Tag Archives: Netflix

Netflix renews ‘Hemlock Grove’ for a second season

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Hemlock Grove, Eli Roth’s horror series produced for Netflix is coming back for more. On Wednesday the streaming service renewed the series based on Brian McGreevy’s gothic horror novel for a 10-episode second season to premiere all-at-once sometime next year. Chic Eglee–a veteran TV producer who’s worked on shows like The Walking Dead, Dexter, and The Shield–is joining Hemlock Grove as an executive producer in season 2.

Executive producer Roth on the renewal: “The worldwide fan response to Hemlock Grove was phenomenal. Netflix members loved the potent combination of sexy monsters, mystery, and the dark family soap opera that ended with a huge twist, leaving audiences worldwide totally shocked. Season One was just a warm up for what we have in store for season two. Get ready to be scared in ways you never expected.”

Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland: “In its first season, Eli, Brian, [exec producer] Lee [Shipman] and the team did an incredible job of introducing viewers to a unique world of memorable charactersChic’s addition to the show, and his experience on such fan favorites as The Shield, The Walking Deadand Dexter, will heighten the intensity of the mystery that grips Hemlock Grove.”

[Via Deadline]

Mitch Hurwitz opens up about the future of ‘Arrested Development’ (video inside)

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Warning: Do not proceed if you haven’t finished watching the new season of Arrested Development. Spoilers ahead; you have been warned.

Netflix wants more, Imagine Entertainment wants more, and obviously so does series creator and mastermind Mitch Hurwitz. On May 26 Arrested Development returned after a seven year hiatus with 15 new episodes. The new season ends with without much resolution and this is by design, reveals Hurwitz. In a postmortem interview with Vulture, Hurwitz discusses exactly why so many plot points and character arcs were left up in the air.

The initial idea for these new episodes was to reset things. Let’s show what happens to this family, who were starting to make progress as human beings, when they decide to go it alone. Part of the theme of this thing is that we do need our families. Our families are attached to us whether we like it or not, in all these mysterious, invisible ways. It’s somewhat allegorical but we see that they’ve all affected each other’s lives in really profound ways for the negative because there’s no communication between them to speak of. So in one sense that was the theme, but in another way it really was just setting up the future. If the pilot was about their lives falling apart, then this was designed to be the first act of a larger story about winding everybody up, getting everybody to a point of peril and then having a jumping-off place for the next story where they all come together.

Whether it’s a movie or another season on Netflix, Hurwitz has a plan for what’s to come next. As far as we know, Lucille Austero aka Lucille 2 is dead and the impetus for the next Bluth adventure will be a murder mystery.

That really is the idea. Everybody’s gotten their lives into a state of peril and everybody said, “To hell with this family,” and Michael said “I’m done with all of you,” and then — Buster is arrested for murder! Now what do they do? Now they have to come together or let their baby brother go to the chair. We’re sort of resolving or ending the season with both an emotional story and a plot story. The plot is that Buster’s been arrested for the murder of Lucille 2. And think about it, all the Bluths have a relationship with her. One of the main reasons we were kind of obsessed with telling the story in the right order is because we wanted to slowly reveal not only that Lucille 2 was gone and that she died, but that they all had ways in which they were connected to her that could either look like motives or could exculpate some of them. But they’re all connected to this woman who disappeared … It’s always been a show that dealt with a lot of big plot points, stealing the Queen Mary and all these off-the-wall things. The more important stuff is really what’s going on in their hearts and minds. That’s what the Michael–George Michael thing is about.

When can fans expect the next chapter in the story? It’s all up to the talent and their inherently conflicting schedules.

Whatever the next step is, I will say that by design the Bluths will come together. They’re all going to be together. Now it’s a question of what’s the most efficient way to do that, how do we make that happen and when do we make that happen? It certainly won’t be another seven years. If we do it, we’re going to do it soon while we’re all still alive. While we’re all still sensate. A lot of it has to be worked around John Beard’s schedule.

I highly recommend you jump over to Vulture to read the Hurwitz interview in full; in addition to talking about the future of the show, he also discusses the intensive creative process behind making the new season, Franklin’s absence, the return of Ben Stiller as Tony Wonder, making Ann Veal a more substantial character, the idea behind the Fantastic Four musical, the many easter eggs, George Michael’s almost chicken dance, and why ostriches.

