House of Cards revived

[G-Man]

I've been watching the first lot of episodes of the US version of House Of Cards, with Kevin Spacey in the Francis Urquardt role and Robin Wright as Lady Macbeth.

It does not ape the original series too much, which is good -- Spacey could never do the Ian Richardson thing, though he uses that iconic line once. The young journalist is as annoying as the one in the original, though, and as in the original, she is played by an actress who is very much out of her depth.

What is most interesting about the series, though, is its business model. As I understand it, the how isn't broadcast on TV, but is made available all at once (or in two drops, I'm not sure) for download on Netflix. Obviously Netflix are tapping into the practice of binge viewing, of which I am a great proponent.

I'll be fascinated to see if producing a TV show that bypasses TV is a viable business model.

[Benjm]

House of Cards revived

There's a piece on the The New Yorker site which reckons that this is bad news for old style cable tv companies.

[Stumpy Pepys]

House of Cards revived

G-Man wrote: I'll be fascinated to see if producing a TV show that bypasses TV is a viable business model.

I think it is, assuming your programmes are any good. Amazon and Google (via YouTube) are also looking at creating their own content.

The US cable companies have a stranglehold on distribution, meaning if you want, for example, HBO, you're forced to subscribe to all sorts of other crap. I'm sure HBO would love to start selling their stuff directly online.

[G-Man]

House of Cards revived

Quality is decisive, probably. On TV -- even pay TV -- you get to accept all manner of crap because you just couldn't be bothered. To go through the hassle of paying to stream or download appointment TV requires a very strong incentive. House Of Cards is good enough, though it's not by any means flawless, to serve as an opening gambit.

It doubtless is a loss leader; how many viewers would Netflix need to break even, never mind make a profit, especially in the absence of advertising?

[Stumpy Pepys]

House of Cards revived

Don't forget they can also recoup a lot of costs by flogging box sets.

[Borracho]

House of Cards revived

G-Man wrote: The young journalist is as annoying as the one in the original, though, and as in the original, she is played by an actress who is very much out of her depth.

Amen. She's a pain in the arse, not so much the actress but the character, who appears to have been storyboarded by someone who knows little or nothing about newspapers.

It's good otherwise. Robin Wright is excellent and so is the balding guy who plays Frank's right-hand-man and does all the dirty work (can't be arsed finding out who he is, I prefer not to know actors' names so they feel more convincing as characters instead of film/TV stars).

[Gangster Octopus]

House of Cards revived

The Beeb's take on using the Net.

[Ginger Yellow]

House of Cards revived

What is most interesting about the series, though, is its business model. As I understand it, the how isn't broadcast on TV, but is made available all at once (or in two drops, I'm not sure) for download on Netflix. Obviously Netflix are tapping into the practice of binge viewing, of which I am a great proponent.

It's all at once. They're going to do the same for Arrested Development and the other original programming they've got coming up. In principle it makes sense. Netflix isn't selling advertising against the show, it's not really trying to compete with the broadcast networks and thus doesn't need to string out the show over a season. All it's trying to do is put attractive, exclusive content on its service.

In practice, though, I'm not sure it's a great idea (from my perspective). The Verge had a discussion of this on the podcast and made the point that the simultaneous release makes it very difficult to create any real buzz about the show after it's out, because if you discuss it in public you're automatically spoiling it for someone. It's not like a certain episode is "safe" to discuss after a week, because you've no idea how quickly people are watching them.

That argument is valid, although I think they put too much weight on it - I don't think Netflix cares too much how much post-release buzz there is, so long as people know there is high quality exclusive content coming to Netflix and subscribers who watch it, like it and keep subscribing. My problem with the model is that, if you read Netflix's most recent results, they're clearly moving away from a pseudo-Spotify type model of one-payment-to-access-everything (that's not currently airing), which is what I want, and toward a pseudo-HBO model of becoming just another provider of exclusive content, which happens to be delivered via the internet. I don't want Netflix to be the internet's HBO. I want HBO to be the internet's HBO.

[Ginger Yellow]

House of Cards revived

As for the show, I watched the first two episodes and while it was mostly well done, I'm not totally convinced by it yet. Partly this is because the weaknesses of the original show (I never read the book) are shown up a bit when it's taken out of its context. And I'd agree with the criticism of how they've handled the cub reporter character. It's a slow burn of a story, though, so it may get more gripping as the series progresses.

[Benjm]

House of Cards revived

It could be a very slow burn given that the original was four episodes and the remake runs to thirteen.

[G-Man]

House of Cards revived

It's more a "based on" thing than a remake. The initial premise is similar: wily and amoral politician resolves to bring down PM/president who snubbed him when appointing his cabinet, and uses young female journalist. His factotum is also called Stamper, and the protagonist often addresses the audience.

