month, so we're switching over to not tagging Season 1 spoilers here in the thread. Feel free to talk about S1 without tags, and please note the change in the thread title.

If you're still catching up on the show, I'd advise you to either stay out of the thread until you're caught up, only read posts before March 1st, or make a LTTP thread. Thanks for your help.
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The 13-episode first season of House of Cards will be available on Netflix Instant Watch on February 1st. House of Cards is a political drama from David Fincher and Beau Willimon following the career of a ruthless politician played by Kevin Spacey. Additional cast members include Robin Wright and Kate Mara. The series is an adaptation of the BBC miniseries from the early 90's.

All 13-episodes will be released simultaneously on Feb 1st. This marks a huge leap into original programming for Netflix, and it's been estimated that they invested over $100 million in the first two seasons. Note that the second season is funded and already in production. Both Fincher and Willimon discussed in interviews how they're excited about a project with very little network interference and no week-by-week concerns over ratings. They likened the experience to creating a 13-hour movie. It's a different business model for television than what we're accustomed to, and many of us are excited to see how it all turns out.

Regarding spoilers, since all of the episodes will be up immediately for streaming, we're in something of a gray area. After some discussion with other posters here, we decided that all discussion will be tagged and labeled for the first month while people are initially watching the series, and then after that we'll go to full discussion of everything without tags. Please spoiler tag any discussion and label which episode you're talking about outside of the tags: e.g. Ep 3:
I can't believe Kevin Spacey killed another hooker.
Again, as this is a new process for all of us, please bear with us as we work through some growing pains. Constructive criticism and respectful feedback is always appreciated as we figure out the best way to handle this.

Netflix said:
Bad, for a greater good. Ruthless and cunning, Congressman Francis Underwood (Oscar® winner Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex, and corruption in modern D.C. Kate Mara (“American Horror Story”) and Corey Stoll (“Midnight in Paris”) costar in the first original series from David Fincher (“The Social Network”) and Beau Willimon (“The Ides of March”).
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Cast:
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Videos:

Links:

News & Articles:

Promotional Pictures: (click to enlarge)




​

Reviews & Comments:
Wikipedia said:
The first two episodes received universal praise from Scandinavian critics who were given an early viewing on January 16. Serienytt praised it for "doing everything right" while NRK said that Netflix "raised the bar for 2013".
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Schedule:
All 13 episodes are available on Netflix on February 1st, 2013.​

Posters:
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J

jtb

Banned
fucking hyped. Great OP; clean, simple, informative.

interesting to see who's actually running the show; none of Roth, Fincher or Willimon seem like the type to run a project like this, but I guess they're approaching it more from a 13 hour miniseries rather than a traditional TV series.
 
G

Gambit

Member
As a huge fan of the original and Ian Richardson's Francis Urquart
(You might very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment)
, I am really looking forward to the American version.

Kevin Spacey will hopefully deliver.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
peterb0y said:
Has Netflix said why they opted for this format?
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Beau Willimon interview said:
Q: Was it always the plan to deliver the whole season on one day?

A: Once we did team up with Netflix, that certainly was a consideration from the very beginning as a possibility, but it wasn’t set in stone. We thought about all sorts of models: Should we do a traditional [one episode per week]? Should we do it in chunks, like four episodes, then five episodes, then four episodes? And we eventually arrived at [offering] 13 all at once because that speaks to what Netflix has to offer that really no other network does. Its subscribers watch content when they want to watch it, how they want to watch it, in what chunks they want to watch it. And so it puts the decision in their hands.

And while all of our episodes certainly do have their own beginning and their own end, it really is meant to be watched serially. I guess, conceivably someone could watch it backwards. That would be a sort of avant-garde viewing experience and they have that choice, you know?
Click to expand...
.
 
E

Empty

Member
wait what? all thirteen episodes of this are released at the same time. as someone who likes to binge through tv shows, oh my god.
 
B

Biggzy

Member
Empty said:
wait what? all thirteen episodes of this are released at the same time. as someone who likes to binge through tv shows, oh my god.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can see myself powering through the episodes if the the series can get it's hooks into me.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Sweet. This is looking really good.

I wonder if they are doing a normal press tour for this.
 
