Hey Warner Bros or AT&T Media or HBO 2.0 or whatever you’re calling yourselves these days, can we talk? You’re currently getting your ass kicked by Netflix, DisneyPlus and even Amazon in the streaming wars. It’s so lopsided it’s a little embarrassing.
Of course there a few obvious things you could do to catch up. Making your service available outside of the United States (why on earth would you announce you were going to be the “new Netflix” only to be available to a fraction of your potential global customer base?) would be a good start. Plus you really need to bring down that monthly subscription price (fifteen American dollars per month? A lot of people pay less than that for Netflix and DisneyPlus combined). But the truth is most people only subscribe to streaming services because of the original content said services offer.
Sure you have an abundance of movies, television and cable shows and even cartoons, but one thing the streaming wars has taught us is that no matter how big or impressive your back catalogue is, old stuff only compliments original content. Size, in this particular case, does not matter.
And no one is beating down the subscription door for your stuff.
Sure, the pandemic brought everything to a standstill and kicked everyone in their tender profit margins. Maybe you might think you deserve a pass on the quality of your original content as a result. After all, how much can you produce when the world has a giant closed sign on the front door? But Disney sold close to a hundred million subs with a handful of movies and The Mandalorian.
Yes HBO, you’re getting your ass handed to you by Baby Yoda.
A wise person once said the secret to success was playing to your strengths while managing your weaknesses. And right now HBO Max, you have a lot of weaknesses. But you do also have one really big strength. You’ve flexed it once or twice already but you really need to play this trump card more.
Not only did you spend the better part of the last century making blockbuster movies, but tonnes of TV shows as well (and that’s before acquiring brands like HBO, Nickelodeon and Hannah Barbara among others). Those shows are your silver bullet and here’s a million dollar suggestion for you; a Big Bang Theory reunion.
Hear us out. You grabbed more than a few headlines when you dropped the West Wing reunion just before November’s bloodsport of an election. And the love you earned when you dropped the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion the following month was phenomenal.
The Saved by the Bell reboot has been successful enough to warrant a second season and you stole more than a few soundbiteswhen you announced that you were bringing back the HBO favourite Sex in the City. You even got some people’s attention when you announced new versions of True Blood and Gossip Girl.
And here’s a hot take for you; your long awaited Friends reunion will be the most successful thing you do in 2021. It will be watched more than any of the movies your shuffling online. It will be watched more than any of your other original content. It will even be watched more than the Snyder cut of Justice League.
People devoured shows like Friends and The Office during the first stages of the pandemic, streaming them more than any movie or original show. Long running shows that ran during people’s formative years were welcome comfort food during a stressful time. A balm on open wounds, so to speak.
So with that mind, you need to start working on that Big Bang Theory reunion. Like now.
While a lot of people were binge watching Rachel Green and Michael Scott, tv channels were running Big Bang Theory marathons. Not only did people eat it up, but they also realized how sad they were that Sheldon and the gang weren’t a part of their weekly lives anymore.
TBBT ran for twelve seasons during an age of unlimited choice because it built an emotional bridge with its audience. It survived for 279 episodes during a time of anemic audience attention and loyalty because the characters carved a spot in millions of hearts while making them laugh. They became family even though viewers had countless other options competing for their attention.
TBBT cultivated a loyal fandom by growing their characters, plain and simple. Leonard went from being a lonely, super awkward social misfit to a confident husband, friend and soon-to-be-father. Howard was a lecherous horn dog when we first met him. But by the time the final episode aired, he was a caring family man who was genuinely upset that he missed his daughter’s first visit from the tooth fairy. Even desperate Raj, who spent years unable to talk to women without the benefit of tequila, not only overcame his neurotic fear of the opposite sex, but came to realize that he didn’t need a relationship to define his worth.
Penny went from being a stereotypically ditzy blonde to to a hard drinking yet caring tomboy to the emotional backbone of the group (and expecting mother). Bernadette and Amy underwent their own respective transformations, growing from under-developed female background scenery to fully realized characters who motivated the growth of their male opposites while also complimenting them. Sure, the nerds got the girls in the end (a welcome change from being relegated to comedic relief), but the girls were no shrinking violets and kicked plenty of ass along the way.
But no one grew more than Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Jim Parsons brilliantly portrayed Sheldon’s evolution from a narcissistic intellectual elitist who had no time in his life for love, friendship or even human decency to someone capable of genuine tenderness and reflection. There was no better evidence of that then the final episode when Sheldon, accepting the Nobel Prize he had spent twelve years chasing, pushed aside his lengthy self-congratulatory speech so he could thank his closest friends for their infinite patience, endless forgiveness and unconditional love.
And TBBT’s viewers were there every step of the way, growing alongside the characters and sharing the wins and the losses. The breakthroughs and the heartaches. The achievements and the failures. The characters became family.
TBBT endeared itself to the people it made pseudo fun of (nerds) and it’s massive audience at large by becoming a popular hangout for stars of both science and genre TV. It never forgot to pay tribute to its friends when necessary. It’s farewells to Stephen Hawking and Leonard Nimoy brought tears to more than a few eyes and the scene where they said goodbye to actress Carol Ann Susi (who hilariously voiced Howard’s mother for seven seasons) will go down as one of the most emotional in sitcom history.
Don’t get the wrong idea Warner, this isn’t a suggestion to reboot The Big Bang Theory or perform some sort of resuscitation on it. After twelve seasons it was time to go. You could even argue that it went on a little too long. But the final scene, with the gang enjoying one final dinner together to a slowed acoustic version of the show’s theme (one of the most catchy theme songs in history of television), really yanked on the heartstrings. Hard. Waterfalls of fan tears fell that night and it was perhaps the most impactful series finale since Friends bid adieu in 2005.
Fans would jump at the chance to see how the characters they loved and followed for so long are making out a few years after that dinner. What would Howard and Bernadette’s kids look like? How would Leonard and Penny be making out with their first? Would Sheldon and Amy be expecting? Would Raj have finally find his soul mate? Would Stuart still own the comic book store? Would they all still be living in the same places or would their lives have pulled them apart, their friendships reduced to Facebook, the occasional long distance phone call and Christmas cards?
A reunion could not only offer fans a look at how their favourite nerds are doing, but would also offer the cast an opportunity to reminisce about the show and share their memories in a way they hadn’t before. Fans seem to take for granted that actors are also human but the TBBT cast were just as devastated about the end of the show as the millions who watched. Maybe more. This could offer them some closure they didn’t get the first time around. If you really want to reward TBBT’s fandom, you could make the reunion take place at Christmas and stream it during the holidays (2022? 2023?). It would be a nice post-pandemic Christmas present to the world.
Look Warner, you can’t compete with the MCU at the box office and it would be a mistake to even try it on the small one. Your never going to compete with the buffet of Star Wars shows on the horizon let alone whatever Pixar has up its sleeve. And Netflix has you beat on original TV shows. Trying to exchange blows with those two powerhouses in their ring will get you beat ten times out of ten.
But that doesn’t mean you surrender. Instead you should leverage your huge catalogue of TV properties to at least keep yourself in the conversation (and a few headlines) until you can better position yourself and forge a few new weapons for your arsenal.
Because right now your stuck playing defence in the streaming wars. Some much needed nerd love would go a long way to preventing inevitable surrender.
Image via www.cinemablend.com
