Happy Birthday ‘Lilyhammer’: Celebrating Five Years Of Netflix Originals

Sometimes we get so caught up streaming the next big show, we forget just how far the medium has come in such a short amount of time. In 2017, it’s the norm for streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and even Crackle to get an Emmy nod. However, half a decade ago, the thought of Silicon Valley giving Hollywood a run for its money across the critical and commercial landscapes was absurd. The last five years have brought about a streaming and television revolution, and that revolution is all thanks to Netflix.

Half a decade ago today, Netflix unveiled its first Netflix-branded original series, Lilyhammer. That first drama was distributed in partnership with the Norwegian channel NRK1, and since its premiere, Netflix has dominated the television landscape, practically doubling its volume of original content each year. Five years from that first series in 2012, Netflix now has 222 original shows, movies, and specials with far more in the works.

So how did we get to this point? How did it become a common trend for A-list celebrities to take selfies with children from an internet show? How did a company that once proposed a $50 million acquisition by Blockbuster come to be nominated for 720 awards? How did Reed Hastings‘ DVD delivery service blossom into becoming a driving force for pop culture? I certainly can’t answer all of those questions, but looking at the evolution of Netflix Originals over the past five years certainly offers a gateway into how the company and television as a whole has evolved.

IT ALL STARTED WITH LILYHAMMER

House of Cards is often thought of as Netflix’s first original series, and for good reason. The Kevin Spacey-led drama was the first original series Netflix ordered, way back in March 2011. In late 2011, Netflix ordered two more originals, a fourth season for the cult comedy Arrested Development and joint production deal and exclusive North American streaming rights for the Norwegian Lilyhammer. However, of those three, Lilyhammer was the first Netflix Original to make it to air, so to speak, on February 6, 2012. House of Cards wouldn’t premiere until almost a year later — in February of 2013.

The crime drama, which was hugely successful in Norway, was promoted as “the first time Netflix offered exclusive content.” The series lasted for three seasons, coming to an end on December 17, 2014. Though Lilyhammer is over for the foreseeable future, television as a whole has been permanently changed since the North American premiere of the series starring Steven Van Zandt.

WHAT IS A NETFLIX ORIGINAL?

Before I go any further, it’s important to define this strangely nebulous thing. Netflix has several branches of original programs. There are what I will call “original” Netflix Originals like House of Cards, Stranger Things, and Orange Is the New Black — shows and movies that were created specifically by and for Netflix. There are also Netflix continuations, which means that though a show wasn’t originally created by Netflix, the streaming service has picked up the show for additional seasons. Though Arrested Development Season 4 is a Netflix Original, Arrested Development was originally a Fox show.This is where things get a bit tricky. The streaming service has also commissioned several series in partnership with a broadcaster from another country, a category that Lilyhammer falls into. Then there’s the fourth category of Netflix Originals: shows and movies Netflix has acquired exclusive international television rights to stream. Though these are branded as Netflix Originals, Netflix really only has the distribution rights to these shows in various countries. That’s how Better Call Saul — an AMC show — can be called a Netflix Original in France. For the purposes of this article, I will be not be counting these international distribution deals as Netflix Originals.

THE BEGINNING OF AN EXPLOSION

Netflix, which up to this point had relied exclusively on contracts with networks and studios, ended 2012 with four original programs: a foreign drama series (Lilyhammer), a standup special (Bill Burr: You People Are All the Same), and two documentaries (Art of Conflict: Murals of Northern Ireland and The Zen of Bennett). That number more than tripled in 2013 when Netflix ended the year with 13 new originals — seven series and six movies. Exactly five years after Lilyhammer‘s premiere, the streaming service would go on to have a total of 222 original shows, movies, and specials to its name, as well as dozens more that are planned for the future, many studded with top celebrity names.

Since its first premiere in 2012, Netflix has roughly doubled its amount of new original content each year. In 2014, the streaming service released 23 new originals — seven series and 16 movies / specials — which was almost double 2013’s number of 23 new originals. That number grew to an impressive 53 new originals in 2015 (28 new series and 25 new movies / specials). However, the biggest leap was indisputably last year. In 2016, Netflix released a total of 112 new original titles — 55 new series and 57 new movies / specials.

This impressive number doesn’t include the 21 shows Netflix to which has given a combined 37 additional seasons. Clearly, Netflix has a lot of content. However, all of that content didn’t appear overnight.

STAND-UP AND DOCUMENTARIES – THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF NETFLIX’S SUCCESS

Though Netflix is primarily known for its contributions to television, it’s hard to ignore its early dedication to securing overlooked documentaries and brand new stand-up specials from comedians. After all, three of Netflix’s first four originals from that first year fell into these categories. More than any other category, the amount of Netflix-exclusive standup specials has drastically increased from year to year. As mentioned before, Netflix started 2012 with only one stand-up special. By 2015, that number had grown to 12, and in 2016, Netflix released 25 new and exclusive specials. Though we’re barely two months into 2017, Netflix has either already released or announced 15 additional specials for the year.

Netflix’s documentary growth has increased in a similar fashion, growing from two documentaries in 2012 to a total of 39 currently available documentaries and docu-series five years later. Netflix’s early and pointed success in these two areas highlights how streaming has transformed mainstream entertainment.

