Will Netflix’s reported 100 million dollar gamble on the TV series House of Cards pay off? The political thriller stars Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright and Kate Mara. The series is helmed by Award winning director David Fincher (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and is a remake of the highly acclaimed British TV series based on the book by author and politician Lord Dobbs.  Moving the tale from the British Prime Minister’s office to present day Washington is brilliant. Production values are high and the series is thoroughly gripping. I will confess I am among the many who got so enthralled, I watched the whole series episode after episode the weekend it was released — all 13 hours until my eyes fell out. I will watch it all again. When it ended I wanted more. Following the political ambitions of power couple Frank and Claire Underwood, Director/Producer Fincher has tapped into our now cultural touchstone of political cynicism, endless partisanship and good old Shakespearean hubris.  It is a series for a mature audience in the same vain as Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad and Hell On Wheels, some of which are already available on Netflix.

Neflix Inc. a US based video rental and digital streaming subscription based company has audiences in North and South America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and its growing.  Brainchild of Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph who launched the company in 1998, Hastings was pissed off with exorbitant late fees ($40.00) on an overdue video rental (Apollo 13) and decided to change the options. Netflix came to Canada in 2010 and in 2011 expanded into the European and South American markets. House of Cards is Hasting’s big carrot to lure new subscribers to Netflix and we love it.

Not only is the House of Cards drama fascinating but so is the real drama being played out between Netflix and rivals in the traditional television content arena. Until now, Netflix only provided content from other sources. With the first 13 episodes of House of Cards, Neflixchanges the game considerably entering into the hallowed domain of the likes of HBO, AMC and traditional TV and cable broadcasting giants. There are big differences though as traditional TV programming has become annoyingly restrictive, inconvenient, expensive, subject to unnecessary censorship and clogged with endless, repetitive and annoying advertising.

Audiences are the great beneficiaries with a real and inexpensive choice of what we can watch. No more surfing through endless channels of rubbish with endless moronic advertising consuming our precious time and dollars. Watch it when, where and as often as you like, once you have your $7.99/month Netflix membership (with a one month free trial). Netflix also has a host of other great movies and TV Shows to suit any audience. Access the programming on any device that can digitally stream; tablet, Xbox, WII, PC, Mac, PS3, Mobile. This is the future.

Netflix tested the original-content waters last year with two 8-episode seasons of Lilyhammer, a fourth season of Arrested Developmentand now House of Cards. This is just the beginning as Netflix is rolling out more original content in April with a series called Hemlock Grove, in May a fourth season of Arrested Development and later Orange is the New Black from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. Netflix is also working with DreamWorks on a new animated series called Turbo F.A.S.T (Fast Action Stunt Team) based on the movie Turbo.

The first 13 episodes of the series are directed by: David Fincher, James Foley (3 episodes), Allen Coulter, Carl Franklin, Charles McDougall and Joel Schumacher.

-Moira Romano