G

gutshot

Member
brianjones said:
looking forward to it but i still this format sucks as far as building hype and generating discussion :/
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You have to look at it like more of a movie than a TV series. Movies are able to build hype despite not releasing in weekly chunks.

With TV series' becoming more and more serial, it really makes no sense to release things in weekly chunks anyway. Can you imagine if The Avengers was released piecemeal over a period of 10-weeks during the summer? That would be ridiculous.

As others have said, this is the future of television and content consumption in general.
 
E

Eric C

Member
I hope people mark spoilers similar to this

episode #x
spoilers about episode #X go here

Otherwise this thread will be a wall of black that I won't be able to read until I finish watching the series.
 
D

Dabanton

Member
Yeah I really hope this gets other creatives on board and networks to take note.

Having the choice of watching every episode at my pleasure for a first run show is revolutionary.
 
B

brianjones

Member
gutshot said:
You have to look at it like more of a movie than a TV series. Movies are able to build hype despite not releasing in weekly chunks.

With TV series' becoming more and more serial, it really makes no sense to release things in weekly chunks anyway. Can you imagine if The Avengers was released piecemeal over a period of 10-weeks during the summer? That would be ridiculous.

As others have said, this is the future of television and content consumption in general.
Click to expand...

i dont agree that TV shows should try to be long movies

13 hour movies dont exist for a reason

personally i like having one day a week i can look forward to any given show

marathoning stuff has its place but i wouldnt want everything to be like that
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Eric C said:
I hope people mark spoilers similar to this

episode #x
spoilers about episode #X go here

Otherwise this thread will be a wall of black that I won't be able to read until I finish watching the series.
Click to expand...

I suggested this in the previous thread. Makes it easier on everyone to have a discussion.
 
T

Tobor

Member
brianjones said:
i dont agree that TV shows should try to be long movies

13 hour movies dont exist for a reason
Click to expand...

The reason being that up until now, there wasn't a proper way to distribute them and make money.

EDIT: Replying to your edit, you can still watch it that way if you want. I'd rather watch it in 3 or 4 chunks. Others might want to marathon the whole thing. We all win here.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
GK86 said:
People should be supporting this, rather than using a free trail to watch it. Just my opinion though.
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I agree that people should be supporting this if they want Netflix to continue producing similar content. However, this is an offer straight from Netflix, so I don't see a problem with enticing a few extra people to check out the new show on a trial. If they like it, perhaps they'll continue their subscriptions past the trial period.


You should add the spoiler structure to the OP. Not everyone is going to know to use that method.
Click to expand...
It's in the OP:
Regarding spoilers, since all of the episodes will be up immediately for streaming, we're in something of a gray area. After some discussion with other posters here, we decided that all discussion will be tagged and labeled for the first month while people are initially watching the series, and then after that we'll go to full discussion of everything without tags. Please spoiler tag any discussion and label which episode you're talking about outside of the tags: e.g. Ep 3:
I can't believe Kevin Spacey killed another hooker.
Again, as this is a new process for all of us, please bear with us as we work through some growing pains. Constructive criticism and respectful feedback is always appreciated as we figure out the best way to handle this.
Click to expand...
If it needs to be further highlighted or clarified, please let me know and I'll make some changes.
 
H

heliosRAzi

Banned
Tobor said:
The reason being that up until now, there wasn't a proper way to distribute them and make money.

EDIT: Replying to your edit, you can still watch it that way if you want. I'd rather watch it in 3 or 4 chunks. Others might want to marathon the whole thing. We all win here.
Click to expand...

That's what I love about this. I can watch every episode on the day it comes out and I probably will. Marathoning serialized shows like this makes viewing easier. You can pick up on the tidbits and the clues and the connections.
 
A

AAequal

Banned
brianjones said:
i dont agree that TV shows should try to be long movies

13 hour movies dont exist for a reason

personally i like having one day a week i can look forward to any given show

marathoning stuff has its place but i wouldnt want everything to be like that
Click to expand...
You don't have to marathon it, just watch one episode a week. Is it a bad thing to have options? Anyway I'm looking forward to this, trailers got my interest and seems to have great team behind the show.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Cornballer said:
I agree that people should be supporting this if they want Netflix to continue producing similar content. However, this is an offer straight from Netflix, so I don't see a problem with enticing a few extra people to check out the new show on a trial. If they like it, perhaps they'll continue their subscriptions past the trial period.


