nothing Netflix has made can touch Game of Thrones or the Sopranos for cultural impact
I think House of Cards was at least in the same ballpark as GoT and Sopranos. I think there is something to be said for brand affiliation as well, HBO was already considered a great source of TV while Netflix was only starting to get a fraction of that credibility. I could easily imagine an alternate reality where we would say:
nothing Netflix has made can touch Game of Thrones or House of Cards for cultural impact
with the implication being The Sopranos being a Netflix property.
As with homeruns, HBO has more than its share of (sometimes critically acclaimed) base runs (Veep, Boardwalk Empire, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc...) as is does strikeouts (Vinyl).
I don't think House of Cards comes close really, especially now that Spacey is out. Game of Thrones is a movement: cosplay, crazy fan forums, ultra wide appeal, the filming location of King's Landing in Croatia is constantly flooded by tourists because of GoT. House of Cards is a solid show, especially season 1, but I'd say GoT is the biggest show in the world culturally right now.
Good point regarding HBO's brand and their "good" shows; and I think it helps to illustrate my point: Netflix has a lot of good shows, maybe even some great ones, what I think they need, and what I think the other streaming providers will need is really big generational hits that come out every five years or so.
I don't think House of Cards comes close really, especially now that Spacey is out. Game of Thrones is a movement: cosplay, crazy fan forums, ultra wide appeal, the filming location of King's Landing in Croatia is constantly flooded by tourists because of GoT. House of Cards is a solid show, especially season 1, but I'd say GoT is the biggest show in the world culturally right now.
Both good points, too bad that HoC looks to be Spacey's swan song (and deservedly so).
Game of Thrones was already popular before HBO touched it however. Not to the degree that it is now, but it was one of the most talked about books since Harry Potter.
The worst thing is I have not found the next Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings. Lots of good books have come out in the past few years, but nothing has had the same impact yet.
The upcoming Amazon production of the Tolkien series is an obvious attempt to ride the GoT coattails. I'm putting the coattail credit to GoT rather than the Jackson trilogy.
Yeah, I think some of the factors that determine if a show is a massive hit is outside of the direct control of the producer. I think Netflix will get some home runs if they continue to invest in them, and keep giving directors creative freedom. Stranger Things was a really popular tv series.
And Netflix has got options for critically acclaimed tv series that traditional networks can't fully utilize. They can and do import foreign tv shows to an American audience without worrying much about taking airtime away from other shows.
I think House of Cards was at least in the same ballpark as GoT and Sopranos. I think there is something to be said for brand affiliation as well, HBO was already considered a great source of TV while Netflix was only starting to get a fraction of that credibility. I could easily imagine an alternate reality where we would say:
nothing Netflix has made can touch Game of Thrones or House of Cards for cultural impact
with the implication being The Sopranos being a Netflix property.
As with homeruns, HBO has more than its share of (sometimes critically acclaimed) base runs (Veep, Boardwalk Empire, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc...) as is does strikeouts (Vinyl).