'House of Cards' was Netflix's first original prestige drama

HBO's success inspired Showtime, AMC, Netflix, and more

HBO’s success in the early 21st century bred plenty of imitators, who were now more willing to embrace darker, more challenging series like “Weeds,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “House of Cards.”

'The Sopranos' is often seen as the start of 'prestige television'

HBO’s The Sopranos followed New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano as he struggled to balance his violent criminal life with his personal and family issues. Its blend of crime drama, pitch-perfect comedy, and intergenerational family dynamics made for a complex show not easily reduced to typical genre tags.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters' is the streamer's most-watched original movie

The 2025 film, which combines K-pop music and Korean mythology, became a big hit on the streaming platform. It was equally successful in its limited theatrical release, shooting to the top of the box office rankings.

The 'second screen' effect has realigned the writing for Netflix's original shows

As more subscribers put Netflix on in the background, the company has encouraged more expositional dialogue in its original scripts. Filmmaker Justine Bateman claims the streamer doesn't "want anything on your show to distract [viewers] from their primary screen."

A Netflix docuseries turned the sport into a national obsession

Throughout much of its history, Formula 1 racing was a European sport that failed to ever find a major audience in the US. That changed with the “Drive to Survive,” the Netflix docuseries that premiered in 2019. This analysis from two communications professors unpacks how the series has successfully presented the sport for an American audience and cultivated a dedicated fanbase in the process.

Netflix's 'Kaleidoscope' experimented with non-linear storytelling

Netflix has regularly experimented with how it releases episodes, but its miniseries "Kaleidoscope" experimented with linear storytelling by crafting a show that supposedly allowed viewers to enjoy the show in any order they pleased.

Netflix started in 1997 as a mail-order DVD rental service

The first Netflix customers selected DVDs from the company’s website and received and returned them through regular mail. The approach included no late fees and quickly added the ability to rent an unlimited number of DVDs for a flat monthly fee, with the company passing 1 million subscribers in 2003.

The history of 'Black Mirror,' according to its stars

"Black Mirror" began as a modest anthology show on Britain's Channel 4, offering bleak satire about contemporary technology. It quickly became a hit and attracted stars like Daniel Kaluuya, Jon Hamm, Rashida Jones, and Jesse Armstrong (who'd go on to show run HBO's "Succession"). This oral history of the show details its evolution to an international Netflix hit, providing insights into creator Charlie Brooker's approach to storytelling.

The 2022 best picture winner, 'CODA,' was an Apple+ original

Streaming has changed more than how we watch movies—it's changed the way we recognize them during awards season. When movie theaters shut down during the early days of the pandemic, studios had no choice but to release their films on streaming. Once the shift occurred, there was no going back.

A former financial crime investigator says Hollywood has done a pretty good job depicting money laundering

A former financial crime investigator says "Narcos" and "Ozark" have pretty realistic scenes, but other well-known financial crime depictions like "The Wolf of Wall Street" are off base. Some of the main inconsistencies include overly dramatic gunfights and unrealistic cash amounts.

'Ted Lasso' began as a series of promotional videos

The series debuted on Apple TV+ in 2020, but it began in 2013 as a series of short comedy sketches created to promote NBC Sports' broadcasts of Premier League soccer matches.

Two individuals are credited with making the Oscars red carpet a destination for fashion

Much like the Met Gala, fashion is now an inextricable part of the Academy Awards. But it wasn't always that way. In the 1950s and '60s, costume designer Edith Head was responsible for making sure the stars looked their best on television. In the 1990s, Fred Hayman brought luxury back to the stage after the excess of the 1970s and 1980s. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The inaugural Cannes Film Festival featured legendary directors

The festival’s first year was 1946. It featured 11 films from some of the world’s best filmmakers, including Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, George Sydney, and Billy Wilder.

The first cast members were relatively unknown 'enlightened amateurs'

“SNL” producers aimed to cast relative newcomers for the show’s first season, convinced that amateurs would infuse the show with the countercultural spirit Lorne Michaels envisioned.

Watch a digital archive of David Attenborough's 'Planet Earth' miniseries

Created over five years, the production was the first documentary series to be filmed in high definition and, when released in 2006, the BBC's most expensive nature documentary series. The Emmy Award-winning series featured 11 episodes, each focused on a different Earth biome.

The official podcast of A24 film studio

They've made arthouse cinema mainstream while winning critical acclaim at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and more. Catch up on the latest episode of A24's official podcast here with interview of actors, directors, and more.

Horace Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto’ was the first Gothic novel

Walpole’s 1764 novel takes place in a haunted castle, with self-closing doors, moving pictures, and a wandering ghost—many of the tropes that would come to define the Gothic and horror genres, and influence other genres like fantasy.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

USA Television Network fictional series Royal Pains spotlights concierge medicine

This fictional television series, that aired from 2009-16, chronicles the adventures of a doctor who transitioned into offering concierge medicine for a big-spender clientele. As a private physician-for-hire he is on call to provide care 24/7.

Stephen King’s wife rescued his first hit from the trash

In 1972, King began working on a story about a telekinetic high school girl but abandoned the story just a few pages into the first draft. Luckily, his wife, Tabitha, found the manuscript in a trash bin and encouraged him to continue working on it. That story would become King’s first book, “Carrie,” which was published in 1974 and went on to sell millions of copies, establishing King as a household name following Brian De Palma’s 1976 film adaptation.

American Express was the first company to offer 'gold' cards to borrowers

American Express began offering gold cards to affluent consumers in 1966. However, other credit card companies began offering similar, premium cards in the 1980s, which quickly became a status symbol for wealthy Americans.

Jacqueline Kennedy's 1962 White House tour drew 80 million viewers worldwide

Broadcast simultaneously on CBS and NBC, and a few days later on ABC, the first lady's televised tour introduced the restored White House to an audience of between 50 million and 80 million. The program elevated public appreciation of American history and the significance of the White House.

Sarah Bernhardt was the first actress to play Shakespeare's iconic Hamlet on film

Bernhardt was a popular 19th- and 20th-century actress with a knack for self-promotion. Case in point: When she took over the Théâtre de Ville in Paris, she renamed it Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. Her production of "Hamlet" at the theater starred her, naturally, as the titular character. A recording of the performance is believed to be the first woman to play Hamlet caught on film.

Breaking down the many box office records 'Star Wars' has broken

The first "Star Wars" film made history in 1977 when it surpassed "Jaws," considered the first Hollywood blockbuster, for the highest-grossing movie of all time. But that's just the first in a long line of records that the franchise has broken in the decades since then, with impressive records set by films like "The Force Awakens," "Revenge of the Sith," and "The Last Jedi."

Citizens United extended First Amendment protections to corporate political spending

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision struck down limits on independent political expenditures by corporations and other organizations, ruling that such spending is protected speech—a decision that was deeply contested and reshaped campaign finance law.

Go inside a real jury room as 12 Americans deliberate a criminal case

This PBS "Frontline" documentary from 1986 was the first to film actual jury deliberations on American television, capturing a Wisconsin criminal trial jury wrestling with the evidence and the case's consequences.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.