It's in the OP:If it needs to be further highlighted or clarified, please let me know and I'll make some changes.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I skimped past it.

AAequal said:
You don't have to marathon it, just watch one episode a week. Is it a bad thing to have options? Anyway I'm looking forward to this, trailers got my interest and seems to have great team behind the show.
Click to expand...

Yup, limit yourself if you want to keep that traditional tv model. Nothing wrong with that.
 
S

Snake

Member
Nice OP. I had no idea that the main girl from Cabin in the Woods was in this until now.

brianjones said:
looking forward to it but i still this format sucks as far as building hype and generating discussion :/
Click to expand...

Maybe, but this format is the only justifiable way of doing this. You don't string people along for thirteen weeks when they're paying for the service now, and you give a much stronger incentive to outsiders to sign up when they know they're getting complete content. I've never been tempted to get Netflix before and now I'm a guaranteed subscriber.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Director's Guild Quarterly: Playing With a New Deck
House of Cards is Netflix's first original series. But the real difference is that David Fincher and a team of five directors are calling the shots.
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Some cool pictures and insight in this article.

They say Fincher directed the first two episodes.
After directing the first two episodes himself, he handed the reins to a succession of five established talents-- James Foley (At Close Range, Glengarry Glen Ross), Joel Schumacher (Phone Booth, A Time to Kill), Charles McDougall (Desperate Housewives, The Office), Carl Franklin (One False Move, Devil in a Blue Dress) and Allen Coulter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) and told them they could steer their assigned episodes as they saw fit. Directors were able to cast their own day players and people who were introduced in their episodes. As executive producer, Fincher would be there as a sounding board. But unlike most television programs, which are set up to give writers, producers and executives final word, House of Cards was going to be a director-centric playground, filming on several massive sets in a 150,000-square-foot Baltimore warehouse. "I felt like we were telling 13 stories that are all part of one big story, and I was handing off movements to people whose work I admire," says Fincher.
Click to expand...
 
RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
In regards to all episodes being available at once...great from a consumer standpoint but I'm wondering what it will mean for subscription retention with free trials being available and all.

Didn't know Kate Mara and Rooney Mara were sisters. They don't really look anything alike.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
henhowc said:
In regards to all episodes being available at once...great from a consumer standpoint but I'm wondering what it will mean for subscription retention with free trials being available and all.

Didn't know Kate Mara and Rooney Mara were sisters. They don't really look anything alike.
Click to expand...

They are hoping the consumer will be hooked after viewing HoC. Which is one of the reasons they offer the free trail.

They don't at all. Both are still cute though.
 
L

Lima

Member
Will be interesting to see what versions you can get on the net. To my knowledge there is no way to download netflix streams so it will most likely be a screen cap of some sorts. I'm watching this on Sky Atlantic anyway but it will be a good indication of what quality I can expect for Arrested Development.
 
RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
Lima said:
Will be interesting to see what versions you can get on the net. To my knowledge there is no way to download netflix streams so it will most likely be a screen cap of some sorts. I'm watching this on Sky Atlantic anyway but it will be a good indication of what quality I can expect for Arrested Development.
Click to expand...

Does Netflix still restrict some shows to SD on computers?
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Lima said:
Oh I don't know. We don't have Netflix here in Germany yet. I'm still not giving up hope for some quality version hitting the net.
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FWIW, they did sell the international rights to HoC today.
In Germany Sky Deutschland has picked up the series as have its pay TV compatriots Canal+ in Spain, Zon in Portugal and Digiturk in Turkey.

In French-speaking Belgium Be-TV has acquired the series, which has a budget of over US$100 million across the two 13-episode series ordered by Netflix. In Iceland RUV has bought the show.
Click to expand...
IIRC Netflix Canada and Netflix UK/Ireland should have it up next week, as well.
 
E

Empty

Member
the walrus said:
Wow, this is a great read. Really interesting the approach they're taking with this.
Click to expand...

i hope with the director driven approach described in there they can keep it feeling coherent. i like it when breaking bad has an episode by rian johnson and he brings a unique flair to his part of the story but it seems unusual for that to be the rule rather than the exception. i mean mad men is so driven by weiner as the show runner that actors from the show like slattery and hamm have directed episodes lol.
 
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