Daredevil Roundup

Compiled by Carl Slaughter:

  • We don’t deserve Daredevil
  • Netflix turned a blind eye to popularity of Daredevil

“’Daredevil’: Netflix Turned A Blind Eye To Viewer Demand By Canceling Marvel Series”

When Netflix executives decided to cancel the Marvel series Daredevil they turned a blind eye to viewer demand.

That’s evident in the latest numbers from Parrot Analytics which reveal that Daredevil ranked fourth last week in viewer demand among all digital originals in the United States across all streaming platforms.

Demand for the sightless superhero series was surpassed only by three shows (Narcos, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Stranger Things, all from Netflix) during the week ending Dec. 1, the chart shows. The chart measures “desire, engagement and viewership” with weighted values that, for example, would give heft to the total “likes” a show accumulates but not as much weight as the total number of actual viewings.

More items follow the jump.

  • Daredevil cancelled because of corporate politics between Netflix and Disney
  • Daredevil is Marvel at its best
  • Daredevil is the Pinnacle of Superhero TV
  • The philosophy of Daredevil
  • Daredevil versus God
  • Daredevil versus Bullseye fight breakdown
  • Bullseye ending explained
  • Daredevil Easter eggs
  • Daredevil fight scene

Daredevil has become famous for its epic oneshot fight scenes.  In episode 4, Daredevil fakes his way into prison to get information about The Kingpin, then has to fight his way out.

  • Charlie Cox versus Ethan Hawk

“’Daredevil’ Star Charlie Cox: I Get Why Ethan Hawke Hates Comic Book Movies”

Cox said that while he’s been a fan of superheroes long before he stepped into Matt Murdock’s shoes, he gets why there might be resentment in the film industry towards the genre’s cultural dominance.

“One of the things that has happened in the last few years is that the movies that typically make lots of money tend to be big franchises,” Cox said. “That means Marvel movies, DC movies, comic book movies…Harry Potter. Hollywood makes so many of these big franchises that there isn’t much space – literally cinema space – for smaller independent movies.”

7 thoughts on “Daredevil Roundup

  1. The “people watch/love so it doesn’t make sense to cancel it” argument doesn’t convince me—even tho I loved Daredevil and 2 other of the 5 NF Marvel series (has Jessica Jones been cancelled too?).

    The biggest point I’ve seen is that all the Marvel shows cost a bunch to produce—they are shot in NYC and even though they aren’t wavy on effects, there are certainly some, plus stunts and highly choreographed fights, which all cost money. They were also locked in to the 13 episode series model when NF has been moving to 10 episodes or less per season, which also adds to cost.

    So even with a lot of views, it could be cheaper for Netflix to produce multiple other series (or buy the rights to even more already-produced shows from other countries) that get modest view counts but add up to a bigger total.

    I’m sure there is also a calculation somewhere in their corporate wizardry that estimates how many people will walk away from Netflix once the Marvel shows are all over, to account for potential permanent viewer loss. Probably not many—even if there is little else someone wants to watch now, the constant release of more shows means that something is going to be buzzy enough that people will want to check it out, and imagine regretting cancelling and having to reactivate. At the price, it’s easier for most to keep it going, at least for now.

    I think the bigger picture is the looming entry of Disney into the streaming realm. First, Disney is pulling their stuff from Netflix as it expires and the new stuff (upcoming Disney movies and series) is no longer in the pipeline. Second, the MCU show rights probably expire sometime in the next say, 3-5 years—Disney almost certainly wouldn’t renew for more seasons (new content) and maybe Netflix also stands to lose the rights to keep showing the older seasons already made. They can’t count on keeping any piece of MCU content even if Disney doesn’t include such dark and adult shows in their own offerings, so why throw more money down that pipe?

    I’m excited about the Disney offerings coming up on their channel and will probably subscribe. Our household can afford the cost of multiple subscriptions and will probably keep Netflix as well, but I’m sure a significant number of people are going to have to choose one or the other and a lot of subscribers will likely switch to Disney, at least for a while to check it out.

    Disney streaming starts up in second half of 2019, which gives Netflix just a few months to get positioned and ready to fight back with their own competing content and they have to be thinking in terms of what they can offer that Disney can’t, not more of the same. I mean, as popular as the Marvel series are with some, they have also mainly gotten fair-to-middling reviews at best for the majority of the seasons. If you have to choose between the two and you love superhero stuff, you are probably going to go to Disney at least short term so you can check out the Falcon/Winter Soldier show.

    Honestly, long term, I expect either Disney or the Warner conglomerate to try to buy Netflix and combine it with their offerings (I’m sure Warner isn’t gone for good from streaming even with Filmstruck going down).

    I am as sorry as anyone that the Netflix MCU shows are ending (at least Daredevil and Luke Cage, and probably Jessica Jones even if she gets one more season) but from the business perspective I have to admit it makes sense. I’m just happy it happened at all and we got as much as we did.

    Here in 7373 no one even remembers superheroes.

  2. I’m pretty sure these cancellations are a face-saving move. The writing has been on the wall for the last couple of years now that Disney is yanking content and preparing to stick it all behind their own paywall. This seems like the business version of breaking up with your girl/boyfriend before they get around to doing the same. “They didn’t dump me. I dumped them!”

  3. Daredevil was actually the 4th most popular original programming show on Netflix the week it was cancelled, with 30 million requests. The fourth season was already in development, and there is a fan effort underway to save the season, get it funding, etc. I’ve linked to some of the sites, petitions, etc. on my blog, with season reviews upcoming.

  4. >I’m excited about the Disney offerings coming up on their channel and will probably subscribe.

    The shows Disney is talking about have potential, but I’m one of those fans that hasn’t much liked what they’ve done with Star Wars, for example. I’ve never really watched Disney’s TV programming, but if it has the same strain of irresponsibility and disrespect running through it, I won’t like their productions. Netflix poured a lot of money into their MCU productions and it shows. The shows have a lot of artistic integrity, along with great characters and action. Daredevil runs dark, but it’s built into the concept. The show won’t work without at least some of that.

  5. io9 is reporting that there’s a non-competition clause in the Netflix contract that extends for 2 years, meaning the characters can’t appear outside their shows for 2 years after cancellation.

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