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[Cornballer]

I love the Mara sisters.

Constance Zimmer (Dana Gordon) is in it, too!

Wikipedia says its got a budget of 100m. What's the usual budget for shows like these? Seems pretty high. (Not that I'm complaining!)

That's a lot of money if the figure is correct. Budgets can be a little slippery, but iirc most high-end cable dramas end up in the $2-3 million per episode range whereas network shows can be higher than that.

I'll be curious to see if the show's episode to episode structure has been changed from the norm to accommodate the new distribution model.

I hope there are some in depth interviews and articles about the show when it premieres as it'll be very interesting to see how production worked on the project.

 

[andycapps]

This looks like it's going to be a great show. Can't wait.

 

[jtb]

New trailers on the netflix site.

 

[Cornballer]

New trailers on the netflix site.

Thanks.

 

[Indrid Cold1]

Will this be good? Hmm... you might very well think that, but I couldn't possibly comment.

 

[Cornballer]

 

[Plywood]

http://i.minus.com/jbp2xV8yXNXyor.jpg

Bad pic for Mara, imo.

 

[Bladenic]

Really excited for this.

 

[Cornballer]

http://i.minus.com/jbp2xV8yXNXyor.jpg

Bad pic for Mara, imo.

The only other two I have from HoC:

 

[GK86]

The last trailer they released, had me hyped for me. The fact that Mara is in this, is icing on the cake. I loved her in American Horror Story.

 

[Cornballer]

I'm going to start working on the OT pretty soon, and one thing that's been on my mind - how should we handle spoilers and discussion for a show where all 13 episodes are going up on Netflix at one time? If anyone has any clever insight into how to best handle this, I'm all ears.

My initial thought was to do something like have people use spoiler tags for a certain amount of time (say 2 weeks?) and then anything goes after that. I'm not sure if the logistics behind that are going to be a hassle or if it's a worthwhile idea. Another idea would be to not use any spoiler tags at all as soon as it releases, but that has other issues as people wouldn't really want to post and talk about the show until they'd seen the whole thing. We could also use spoiler tags indefinitely and just label how much you've seen (e.g. "Spoilers through Ep4

Spoiler

put your spoilers here

")

Does any of this appeal to people? Any other ideas that might work?

Overall the goal is to have something that's effective, simple to understand, and doesn't kill discussion. Thanks for your help.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I'm going to start working on the OT pretty soon, and one thing that's been on my mind - how should we handle spoilers and discussion for a show where all 13 episodes are going up on Netflix at one time? If anyone has any clever insight into how to best handle this, I'm all ears.

My initial thought was to do something like have people use spoiler tags for a certain amount of time (say 2 weeks?) and then anything goes after that. I'm not sure if the logistics behind that are going to be a hassle or if it's a worthwhile idea. Another idea would be to not use any spoiler tags at all as soon as it releases, but that has other issues as people wouldn't really want to post and talk about the show until they'd seen the whole thing. We could also use spoiler tags indefinitely and just label how much you've seen (e.g. "Spoilers through Ep4

Spoiler

put your spoilers here

")

Does any of this appeal to people? Any other ideas that might work?

Overall the goal is to have something that's effective, simple to understand, and doesn't kill discussion. Thanks for your help.

Interesting question. I'm really not sure what the best solution is. The easiest path would be to split the OT into two separate threads, like with the Game of Thrones threads; An unmarked spoiler thread and a regular spoiler thread where everything is spoiler tagged. However, House of Cards is a new show and nowhere near as popular as Game of Thrones, so I imagine that the discussion is going to be pretty limited and splitting the already limited discussion between two threads probably isn't the best idea.

I guess the best thing to do would be to get everyone to use spoiler tags for an undefined amount of time. (we could probably decide when to start untagging things after a few weeks/months; whenever feels right) Of course, people would have to learn how to properly tag things...

 

[Emerson]

I'm going to start working on the OT pretty soon, and one thing that's been on my mind - how should we handle spoilers and discussion for a show where all 13 episodes are going up on Netflix at one time? If anyone has any clever insight into how to best handle this, I'm all ears.

My initial thought was to do something like have people use spoiler tags for a certain amount of time (say 2 weeks?) and then anything goes after that. I'm not sure if the logistics behind that are going to be a hassle or if it's a worthwhile idea. Another idea would be to not use any spoiler tags at all as soon as it releases, but that has other issues as people wouldn't really want to post and talk about the show until they'd seen the whole thing. We could also use spoiler tags indefinitely and just label how much you've seen (e.g. "Spoilers through Ep4

Spoiler

put your spoilers here

")

Does any of this appeal to people? Any other ideas that might work?

