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Television

Nine of the 10 Most-Watched Streaming Programs Are Reruns (bloomberg.com) 51

Despite investing billions in new streaming services, media giants have failed to dethrone old favorites, according to Nielsen data. The 21-year-old legal drama "NCIS" tops the list, with viewers streaming 11.4 million episodes per week. Netflix dominates the top 10, with eight shows owing most of their viewership to the platform. Reruns from CBS and other networks make up the majority of the list, with "Stranger Things" being the only original series.

"Nine of the 10 most-watched streaming programs are reruns. In addition to the three from CBS, there is one from YouTube (CoComelon), one from Canada (Heartland), one from Australia (Bluey) and Suits. The only original series to crack the list is Stranger Things," Bloomberg writes. However: "While reruns dominate the top 10, that is not the case overall. Most of the 100 most popular titles of the last three years are original series," it added.

Nine of the 10 Most-Watched Streaming Programs Are Reruns

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  • Northern Exposure is on prime, I remembered it as a good show, but damn, it was really good. Not surprised the top shows are re-runs.

  • of new programs are just remakes or spin offs of the same old crap.

  • Makes sense (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Nrrqshrr ( 1879148 ) on Monday April 08, 2024 @07:24PM (#64379420)

    Back in the olden times, writers wrote the show as it aired since there was no binge-watching. This allowed for feedback to be immediately integrated. Fan-favorite characters were put in the spotlight, characters that failed to get a following were killed off, plot threads that got boring were cut short... The most famous example of this is Breaking Bad's Jesse, who was supposed to get killed off in the first season, but pretty much became an icon.
    But today, a streaming service orders 8 episodes, they get written, filmed and released in batches. Because of this, there is no feedback to be integrated. The show exits the writing room, having been created with the writers in an ivory tower, and goes straight to filming. If you look back to the old classic, all of them changed heavily as they run, often within the same season.
    This can't happen with today's batch-ordered shows, and it shows.

    • by ls671 ( 1122017 )

      So, you are saying JIT (just in time compilers) are better than pre-compiled stuff?

    • You make a good point and probably fair. However, this doesn't explain the success of many HBO shows which film all at once a season and were wildly successful (Sopranos, The Wire, Oz, GOT, etc).

    • The "olden times" arent exactly perfect in that regard however.

      More than one show has latched on to an idea generated from fandom - hell, in Battle Star Galactica (2003), the concept of the Final Five wasn't even a thing until the show runners cottoned on to the amount of fan speculation around the remaining unnamed human-form Cylons, but they quickly pivoted to it becoming central to the show and ditched their original concepts.

    • Back in the olden times, writers wrote the show as it aired since there was no binge-watching. This allowed for feedback to be immediately integrated. Fan-favorite characters were put in the spotlight, characters that failed to get a following were killed off, plot threads that got boring were cut short... The most famous example of this is Breaking Bad's Jesse, who was supposed to get killed off in the first season, but pretty much became an icon.
      But today, a streaming service orders 8 episodes, they get written, filmed and released in batches. Because of this, there is no feedback to be integrated. The show exits the writing room, having been created with the writers in an ivory tower, and goes straight to filming. If you look back to the old classic, all of them changed heavily as they run, often within the same season.
      This can't happen with today's batch-ordered shows, and it shows.

      I think they only do that when it's something like an 8-12 episode run. For network shows that have 20+ episodes I suspect they're still filming while airing.

      But I think the bigger factor is simply runtime, NCIS has 463 episodes [wikipedia.org], that's something like 20,000 minutes.

      Stranger things has 34 episodes [wikipedia.org], probably closer to 2,000 minutes. It takes a lot of Stranger Things bingers to make up for a single NCIS binger.

      As for your claim about all of them changed heavily as they run, often within the same season I'd co

    • Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is probably the other most famous example of this, where he was supposed to be killed in Season 2 but was so immensely popular with the fans that after occasional guest-reappearances he was eventually made into a permanent title-credits cast member on Buffy and subsequently Angel.

    • Jesse kind of ruined Breaking Bad, if you ask me. His constant moral qualms were just annoying. I mean, giving all that money back? Really?

  • Twenty years ago, they hired writers.

    See, the Internet, e.g. the teenage punkass committee, convinced show business execs that writing wasn't a real skill. It didn't require any talent or education. Unlike engineering or being a science man.

    It's not a real major. Art and writing are just playing with crayons, you see.

    For a clue on how that worked out, take a look at the last half-dozen Disney scripts. Refusing to hire good writers cost their shareholders $172 billion in just under four years.

    That's what goo

  • Does the term “rerun” even apply for on-demand streaming services? That usually refers to shows that are broadcast over the air any subsequent time after their original broadcast date.

  • What do they consider an "original series"? Wasn't every program an original series at one time?

  • Humans aren't the brightest bunch. The average human peaks in intelligence when they're a teenager. Those weird hormonal cretins have more grey matter and the ability to adapt to new inputs easier than their adult peers. Once a human is on the downslope they're ever less likely to find and appreciate anything new, so they'll stick with what they know then claim they're not scared and mentally deficient, things just "used to be better". It's called the "Damned kids these days" phenomena and can be traced bac
  • Guy I talked to recently said he was a sound recordist in the film industry and saiiid... Hallmark a. didn't even pay union wages, and produced you know those xmas movies, for 2 million then made it all back and more in advertising... like a movie mill... don't worry about the content, we just need it to fill a a hole on a streaming service ... not sure how this squares with 90% being reruns.
  • by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Monday April 08, 2024 @08:19PM (#64379532)

    McDonald's sold the most hamburgers this quarter. Does that mean they make the best hamburgers?

  • Ever deepening grudges against fellow participants are a recipe for more action.

Someone is unenthusiastic about your work.

Working...