Also this week, Hurwitz spoke to the press at large about making more Arrested, responding to reviews, finally revealing Michael’s late wife Tracey Bluth in a flashback, going back on his idea of watching the new episodes out of order, the inspiration behind Terry Crews’ Herbert Love, and he shares a scene that didn’t make the final cut involving Mitt Romney and George Clooney. In fact, he also blurted out that there are tons of extra footage that he hopes will eventually see the light of day. “We have a lot of material that we’re planning on putting out on Netflix at a later time, probably, to tie in there.” Consume all the juicy quotes at Entertainment Weekly.

Bonus! Pop after the break to watch behind-the-scenes featurettes with Hurtwitz, Portia de Rossi (Lindsay Bluth), David Cross (Tobias Fünke), Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth), and Henry Winkler (Barry Zuckerkorn). Also there you’ll find a Q&A clip with some of the cast and a look at the walk-on contest winners. Continue reading Mitch Hurwitz opens up about the future of ‘Arrested Development’ (video inside) →

‘Arrested Development’: the aftermath

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In case you’re putting off watching all 15 episodes of the new season of Arrested Development, I’ll be careful not to spoil things here.

And so it came and went. On May 26 Netflix released an entirely new batch of Arrested Development episodes that played out quite brilliantly; I consider them to be some of the most complex, layered & brilliantly designed episodes ever produced for any series spanning the drama and comedy genres. Even more so than the original three seasons, these new installments beg to be rewatched again and again.

The consensus is like this: the majority of long-time AD fans absolutely loved the new episodes while critics gave mixed reviews. The New York Times bashed the whole experiment starting with the line, “Chalk one up for the Internet: It has killed Arrested Development.” But in my opinion, the NYT review must be taken with a grain of salt since the piece’s writer had only watched the first 8 of 15 episodes before “deadline” arrived. Fans would ferociously argue that all 15 must be screened before an appropriate review could be conjured; jokes set up in episode 1 are not unlocked until the final episode, in fact. A more delicate review can be found over at The Atlantic; “Hurwitz et al. have bequeathed to us something that doesn’t really have a name, or a meaningful precedent: not a series, or a movie, or even a mini-series, but rather a single, eight-hour work of dada televisual art,” writes Christoper Orr. It’s true–what creator Mitch Hurwitz did here is something so unusual and unique that it’s hard to categorize it into a single genre or type.

No matter which way you see it, Netflix has confirmed that the May 26 launch Arrested Development was a great success. “It’s been huge, just as we had hoped,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told CNBC in a televised interview. When pressed about sharing numerical results, Hastings held back. “Netflix is about being able to watch when you want, not having to watch at a certain time like linear TV is. So we’re really not focused on the day one ratings, it’s really over the first year.” So perhaps by next May we will have a better idea as to how the new episodes performed for the streaming service in terms of how many people watched and how many new subscribers the company picked up along the way.

This brings us to the big question fans ’round the world are wondering: is there more where this came from? AD season 4 ends with many plot points still up in the air, but this shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise for most. Leading up to the launch star Jason Bateman spilled that these new installments serve as “simply just the first act of what we hope to continue and complete in a movie, which would [serve as] Act 2 and 3. These episodes set that up. One does not work without the other.” He added, “There is certainly a satisfying conclusion to these episodes, if for some unfortunate reason the movie does not happen. But [the episodes and the movie] are all meant to work within each other as a hybrid package of Arrested Development stuff.”

Since the new season launched, Netflix’s Hastings and someone high up in the AD camp commented on the series’ future. “Arrested is unique, because that’s really up to the talent. If the talent were willing to do more, and interested in that, I’m sure we would be willing,” said Hastings to CNBC. And then in an interview with Deadline, Imagine Entertainment co-founder Brian Grazer said, “It’s up to [Netflix Chief Content Officier] Ted [Sarandos]. If Ted is into it, we would be very excited to pursue it.” Added Imagine TV president Francie Calfo, “It’s also up to Mitch, who is probably resting right now as he put everything he had into these episodes and hasn’t had a chance to think beyond that.” When asked about the potential of the long-imagined AD movie Grazer simply stated, “We’re hoping that we could do that; the popularity of the series will inform that decision.” So in sum, Imagine (the producers) and Netflix (the content distributor) are certainly interested in bring the gang back together to make more Arrested whether it’s another season or a movie. First, Mitch must do what he does best and come up with more character arcs and interweaving plots to continue the story; and second, the actors must make time in their busy schedules to reunite again.

