By Grace George ’17 and Olivia Ritter ’17

Move aside cable; Netflix is here to stay. What first started as a cheap convenient medium for binge-watching top shows and movies has now completely altered the television game. From the start, Netflix was widely loved, but now it has broken the boundaries of T.V.
Flashback to the times of Blockbuster; people had to physically leave their homes to get the movies they wanted to watch. Even when on-demand became popular, you would still have to pay anywhere from five to 15 dollars for one movie and not many TV shows were available right away.

Now, Netflix has almost completely dominated the world of television. Blockbuster is long gone and on-demand is out of style. “I don’t even remember the last time I watched TV,” junior Matt Cesare said.

The website not only offers new shows, but it allows nostalgic subscribers to watch their favorite reruns at their leisure. Remember the first season of “Friends,” the ’90s staple? You can relive every minute of it on Netflix, maybe even knock one season out per week, an idea that was unheard of after the show’s end.

Our personal favorite facet of Netflix and a must in today’s impatient world, the website has no aggravating commercials or advertisement eyesores. “I hate watching shows on TV,” senior Erin Foley said, “The commercials interrupt the flow of the show.”

The only flaw with Netflix was the year-long wait after a show’s season premiere before you can binge-watch it, but now even that has become a non-issue. As a part of the website’s initiative to completely wipe out the cable television world, Netflix has produced a multitude of its own original series.

This began with Netflix’s first hit show, “Orange is the New Black.” Now, the website has over 50 series and movies to its name, including three foreign language films, six continuations, eight docu-series and one talk show.

Some of the new Netflix originals like “House of Cards,” “Narcos” and, the most recent, “Stranger Things,” have become the biggest hits of 2016. The docu-series “Making a Murderer” sparked a new perspective on the convicted killer, Steven Avery.

Besides their accessibility, they are also high caliber shows. Netflix originals have earned over 100 Primetime and Daytime Emmy nominations, taking home 33 wins in the past three years. Netflix isn’t the only platform that people are turning away from old-school television for. HBO Go, Hulu and Amazon Primetime have gained momentum as streaming apps dominate the binge-watching trend. Like Netflix, these apps provide award-winning TV shows to viewers all at once.

These apps have drawn TV watchers almost completely away from cable television with its easy access and affordability. The website puts up full seasons at once, meaning there is no more planning around showtimes or more weekly waiting for the next episode.

There was once a time where streaming platforms didn’t exist and viewers had to base their schedules around when their favorite shows were on. If there was a late Wednesday, you had to rush home to catch “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” If dinner plans were made for Thursday night, they had to be cancelled because Thursday night is “Grey’s Anatomy” night. Hulu and Netflix take this stress away entirely. The episodes are available all of the time, not just for an hour.

It won’t be long before Netflix and its accompanying streaming platforms will take cable television companies out of business entirely.This would mean no more tying contracts and wasted money for channels that you don’t even watch. Our only hope is that they never produce anything else like the atrocious last season of “Arrested Development,” but other than that, we are wholeheartedly in favor of Netflix’s takeover.