NETFLIX Resumes Production of House of Cards After Spacey's Firing

Written Mulling a Scandalous Future by Bridger Cunningham

Updated November 26, 2017

Per Deadline, House of Cards is slated to resume production on its sixth and final season of House of Cards after December 8.  Cast and crew will be paid on hiatus between November 27-December 8.

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED


NOVEMBER 4: The scandalous tide delivered more harsh waters for fans of Kevin Spacey and House of Cards, as Netflix has stated it will not have any involvement with new productions of House of Cards if Kevin Spacey is tied to production.  Netflix has positioned itself so effectively to dissociate their relationship with the actor that they have rotated his costar, Robin Wright, as the image for the series when viewers locate the series for viewing.  Per Deadline.com, Media Rights Capital (MRC, the production company which made the HOC magic happen), they released the following statement:

“While we continue the ongoing investigation into the serious allegations concerning Kevin Spacey’s behavior on the set of HOUSE OF CARDS, he has been suspended, effective immediately. MRC, in partnership with Netflix, will continue to evaluate a creative path forward for the program during the hiatus.”  

Two episodes have been produced thus far, and an entire season of scripted material has been written.  However, this can be adjusted if MRC decides to move forward with HOC.  Spacey, a celebrated, integral now disgraced presence with the series, may be effectively written out and the premise continued.  This has not been the first time an iconic actor was removed from the premise and a series survived.  Charlie Sheen was fired following the 8th season of Two and a Half Men amidst poor behavior and a feud with show runner Chuck Lorre.  His alter ego, Charlie Harper, was killed off, and Ashton Kutcher stepped in as replacement Walton Schmidt.  Though the series faded in Nielsen power, it enjoyed 4 more seasons following the scandal, with the 2011-13 seasons ranking high in the 18-49 Adult demographics.  Could House of Cards continue sand Spacey's character, Frank Underwood?  Stranger Things/Headlines have traipsed the Hollywood landscape, so stay tuned....

OCTOBER 31: One day after unspeakable allegations of misconduct against Kevin Space from a prior matter, the story grew bleaker for fans of House of Cards.  The online platform is ending the Emmy-Nominated series after the next season in lieu of the allegations against star Kevin Spacey.  The latest development in this devastating reveal production was instructed to shut down today indefinitely pending the scandalous headlines.  No word has been released as to when production will resume, or the last season of the popular show will air, as a production is taking a precautionary investigation of the matter at hand involving Spacey's fall from grace.  Executives from Netflix and MRC arrived there Monday “to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported” following the allegations against Spacey, who had not been scheduled to be on set yesterday. A 6th and final season is not off the table, and fans will have to wait until further announcements of the show's fate is declared.

OCTOBER 30: Discussions of a spinoff series also made headlines following the controversial announcements.  Potential off-shoots proposed of the popular series were speculated to involve around character Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), or other characters who graced the popular series.

Set in the modern 2010's in Washington DC, House of Cards debuted on February 1, 2013 and followed the powerful and amoral ascension of South Carolina Democratic Congressman Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey).  After he is passed over for Secretary of State appointment, Frank ruthlessly seeks a position of greater power.  House of Cards received critical praise and was the first online web-exclusive to be nominated for an Emmy, receiving a nomination for all five seasons.  House of Cards has amassed 33 nominations to date and has completed 65 episodes, with an additional 13 slated for Season 6.

Spacey, Kelly and Robin Wright have all remained as main contract cast members throughout the 65 episodes, with Mahershala Ali, Nathan Darrow, Molly Parker, Jayne Atkinson, Derek Cecil, Paul Sparks and Boris McGiver all contributing performances for longer duration over various seasons.  Prior to the "Deeply Troubled" headlines surrounding powerful performer Kevin Spacey, the series evaded rumors of ending its run as it was one of Netflix's critically-acclaimed class of 2013 original series, shared by Orange is the New Black.  Netflix has yet to confirm a spinoff is in the works, as it had its hands full on October 30 with a cavalcade of headlines.

The (Alleged) Netflix Ratings and Why They're Important

Ever since the invention of broadcast television, the business has run on the same model. Sell advertisements, make money. Higher-rated shows are more sought-after by advertisers, so the network can charge a premium for them, thus getting more revenue. Lower-rated shows won't usually live to see a second season, being replaced by what the network hopes will bring in more money. Eventually, advertisers started paying a premium for viewers between the ages of 18-49. And most all viewing has to happen live, because advertisers are not naive and know that you're skipping their ads if you can. And this is the way it will always be. Right?