As we wait (again) to learn the fate of Arrested Development, don’t lose sight of what’s right in front of you and available now.

TV reminder: ‘Arrested Development’ premieres this Sunday with 15 new episodes on Netflix

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We made it. Seven years after it was cancelled and banished from network TV, cult comedy Arrested Development is not making a huge mistake by coming back for another season consisting of 15 brand new episodes. All of them will be made available for streaming on Netflix at once when the clock strikes midnight (PT) / 3AM (ET) on Sunday, May 26. Creator Mitch Hurwitz recommends you watch the episodes in order, at least during your initial binge marathon. Each installment intentionally follows a single member of the Bluth clan but don’t fret–characters will weave in and out of other characters’ storylines and the entire bunch will congregate at least twice over the course of the season. Other things to look out for: you will witness the same scenes multiple times but they will play out differently and you will learn more context each time because they will be told from different character perspectives; also, these episodes serve as one giant setup for more AD in the future, whether it’s another season or the long dreamed about feature film.

Relive the journey of Arrested‘s anticipated comeback here. After the break, watch four teaser clips taken from the new batch; G.O.B., Lucille, Maeby, Lindsay, bees and an ostrich are all involved.

Ladies and gentleman, it’s the final countdown. Grab some bananas and blue paint and let’s (almost) break Netflix!

Update: AD creator Mitch Hurwitz (a man who obviously knows to always leave a note) posted to Facebook a picture of a handwritten letter made out to “friends, fans, supporters, detractors, haters, enemies, and arch enemies.” In it he acknowledges everyone who supports the show and he is thankful for the opportunity to bring these characters back to life. The note is posted in full after the break. Continue reading TV reminder: ‘Arrested Development’ premieres this Sunday with 15 new episodes on Netflix →

The ‘Arrested Development’ trailer has arrived

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Whatever you’re doing right now, STOP IT. Stop it at once and click play to catch your very first glimpse into the new batch of Arrested Development episodes coming to Netflix just two weeks from today. The Bluths are back, and it is so guaranteed their long-awaited return will put the biggest smile on your face.

Arrested Development premires on Netflix with 15 brand new installments all at once on May 26. It’s the final countdown.

‘Arrested Development’ ad campaign is a must-see for fans (plus: new clip inside!)

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It’s officially May which means we can now say this: Arrested Development returns this month! In anticipation of the return of the short-lived cult comedy, Netflix is going all out with an attractive ad campaign featuring images and taglines that evoke some of the most memorable bits from the series’ original run. You can sort through it all below; gallery #1 includes some laugh-out-loud promo posters while gallery #2 contains character portraits. Also, the storage container has sprung open (see above!).

Once you’re done there, you’re going to want to hop after the break to watch a BRAND NEW CLIP starring the dynamic duo Buster and his overbearing mother Lucille.

Arrested Development launches on Netflix with 15 new episodes all at once on May 24.

1 2

Continue reading ‘Arrested Development’ ad campaign is a must-see for fans (plus: new clip inside!) →

‘Hemlock Grove’ is now available to stream on Netflix

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Following Lillyhammer and House of Cards, Netflix’s next foray into original programming is here. Hemlock Grove, from Eli Roth (Hostel) and based on Brian McGreevy’s 2012 novel of the same name, is a horror mystery series involving murder and monsters. On April 19 all thirteen episodes were made available on Netflix and if you’re a subscriber you can binge-watch ’em all at anytime. Eye the freakishly awesome poster above, and then get a taste of what’s in store with a red-band trailer, a teaser, and arguably the most “realistic” looking werwolf transformation sequence you have ever seen. Continue reading ‘Hemlock Grove’ is now available to stream on Netflix →

The new season of ‘Arrested Development’ gets its spring release date

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Arrested Development returns with all-new episodes on (drum-roll please) May 26, 2013.