Overall the goal is to have something that's effective, simple to understand, and doesn't kill discussion. Thanks for your help.

May be a horrible idea/not simple at all but perhaps an official GAF airing schedule? Similar to "anything goes after 2 weeks" except specific episodes open up for discussion after a certain day. I think that'd be the best plan, but writing it out I realized how horribly impossible to enforce it would be.

 

[DarkFlow]

I'm going to start working on the OT pretty soon, and one thing that's been on my mind - how should we handle spoilers and discussion for a show where all 13 episodes are going up on Netflix at one time? If anyone has any clever insight into how to best handle this, I'm all ears.

My initial thought was to do something like have people use spoiler tags for a certain amount of time (say 2 weeks?) and then anything goes after that. I'm not sure if the logistics behind that are going to be a hassle or if it's a worthwhile idea. Another idea would be to not use any spoiler tags at all as soon as it releases, but that has other issues as people wouldn't really want to post and talk about the show until they'd seen the whole thing. We could also use spoiler tags indefinitely and just label how much you've seen (e.g. "Spoilers through Ep4

Spoiler

put your spoilers here

")

Does any of this appeal to people? Any other ideas that might work?

Overall the goal is to have something that's effective, simple to understand, and doesn't kill discussion. Thanks for your help.

Say tag everything for a month, then let it ride.

 

[Yen]

The original is absolutely fantastic. and darkly hilarious. Tough act to follow.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Say tag everything for a month, then let it ride.

I think this is a good idea and I am happy to facilitate thread title changes if you want to make the thread title reflect this.

And then maybe the OP could have a reminder for people using spoiler tags to mention which episode they are spoiling in plain-text?

 

[GK86]

Yeah, I think one month waiting period is best. And have the person post what episode they are up to/posting about.

Example

Episode 4:

/spoiler blah blah she's awesome.

 

[Hindle]

Is the original BBC version avalible on DVD? I'm thinking of watching before this airs.

Edit: yep avalible on Amazon. No wonder I missed the original, it aired in 1990!

 

[Cornballer]

I think this is a good idea and I am happy to facilitate thread title changes if you want to make the thread title reflect this.

And then maybe the OP could have a reminder for people using spoiler tags to mention which episode they are spoiling in plain-text?

Sure, that works for me. Two weeks might have been difficult for some people, so a month sounds reasonable. I'll write something up in the OP to clarify the rules, and maybe I'll hit you up once the month is up for a thread title change.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Cornballer]

House of Cards will be available on Netflix UK & Ireland on February 1st, too.

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Times: House of Cards Arrives as a Netflix Series

It's a good overview article of how the deal came together and some quotes from the key players.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

- NY Times: House of Cards Arrives as a Netflix Series

It's a good overview article of how the deal came together and some quotes from the key players.

That is really interesting. They were willing to spend $100 million on two seasons of House of Cards because Kevin Spacey and David Fincher films, as well as political thrillers, are popular with Netflix users. That makes a lot of sense. I'm guessing Orange is the New Black was greenlighted because Weeds is popular with Netflix users, Hemlock Grove because Eli Roth films are popular, etc. That's a smart strategy.

 

[Clevinger]

http://i.minus.com/jbp2xV8yXNXyor.jpg

Bad pic for Mara, imo.

A hilariously bad pic of her. What the hell.

 

[goodfella]

The production values look amazing. I would fucking love it if this was a success and Netflix started to pump out more high budget shows.

I wonder how much money they put into Arrested Development.

 

[GK86]

Another 13 episodes are already in production.

Thank the lord.

 

[Ceebs]

That is really interesting. They were willing to spend $100 million on two seasons of House of Cards because Kevin Spacey and David Fincher films, as well as political thrillers, are popular with Netflix users. That makes a lot of sense. I'm guessing Orange is the New Black was greenlighted because Weeds is popular with Netflix users, Hemlock Grove because Eli Roth films are popular, etc. That's a smart strategy.

I bet the networks disparately wish they had that sort of hard data in front of them when green lighting shows.

 

[jerry113]

Indeed. Studios have tried to shut down netflix by depriving them of access to their content and now netflix is trying to counter that by producing some of their own content to stream.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I bet the networks disparately wish they had that sort of hard data in front of them when green lighting shows.

No kidding. I mean, cable channels like AMC and FX can at least look at the films that they air, see which ones get the best ratings, and then make shows that are similar in the hope that they're successful, but with networks it's a crapshoot.

