Netflix’s Talk Show Disaster: The Only Way to Survive is to Steal from YouTube.
According to Bloomberg, Netflix is desperate to create live episodes of the only YouTube talk show that still has an audience, “Hot Ones”. Because, let’s be real, their own attempts at talk shows have been a laughing stock. Netflix and BuzzFeed are in talks to bring this tired format to the “premium” streaming platform, with host Sean Evans somehow still employed.
“Hot Ones” has been coasting on its initial popularity since 2015, with new episodes attracting a whopping tens of millions of views on YouTube. (Yawn.) And who wouldn’t want to watch celebrities struggle to eat spicy chicken wings while trying to maintain a coherent conversation? It’s not like we’re talking about groundbreaking comedy or anything.
Meanwhile, traditional late-night talk shows are dying a slow death, with ratings plummeting and budgets shrinking. And BuzzFeed, the struggling parent company of “Hot Ones”, is desperate to offload the show before its debt repayment deadline at the end of the year. How convenient for Netflix to swoop in and save the day… or, you know, their own ratings.
Netflix’s own attempts at talk shows have been laughable, with the recent “John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s In LA” being a short-lived, cringeworthy experiment. It’s no wonder they’re resorting to stealing from YouTube. Why turn a pre-recorded show into a live event? Well, it’s not like they have any original ideas or anything. The promise of seeing a celebrity meltdown live and unedited is probably the only thing that could get people to tune in.
Netflix is so desperate to be relevant that they’re willing to stoop to YouTube-level production values. Who knows what other tired formats they’ll try to revive next? Reality TV reunions? More WWE “Raw” episodes? The possibilities are endless… and all equally terrible.