Netflix issued a press release on Thursday expressing the long-awaited news. In addition to announcing the release date, the streaming company increased the episode order to a grand total of 15, way up from the originally planned 10 installments. Just like it did with its last premiere of original programming in House of Cards, Netflix will make all 15 episodes of Arrested Development available at the same time precisely at 12:01AM PDT on Sunday, May 26. Take note: the new season premieres Memorial Day weekend so fans will have plenty of time to marathon it all before the work week/school resumes on Tuesday.

Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix: “Arrested Development is now widely viewed as one of the top TV comedies of all time and Mitch Hurwitz is bringing it to Netflix in a brand new way, crafted for the on-demand generation that has come to discover the show in the years since it last appeared on TV. The highly anticipated return of this show is sure to make history all over again.”

Series creator and executive producer Mitch Hurwitz: “Ted said that? Wow. Well don’t print this obviously, but he’s going to be immensely disappointed. In truth we are doing something very ambitious that can only be done with Netflix as partners and on their platform. Finally my simple wish for the show is coming true: that it be broadcast every second around the clock to every television, computer or mobile device in existence.”

In case you didn’t know… Arrested Development centers around Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family comprised of his son George Michael (Michael Cera), his father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter), his brothers George Oscar Bluth II (Will Arnett), Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) and sister Lindsay Funke (Portia de Rossi), and Lindsay’s husband Tobias (David Cross) and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat). With the new episodes, each installment is dedicated to a different character’s point of view. And all of it is a major set up for a feature length film which is still in the works.

I don’t have a trailer for you yet (there may never be one since Hurwitz is keeping such a tight lid on the plotlines), but you can eye the first promotional poster above. I imagine the entire Bluth clan locked inside that bright orange shipping container with Gob trying his mightiest to bust them all out. It reads, “The Final Countdown Begins.” Celebrate with an appropriate scene after the break. Continue reading The new season of ‘Arrested Development’ gets its spring release date →

Netflix introduces a social recommendation engine with Facebook friends

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Netflix already does a great job at recommending to its users TV shows, movies, and documentaries based on what you watched in the past and the ratings you give the content you watch. This week the streaming company launched a new way to discover content with a social spin. Subscribers can now link their Facebook account with Netflix to see what their friends are watching. Once the accounts are linked, Netflix users will notice a new “Watched by your friends” row in the streaming site’s main menu as well as a row called “Friends’ Favorites” that features content watched by friends that they have rated with four to five stars. Additionally, friends will be able to see what you watch and rate highly; but if you’ve got a guilty pleasure you don’t want to be shared you can easily click the “Don’t Share This” button in the player. Netflix notes that by default all this social sharing with Facebook friends happens on the Netflix side of things only. If you want your Facebook friends to see what you’re watching on Facebook, you have to dig into Your Account, Social Settings to flip the switch on; there you can also stop sharing altogether if you don’t want to take part in the new social recommendation engine.

Currently the Netflix/Facebook cross-sharing initiative is live in the U.S. Netflix says they will “continue to experiment and improve our social features over the coming months and years.” Click after the break to watch a brief demonstration of this at work across Netflix.com in the browser as well as on the PlayStation 3.

[Via Netflix] Continue reading Netflix introduces a social recommendation engine with Facebook friends →

‘House of Cards’ is streaming now on Netflix

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The anticipated Netflix original series House of Cards from David Fincher and Kevin Spacey is now available to stream on Netflix. “This wicked political drama starring Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright and Kate Mara slithers beneath the curtain and through the back halls of greed, sex, love and corruption in modern Washington D.C.,” reads a press release. All 13 episodes (the first two directed by Fincher) are available to stream today.

In a surprise, bold move Netflix is offering up the first episode free for anyone to watch. “The creative team in front of and behind the camera have delivered a riveting 13-chapter narrative that we’re proud to present to Netflix members today,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix. “By offering the first episode for free, including to non-members, we are opening up this fascinating world for everyone to see and are confident they’ll want more.” An intriguing move by the company; get hooked after watching the first episode and you’re only option is to become a paid subscriber to see the rest. One wonders if they’ll do the same when Arrested Development comes around this spring?

Watch the first episode of House of Cards at Netflix.