But there are several new storylines, and others that have been changed from the original (there is no blackmailed spin doctor, as there was in the UK version, but a blackmailed congressman).

[Tubby Isaacs]

House of Cards revived

as in the original, she is played by an actress who is very much out of her depth.

Susannah Harker's sister, Caroline, was a better actress than her. Rather more mumsy, so not right for that part though.

[Wyatt Earp]

House of Cards revived

I thought Episode 1 was quite good. There.

[G-Man]

House of Cards revived

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

as in the original, she is played by an actress who is very much out of her depth.

Susannah Harker's sister, Caroline, was a better actress than her. Rather more mumsy, so not right for that part though.

Harker had an actress sister? The woman who plays the reporter in the US series also has an actress sister who is better than her: Rooney Mara.

[Tubby Isaacs]

House of Cards revived

Yeah, this is what her sister looks like.



She's quite distinctive, got a very nice kind of posh naive way about her acting which rings true to me. And even when she was younger, seemed to get mumsy roles. She's in a good BBC "state of London" drama where her husband (played by David Morrissey) decides life's boring and has an affair.

For some reason, I always fancy the dull wife in programmes like that.

[caja-dglh]

House of Cards revived

Ginger Yellow wrote: My problem with the model is that, if you read Netflix's most recent results, they're clearly moving away from a pseudo-Spotify type model of one-payment-to-access-everything (that's not currently airing), which is what I want, and toward a pseudo-HBO model of becoming just another provider of exclusive content, which happens to be delivered via the internet. I don't want Netflix to be the internet's HBO. I want HBO to be the internet's HBO.

This is bang on for me. My wife made it so we have an HBO subscription (by battering the cable company), but I recall hearing the line the Netflix felt it could become HBO before HBO could become like Netflix.

It is an interesting idea, but I expect that Netflix will tire of pissing money into the wind for no extra money soon. It may help subscriber growth, but I doubt they are going to take away HBO from creating shit folk want to watch.

[Ginger Yellow]

House of Cards revived

The thing is, it's not costing them that much money as a proportion of their revenues. They've allocated $300m to original programming in 2013, which is a small fraction of one of their usual content deals. Obviously if they were to try to fill up the service with only original content, it would cost them a lot, but I don't think that's the plan.

[garcia]

House of Cards revived

richardson was the best thing about the original house of cards. i could listen to that guy talk all day. spacey is good too, but francis underwood just isn't quite as interesting as francis urquhart. i liked when urquhart would turn his long nose to the camera and drawl some caustic aside, but in underwood's case i'm wondering what the point of a lot of these moments is. usually he is telling you something that is already apparent.

it's a bit trashy but entertaining.

that's rooney mara's sister?

[blameless]

House of Cards revived

that's rooney mara's sister?

Ha! Er, no - that's Caroline Harker, sister of Susannah Harker who played Mattie Storin in the original HoC. And as Tubby rightly says, Caroline is by far the better actress of the two.

I want to see the Kevin Spacey version, but I just wish they'd called it something else; House of Cards for me will always be Ian Richardson, ably supported by Diane Fletcher (as Urquhart's wife) and Colin Jeavons (as Urquhart's paranoid hatchet-man assistant).

[G-Man]

House of Cards revived

garcia meant the actress who plays the journalist in the US version is Rooney Mara's sister.

[imp]

House of Cards revived

I've watched the first two and agree with most of the comments upthread - not bad, will keep watching, reporter very annoying. The UK original was so over-acted as to be unwatchable, and the repetition of "couldn't possibly comment" was like a flat comedy punchline. Addressing the camera directly also strikes me as a trick that's long since had its time.

[Borracho]

House of Cards revived

G-Man wrote: garcia meant the actress who plays the journalist in the US version is Rooney Mara's sister.

In what extraordinarily bizarre place would your mind have to be to hold a newborn baby girl in your arms, and say to your spouse: "Let's call her Rooney."

I mean, I know a lot of WASP couples go in for this rather odd thing of giving the kid an Anglo surname for a first name, but jesus christ.

[G-Man]

House of Cards revived

Wayne would have been a crap name for a girl.

[Reed John]

House of Cards revived

Kate and Rooney Mara are heirs to both the Maras who own the New York Giants and the Rooneys who own the Steelers, two of the only sports ownership families that fans actually like.

So Rooney is a family name.

I'm watching episode 1 now.
So far, Kate Mara's character is a lot like Rachael McAdams character in the Hollywood version of State of Play.

It reminds me why I hate Washington and am not sure I'm going to be ok in my current job. If I have to deal with lobbyists again, I'm going to get depressed.

[Reed John]

House of Cards revived

Kevin Spacey is a white Democrat from South Carolina in the House. Are there any of those left?