 

[jagowar]

I am very exited for this for a number of reasons... hopefully this show does well and redefines how tv is shown with all episodes going up at once. The idea of having to come back at a certain date and time to see a show is a very dated concept and needs to go away. Also like the idea of Netflix getting into the content game and go after the likes of hbo.

I know its slightly different but I also like the fact that they got arrested development and revived that. If that does well I could see them getting some other shows that were botched by their network and do them right. Things like firefly, bsg, etc. Not that this would happen but how cool would it be if Netflix brought us the next star trek, star wars, stargate or bsg series and did in more like hbo than network television.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Kevin Spacey is one of those actors whose "I could totally fuck you up at any given time"-ness has only grown as he's gotten older. Dat scowl.

It'll be interesting to see in a few years time what original content begins to do to the online streaming market. I think we may see a world within the next 25-30 years where internet streaming providers become the primary content providers for a dwindling cable/satellite market.

 

[Eric C]

New trailers on the netflix site.

Why don't they put these trailers on youtube?

I'll be curious to see if the show's episode to episode structure has been changed from the norm to accommodate the new distribution model.

Seems like they might have a bit.

A Drama’s Streaming Premiere - NY Times

By the time Mr. Willimon completed the pilot in early 2011, Mr. Spacey’s agent had started asking about the project. (Artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London, “Kevin is an Anglophile,” Mr. Wiczyk said.) The actor was part of the package Media Rights Capital brought to HBO, Showtime, AMC and other possible television buyers.

But before the studio met with any of them it put out a feeler to Netflix, thinking that fast-growing service might bid for the rights to repeat the show after a television premiere. The Netflix chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, a fan of the original, did what Netflix executives tend to do: He looked at the data. He found that Mr. Spacey and Mr. Fincher’s films were pretty popular among subscribers to Netflix’s streaming service. So were the films and TV shows in the category Netflix called “political thrillers.” And if that wasn’t enough evidence that a “House of Cards” reboot would fare well, there was this: The DVDs of the original mini-series were popular among subscribers to the company’s DVD-by-mail service.

Mr. Sarandos also sized up the project qualitatively. “It looked incredibly promising,” he said, “kind of the perfect storm of material and talent.”

He wanted exclusive rights to the show — a jaw-dropper at the time, since Netflix wasn’t in the exclusives business yet. His $100 million commitment to license 26 episodes, two seasons, sight unseen clinched the deal.
...

For “House of Cards” what was almost as important as the two-season commitment was Netflix’s promise of zero interference. “We’re placing our faith in you,” Mr. Sarandos told Mr. Fincher and the other producers.

Mr. Willimon said that he and his writing staff wrote drafts of all 13 episodes of the first season before filming commenced on a soundstage outside Baltimore last April — in contrast to most television shows that have a much more compressed timetable. What is compressed, in this case, is the release of the first season.

“We approached this creatively as a 13-hour movie,” said Mr. Willimon, who eschewed cliffhangers at the ends of some episodes because, well, he could. “Knowing we had two full seasons in advance, I didn’t feel the pressure to sell the end of each episode with superficial cliffhangers or shock tactics in order to keep coming back, in order to jack up the ratings week to week,” he said. “I hope our version of a cliffhanger is compelling, sophisticated characters and complex storytelling.”

So, Netflix gave Fincher & Spacey 100 million, and promised zero interference.

Can't wait to watch this. Is it Feb 1st yet?

 

[Cornballer]

Why don't they put these trailers on youtube?

The main one is up on youtube, but the rest aren't. Strange choice by Netflix, but I guess they really want to push people to use their service more for any sort of content(?) Does anyone know if they're running ads on their web interface and the tv interface at the moment? I haven't used Netflix in a while, so I haven't checked.

Can't wait to watch this. Is it Feb 1st yet?

I'm hoping to get the thread up on Friday when we're a week out from the premiere. Do we even call it a premiere any more?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Does anyone know if they're running ads on their web interface and the tv interface at the moment?

I haven't seen any ads for it, anywhere.

 

[Cornballer]

- Maureen Ryan interviews showrunner Beau Willimon: 'House of Cards' On Netflix: Inside Intel on Kevin Spacey's Dark Drama

"House of Cards" represents a huge gamble for Netflix.

All 13 episodes of the first season of "House of Cards" will arrive on Netflix on Friday, Feb. 1, and a second season has already been commissioned. Big gambles like that don't come cheap: "House of Cards," an adaptation of a classic British miniseries, reportedly cost $100 million.