TCA 13: Mitch Hurwitz reveals new storytelling format for ‘Arrested Development’ revival

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Now this is what you’ve been waiting for: more details to come out of the Arrested Development revival. Today at the TCAs series creator Mitch Hurwitz led a panel that included most of the brilliant ensemble cast–namely, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Jessica Walter, Alia Shawkat, and Jeffrey Tambor. David Cross and Tony Hale, unfortunately, were not present. Hurwitz is still keeping a heavy veil of secrecy on top of the plot, but he did manage  to shed some light on what viewers can expect in the new batch of episodes in terms of how they will play out.

Before we get to that, though, the most important news to come out of the panel: Arrested Development premieres on Netflix this May and all 14 episodes (the original order was 10, so this is a more-than-welcome surprise) will go live and be available on Netflix Instant streaming at once. Like installments from its original run, episodes will come in at just under 30 minutes and even though it wasn’t a requirement, curse words will be silenced with the famous Development bleep. So, still no hard date, but May is the month.

It leaked months ago that the new episodes would feature a new storytelling format, and today Hurwitz confirmed and explained the changes. “The only way we could get everyone together for what we’ll call, loosely, an anthology series, was to dedicate each episode to a different character’s point of view,” he said. “That became a fun, entertaining challenge, because we started finding out that the stories would intersect. It’s kind of an evolution of the storytelling that was necessary.” Essentially, viewers should not expect scenes that include all of the Bluths interacting with each other at once. In the old days, such scenes were typically the best ones; stuffing all the Bluths under the same roof made for some classic moments. But Hurwitz is quite confident that the new format will provide equally hilarious moments for fans to discover. “So, you’ll see a scene in one [episode], and then you’ll see a scene again from the other perspective [in another episode] where you’ll get all this new information,” he explained further. De Rossi shared an example without giving too much away. In her character Lindsay’s episode, “We had a great scene where I interpreted my mother’s tone as sarcasm,” she said. “But [we later see in someone else’s episode] she intended something entirely different.” Bateman chimed in as well. “Everybody sort of intermingles throughout each individual person’s episode. There’s plenty of the regular cast that filters through there. But it is a ‘Lindsay’ episode or a ‘Gob’ episode that we guest star in.

So much more after the break. Continue reading TCA 13: Mitch Hurwitz reveals new storytelling format for ‘Arrested Development’ revival →

TCA 13: Preview Netflix original series ‘Hemlock Grove’ from author Brian McGreevy and Eli Roth

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Arrested Development isn’t the only Netflix original programming heading to the streaming service this year. In addition to David Fincher’s House of Cards which debuts the first of next month, a supernatural series from horror master Eli Roth is on tap for spring. Hemlock Grove, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Brian McGreevy, revolves around the murder of a young high school girl in Hemlock Grove, a former steel community, and centers on the bizarre collection of characters connected to it — who each have varying reasons for getting caught up in it. Roth, McGreevy, Lee Shipman, and Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) serve as executive producers. Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, and Dougray Scott star.

At the TCAs McGreevy hyped his new series by saying that the emotional violence will play just as big a role as the physical violence on screen. “There’s no shortage of monsters on the show and they tend to fall on different varieties — like what separates a human from a monster,” he expanded. “The short answer to how supernatural the show is, is very.” He went on to describe the show like this: “This is like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? with more people getting mauled, actually.”

Working with Netflix to bring the adaptation to life ultimately ended up being the perfect decision, McGreevy shared. He admitted that he and his team originally pitched the series to the “more conventional premium networks, but we were holding out for Netflix because they were the most exciting partners.” The levels of violence, nudity, and other risque material featured in Hemlock Grove is comparable to what viewers come to expect on premium networks like Showtime and HBO, he said.

“The architecture of Netflix’s model, when you’re writing a pilot and trying to get that sold, you approach story different than when you’re looking at essentially a 13-hour movie,” McGreevy said. “It’s novel for TV to have a beginning, middle and end when you start out and we really embraced that. It’s like a long 13-hour movie as opposed to episodic television,” Verheiden added. Shipman later revealed that the 13 episode first season deals with most everything that goes down in McGreevy’s book and that there are plans to expand on the story in additional seasons if Netflix approves.

Hemlock Grove premieres on Netflix with all the episodes available for streaming simultaneously as is the Netflix way starting April 19. Watch the trailer embedded above.

[Via THR; Deadline]