Ultimate Guide to Streaming's Hits and Misses of 2022
When streaming first hit the market, there was an unprecedented gold rush. Everyone knew that they had to find a way to lure customers into subscribing to the new medium. Cable TV and network television were still very much the norm, and they had amazing content--the kind that people would drool over. People weren't just going to hand over their credit cards for nothing. The industry's solution was to open their wallets as wide as possible. They poured billions into writers, big-name directors, and CGI artists, giving customers something that they could really sink their teeth into. It worked. Cable is dead. Network TV has gone the way of the landline, and streaming is the new norm. Things went on that way for several years, until Netflix announced their first drop in subscribers in more than a decade. Investors are skittish in general. The second someone mentions a loss, they run around like chickens with their heads cut off, shouting that the sky is going to crash down and kill us all any minute. They started calling it a streaming recession. If it could happen to Netflix, it could happen to all of the platforms, and everyone was convinced that it would. When this mindset takes hold, the market slumps. The stock market is very much a subjective entity. It's all based on popular outlook. Money stopped flowing. Shows were canceled left and right, and customers were left hanging. Real art--masterpieces, some the product of decades of planning--were completely abandoned, and it sucked. The biggest issue was HBO Max. Early in 2022, it was announced that Warner Bros, which owned the platform would be merging with Discovery Inc. It scared a lot of people both inside and outside the industry. The new CEO David Zaslav painted himself as a sort of fiscal guru. HBO Max had more than $23 billion worth of debt, and he was claiming that he could turn that into a $3 billion surplus. He knew all the right things to say to convince investors. They're a predictable bunch. They like pragmatism, lower budgets, and a sense of security--which always seems to be missing. He was a rockstar, and as soon as he took over he began doing away with the some of the network's best series. More than a hundred have been removed from the platform. That includes Westworld, one of their most popular series, and Raised by Wolves, which was known for bringing the HBO Max to life. It was everyone worst nightmare. People have been speaking out left and right, and they're not being heard. Cliffhangers are being left open. Loose ends were left alone. It's still happening too, and this mindset is still quite popular in Hollywood. They've convinced themselves that the gold rush is over, so it is, and now we have to be a lot pickier about what we watch. It's a crying shame.
