SPOILER ALERT: I’ve finished watching House of Cards.

I’ve been watching House of Cards lately- Netflix’s first ballsy gamble on original content for their streaming video service. Unlike virtually everyone I’ve talked to who’s seen the show, however, I chose not to hammer through the entire series in one weekend. instead I decided to go the traditional route, and watch the episodes one at a time, in roughly week-long intervals, as though it were being broadcast on a traditional cable network like HBO. But today I gave up on that approach, and I’m streaming the rest of the first season all day today, as I write this piece. It’s taking a bit longer than usual…. this show is damn addictive.

When I first read about Netflix’s bold vision for House of Cards, their first in a planned string of original content endeavors, I was a bit reticent over their decision to make the entire season available all at once, instead of dishing out the show one episode at a time, just as networks around the world have done for decades. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of denying fans of the show the chance for ‘watercooler discussions’ every week.[pullquote align=”right”]Right now Netflix has an entire industry watching their every move.[/pullquote]Historically speaking, that’s where most of the buzz around an ongoing show is generated- between friends, coworkers, family members discussing last night’s episode, and making plans to watch next week’s premiere. I know that was the biggest reason I hung in there for all six seasons of Lost; without anyone to discuss the ongoing mysteries and big cliffhangers and reveals, it might not have been worth sitting through all the filler and sometimes pointless exposition. I honestly thought Netflix was making a big mistake.

Turns out Netflix knew something I didn’t, because the House of Cards delivery method hasn’t actually stopped the watercooler chatter at all, at least not amongst my friends and coworkers. We even still use the same parlance to describe the show; we ask questions like, “Have you been watching House of Cards?”, or “Do you watch it?”, as if it’s a series that isn’t already finished, at least in traditional TV terms. The season finale has already “aired”, there won’t be any new episodes for months, possibly years to come.

Yet unlike any other show on hiatus, House of Cards seems to be enjoying a buzz that’s more akin to a movie that’s sat atop the box office for several weeks. For all intents and purposes, we shouldn’t be talking about a show that’s already ended as long as we have. Yet here I am, typing away about the freakiest Father’s Day episode ever made. Seriously, Zoe really loves dancing on that line between hot and creepy.

Right now Netflix has an entire industry watching their every move. I imagine it must be similar to the way HBO first burst onto the scene in the early 1970’s. HBO was a pioneer in broadcasting television signals over satellites, in much the same way as Netflix’s Instant Streaming stood alone for years in delivering online video content. HBO also took the medium itself to new heights in their programming.

[pullquote align=”left”]Watching a series end-to-end in a single ‘binge’… It’s like watching again, for the first time.[/pullquote]Not being beholden to broadcast networks meant that HBO’s original content could be produced without many of the traditional roadblocks or content restrictions that handcuffed television writers and directors at the time. Similarly, Netflix is even less tethered to FCC regulations and public blowback than HBO, since their content is delivered in an entirely different way and is safely outside the jurisdiction of anyone who’s squeamish around breasts, animal cruelty, or 60-year old men reminiscing about their erotic encounters in military school.

Looking back at Netflix’s decision, it actually fits perfectly with the higher purpose that they seem to recognize themselves as serving, namely providing a superior method to experience the medium of television. When a serialized television program is in development, its creators often present the networks they’re pitching to with a series bible, containing several seasons’ worth of stories, events, and character development.

And although the episodes themselves are broken up into bite-sized, advertiser-friendly chunks, the entire narrative is meant to flow across several hours end-to-end. The structure of each episode of a serialized TV show is like that of a book, broken into chapters. In theory, you could read a book one chapter per week -in fact, that’s how a book club typically works- but the majority of readers will read as much as they can in one sitting, and then pick up right where they left off.

One of the biggest advantages to having all the episodes of a series in one place and ready for subsequent viewing, is that this is how the writers, directors and producers intended their work to be seen- as several pieces of a whole work. Watching a series end-to-end in a single ‘binge’, or at least in several-episode chunks, is like listening to your favorite album through new speakers for the first time. It’s like watching again, for the first time. Netflix understands this, and they’ve harnessed it perfectly with House of Cards. In fact, House of Cards may end up being remembered as one of the first post-episodic television shows, because it was written specifically to take advantage of the long-view format of online streaming.

To use the book metaphor one too many times, even the episode titles themselves don’t have unique titles; they’re referred to as ‘chapters’. There is no “Previously on House of Cards”. No previews of next week’s episode. There’s just a story being told- and a dark, deeply personal one at that. I wonder if Biden ever ever screwed anyone over on a bus tour? Seems like something he’d do….

[pullquote align=”right”]House of Cards may end up being remembered as one of the first post-episodic television shows.[/pullquote]Netflix has clearly been aware of this phenomenon for quite some time, and are using it to persuade other content developers to jump on the post-episodic train. It’s been a tough sell for sure, but to their credit the Netflix brass have been pushing their initiative harder than a bald Philadelphian running for Governor (and presumably with fewer AA meetings). It’s a smart move and a win-win for showrunners, and with any luck this strategy will prove fruitful for Netflix in the coming years…. especially since they’ve really bet the farm on the original content investment.

A failure for Netflix now might very well set the company on the same self-destructive course as the aforementioned Philadelphian, filled with that so-called ‘useless’ pain. Not only that, it could set back digital television distribution a decade or more, and that would be a real shame for everyone involved. Especially those of us hoping Arrested Development’s new season will lead to more cancelled shows being resurrected…. I’m looking your way, Jericho.

Luckily, it seems as though the world has taken sufficient notice of Netflix’s new strategy to call House of Cards a hit, and the digital equivalent of ratings seem to bear that out. It’s almost starting to seem inevitable that the Netflix approach will become a standard method of television production, if not a replacement for the traditional on-air model. Of course, if there’s one lesson that following Frank Underwood around for 13 episodes has taught me, it’s to never make assumptions.

So I’m not going to start heralding the beginning of a new era in television just yet. I will, however, continue to enjoy discussing House of Cards around the watercooler- even if that discussion takes the form of a few sentences sprinkled in a blog post.