Well, maybe not. A little company named Netflix started rivaling Blockbuster by sending customers DVDs in the mail. Eventually, they set up their own website. And then they acquired rights to past seasons of broadcast TV shows as well as many movies. And all the way back in 2013, they started creating original programming. Their library of original programming has grown exponentially, and their business model is completely different from that of traditional television networks. Instead of getting money from advertisers, Netflix instead charges a monthly subscription of $8, $10, or $12, depending on your individual plan. And most importantly, no advertisements. Most shows release their seasons all at once, meaning that you don't have to watch a show and wait another week for the next episode. Thus created the popular "binge watching" craze.

Throughout this whole process Netflix has somehow managed to keep viewing figures private, not only to the public but also to the people making the show. But now, a newer measurement company named Symphony Advanced Media claims that they can accurate measure how many people are watching these shows. Not only for Netflix, but also for competitors such as Hulu and Amazon Prime. Turns out, binge watching and the practice of releasing seasons all at once really leads towards viewership growth over a longer period of time. This means that somebody can here through the grapevine positive reviews of say, Making a Murderer, and subscribe to Netflix a month after its premiere. You can always start a new broadcast TV show a month into its run, but all advertisers care about is that you don't watch the first 3 or 4 episodes live. In fact, you may never watch that show live, making your viewing of that show more or less irrelevant (this is all under the assumption that you are a Nielsen viewer).

I have recreated below the viewership numbers that Symphony Advanced Media claims a few of the streaming-exclusive shows boast in two time periods: one is within two days of release, and the other is within 35 days, both amongst viewers who are at least 18 years of age. And I'll tell you right now that the growth is rather shocking. All viewership numbers in millions, and are averages. Quick tip: clicking and dragging on the bold circles below can help you sort so that you only see shows within a certain range. Clicking on a column will sort the shows accordingly.

Quite a few things are notable about these viewing figures. First off, the boosts in viewership between a 2-day period and a 35-day period are exponentially high. Look at Making a Murderer, which hardly had any viewers upon launch, become so popular. And it does make sense; the hype surrounding this show did grow a lot. Another notable trend is that nine of these shows rate higher than the broadcast TV scripted average, and three of them beat out broadcast TV's #1 scripted show (Empire) in the A18-49 demographic. Once again, if we can trust these numbers. Finally, there clearly is an audience for Marvel shows on Netflix, whereas ABC canceled Agent Carter, didn't pick up Marvel's Most Wanted, and is struggling to keep Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D afloat. Also, The Mindy Project is doing remarkably well given its low-rated run on FOX. Finally, it's clear that these shows in general skew younger than broadcast TV shows, as more of the viewers are in the 18-49 age bracket; not surprising considering the overall younger-skewing nature of streaming.

So clearly, there is an audience for television, it's just now being found in different ways. Which raises the question: what would happen if the broadcast networks adopted Netflix's model? What would happen if instead of channel surfing at 9:05 at night and finding out that Modern Family is on, you could open up the ABC app, which you get by a monthly subscription, and binge the show? It would most likely be way easier for newer shows to gain exposure at any time, and would be a way for viewers to watch their shows completely uninterrupted. However, this would also spell the death of TV advertisement, meaning that big corporations would either have to settle for less exposure or creatively product-place during a show.

While the broadcast networks probably won't fully grasp Netflix's model for a long time, if ever, there could be a lessen to be learned from these numbers. Even if a show premieres to less-than-impressive numbers, making it readily available and promote the show enough and it could truly break out. Not everything can be Making a Murderer, but large growth is still very plausible. With A18-34 ratings for the broadcast TV networks often depressingly low, networks should consider placing even more of an emphasis on monetizing streaming. Already there have been great strides; The CW creates original programming for CW Seed; NBC tried the Acquiarius experiment last summer where they released all episodes online when it premiered; FOX now has an option where viewers can select an interactive ad experience when watching online; and CBS has started subscription service CBS All-Access, where audiences can receive past seasons of current and classic CBS shows, as well as upcoming original programming. ABC is yet to do something like the other networks other than sometimes releasing premieres ahead of their live airings, though one can assume efforts will start soon under new management.

The general trend is while Netflix and other streaming sites see their original programming seeing larger and larger growth over time, broadcast networks are seeing dwindling live audiences. While the live ratings only tell a portion of the ratings story, they still are by and large how these shows are monetized. Sooner or later they will have to adapt in order to stay relevant, but the question is when and how. There are a few different ways as touched upon above, but what do you TV Ratings Guide viewers think? Let us know in the comments below! Or if you wish to remain hidden, you could also vote in our poll: