In the days following the recent Great Netflix Correction, its legion of haters in Hollywood have been treated to one negative media story after another—the low morale, the underwater stock options, the actual and impending layoffs, the executive blame game, the fact that not even Meghan Markle is safe from cancellation. Netflix once benefited from, by far, the most sycophantic coverage in entertainment; now every Netflix headline comes with an “Embattled” at the beginning or an “Amid Cutbacks” at the end. It’s like reporters are atoning for all those skepticism-free stories over the years.
Still, few of these articles actually delve into specifics—how the loss of 70 percent of a company’s market value in six months actually trickles down to the content. So today I decided to do that, using as an example Schitt’s Creek, one of Netflix’s signature hits, which, it was announced Wednesday, will defect to Hulu in October.