It looks it: I've seen the first two hours of the drama, which stars Kevin Spacey as a ruthless Washington, DC operative named Francis Underwood, and its production values resemble those of a pricey feature film. "House of Cards," which stars Robin Wright as Underwood's equally ambitious wife, has the muted, somber colors, ambiguous morality and chilly characters you find in the films of David Fincher, who is an executive producer and directed the first two episodes of the Netflix series.

Will Spacey's Francis Underwood be too dark a character for Netflix subscribers? That's the question that hangs over the series, which concerns Underwood's devious political maneuverings after the election of a new president. Beau Willimon -- the "Ides of March" screenwriter who served as executive producer and showrunner for "House of Cards" -- said told The Huffington Post that Underwood is a natural descendant of the characters of "The Wire" and "The Sopranos."

"You’ll hear time and time again in the television world about likability and I say, 'Fuck likability,'" Willimon said. "I do not give a shit whether my viewers like my characters. I do give a shit whether they’re attracted to them. And those are two fundamentally different things."

With a decided lack of interference from Netflix (which also has new episodes of "Arrested Development" on the way), Willimon and Fincher were able to make an intensely serialized drama that doesn't have to shy away from its characters uncharitable, or even evil, qualities. I'll have more to say about "House of Cards" just before it arrives on Netflix, but for now, here's my conversation with Willimon about the project's genesis, its differences from the British original, and the filmmakers' approach to storytelling on this platform.

Q&A via the link.

 

[Acheron]

So if this series is good, is it eligible for an Emmy?

 

[Takamura-San]

How did Lillyhammer do?

 

[Cornballer]

So if this series is good, is it eligible for an Emmy?

Interesting question. I assume it would be, but I haven't heard anything official.

How did Lillyhammer do?

As far as US viewership goes, no one really knows since Netflix doesn't release numbers on how many people watched it. FWIW, it did get a second season.

 

[Draconian]

I haven't seen any ads for it, anywhere.

I've seen it on the Netflix app for the Xbox when I started it up about a week ago.

 

[gdt]

Netflix disrupting the model like this is so interesting. I can't wait to see how it affects this and AD.

 

[Ingueferroque]

Reminds me of BOSS after seeing the trailer.

Wish that show didn't get cancelled, damn politics.

 

[Flash]

wow i'm liking the high quality production. gives me faith for AD.

I was just thinking about cancelling netflix at the end of the month because I haven't had a lot of time to watch this but I'll keep my subscription going for this.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

How did Lillyhammer do?

I heard it was really big in Sweden or maybe it was Norway. I'm sure that's why it got a 2nd season. I don't know anyone in real life that even knows what it is.

 

[StMeph]

I really liked the original BBC series, so I will be eyeing this one with some skepticism.

But this, and Arrested Development? Good on you, Netflix.

 

[Mercury Fred]

Holy shit. I was looking forward to this, but knowing that they're putting all the episodes up at once? Amazing!

 

[Necrovex]

Shit, after reading the interview, this show looks right up my alley. I'll be needing a new show now, since I just completed BattleStar Galatica.

 

[Tobor]

I'll be finishing up a re-watch of West Wing just in time for this. Perfect timing!

 

[Eric C]

To me, HBO seems much better at hyping it's shows. Nobody I know knows about this show yet.

So if this series is good, is it eligible for an Emmy?

I actually looked that info up a few days ago.

A few years ago the Emmy's changed their rules to allow broadband shows as long as each episode is longer than 15 minutes, and each season has more than 6 episodes.

So yes, this is eligible for an Emmy.

 

[Tobor]

To me, HBO seems much better at hyping it's shows. Nobody I know knows about this show yet.



I actually looked that info up a few days ago.

A few years ago the Emmy's changed their rules to allow broadband shows as long as each episode is longer than 15 minutes, and each season has more than 6 episodes.

So yes, this is eligible for an Emmy.

Wow, very proactive. Good to see somebody thinking ahead rather than fighting against the future.

 

[Dan]

It's going to take me so long to get through this

I'm gonna be working virtually every day for the first three weeks of February. I ain't got time for 13 hours of TV dropping all at once! Not on top of all the other regular TV.

 

[harSon]

Holy shit. I was looking forward to this, but knowing that they're putting all the episodes up at once? Amazing!

Such an interesting concept. Approaching something as an extended film, and not a weekly release, definitely has the ability to change the narrative quite a bit. I'm really interested in seeing how it shapes up.