Before, standup specials and documentaries were more considered more specialty entertainment. Sure, Comedy Central routinely featured shows from big name comics and Showtime and HBO established early on that they were places for stand-up, but many of these specials were appointment viewing and were often missed by casual viewers. By padding its library with comedy specials, Netflix made the world of comedy far more accessible to the average audience. Likewise, documentaries, which were often an exclusive and often unprofitable branch of film, could escape the confines of their festivals and reach larger audiences. Documentaries such as HBO’s The Jinx and Netflix’s Making a Murderer could not have achieved the pop culture-defining success they did without streaming. Netflix’s early focus on these two building blocks indicated something the company has alway been good at — identifying under-the-radar gems and making them profitable.

THE FORGOTTEN LEG OF NETFLIX – ITS CHILDREN’S SHOWS

There’s one branch of Netflix’s original programming that doesn’t get enough attention: its children’s shows. Out of the 222 originals Netflix has released in the past five years, 34 of those series and specials have been children and family focused. That number jumps to 38 if you count Fuller House, One Day at a Time, Degrassi: Next Class, and A Series of Unfortunate Events in that category. And that’s not all. The streaming service has announced an additional 15 kids shows for the rest of 2017.

This isn’t an argument for or against the quality of Netflix’s children’s programming. However, it is an interesting detail that you will likely never watch roughly 17 percent of Netflix’s original content if you don’t have a child. It’s this willingness to build out content for every audience imaginable that has defined the company over the years.

THE CRITICAL DARLINGS OF NETFLIX — ITS AWARD-WINNING COMEDIES AND DRAMAS

Despite Netflix’s commitment to adding other types of content to its library, the term “Netflix Originals” is still primarily associated with the company’s comedies and dramas. After all, House of Cards was the first online-only TV series to receive major Emmy nominations. There’s a lot to say about this branch of Netflix Originals — how Netflix has threatened cable networks, the benefits and costs of creating mainstream shows alongside auteur projects, and how the streaming service has muddied the lines between genres and ratings even further. However, the much more interesting story is how these two genres have grown together on Netflix.

By 2013, Netflix had three originals that could be classified as dramas and three that could be classified as comedies. Five years after its first original series, Netflix now has a total of 31 original dramas and 27 original comedies — only four more dramas than comedies. The company’s first two years as a production entity, 2012 to 2014, saw the company making strategic moves. These were the years Lilyhammer, the most popular series in Norway, was acquired and House of Cards, Arrested Development Season 4, Orange Is the New Black, and BoJack Horseman premiered. There were duds in those early days but not many. Netflix’s take on horror, Hemlock Grove, was critically lambasted, and the wildly expensive Marco Polo proved to be one of the company’s early missteps. However, most of the shows launched during this time cemented Netflix’s reputation as a provider of prestige television. It wasn’t until 2015 and 2016 that Netflix started taking more risks.

In 2015, Netflix took several surprising swings but had few misses. This was the year that marked the premieres of Bloodline, Narcos, Sense8, Grace and Frankie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and W/ Bob and David. Some of these shows — like Bloodline and Narcos — were destined to be hits, but some shows, specifically its comedies during this time, tended to be a bit atypical. This was also the year Netflix unveiled its first Marvel shows, Daredevil and Jessica Jones.

2016 is when things got really interesting for the streaming service. Last year, Netflix took more gambles than ever before, seemingly comfortable in its ability to microtarget its consumers. Sure, there were beloved hits like Stranger Things, The Crown, Luke Cage, and Black Mirror, but this was also the year of The OA, Lady Dynamite, Fuller House, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life — some of the most divisive shows Netflix has ever released.

THE COST OF REVOLUTIONIZING TELEVISION

Of course, all of these originals don’t come without a price tag. Netflix has spent a shocking amount on original content from year to year, and that number will likely only go up. Back in 2013, Variety reported that the company was spending an estimated $2.4 billion on programming altogether. That number increased to $3.2 billion in 2014 with $243 million devoted to Netflix Originals. In 2015, the amount Netflix spent on original programming almost doubled, hitting $450 million in 2015 according to the New York Times. That number more than quadrupled last year, aligning with the drastic spike in Netflix’s original content. According to The Verge, the streaming service spent roughly $5 billion on programming in 2016. How much of that impressive budget went to Netflix Originals? According to Tech Times, that number is a whooping $2.5 billion, or half of Netflix’s budget. Accounting for Netflix’s plans to increase its number of original programs and its much-discussed $6 billion programming budget for 2017, we can reasonably expect Netflix to spend more this year than ever before.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2017

Though Netflix Originals have been around for five years now, it’s only February. We still have a lot of time left in 2017, and Netflix is seemingly prepared to deliver us more content than ever before. Of the 104 shows, movies, and specials Netflix has publicly announced for 2017, only 17 have premiered so far. Add in the unknown amount of surprise originals Netflix is sure to throw in throughout the course of the year, and Netflix will very easily pass its 2016 record of 112 new originals released during one calendar year.

I think as Netflix moves forward, we can expect the company to continue to act as it did last year, taking more risks and falling back on its tentpole series and specials as it crafts more specialty programming. So if you’re ever wondering if television really has grown as quickly as everyone says, the answer is yes. And it’s all thanks to one company and one Norwegian drama. Happy birthday, Lilyhammer. It’s been a whirlwind five years.

Stream ‘Lilyhammer’ on Netflix