The Hardest Goodbye…
Pop culture is changing as we know it!
Whether you have heard about them through friends, family, the media, or were old enough to tune in when they aired, everyone has some knowledge about the TV phenomena The Office and Friends. But, what you may not know is that they are both scheduled to leave the world’s leading streaming service, Netflix, within the next two years.
How? Well, companies such as WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal reportedly paid $425 million and $500 million to strip Netflix of its streaming rights to The Office and Friends for a period of five years. So, let’s just say it wasn’t an offer they planned on passing up…
As many of us consider these shows to be the backbone of Netflix, we are all left wondering what the service will look like once they are gone. Students around Leonia High School feel particularly passionate about their departure, as a significant number have contributed to the billions of minutes subscribers spend watching these shows.
When asked how students will feel when Friends and The Office are taken from Netflix, sophomore Julia Vazquez stated, “I feel like these shows never age. People watch them years after they aired, so it’s probably going to be super hectic when they leave.”
Some students were also questioned about the concept of other companies paying streaming services an exorbitant amount of money in order to pick up shows. Sophomore Blake Klein weighed in on the topic with, “It’s kind of a vicious cycle. When there is a lot of money involved, companies will do almost anything to get what they want.” Although it is sad that such a tragedy must come from merely a corporate decision, it is unfortunately out of the faithful watchers’ hands.
It’s clear that many of us will desperately miss tuning in to the friends’ witty banter at “Central Perk” and Michael Scott’s never ending embarrassment in The Office, but that doesn’t mean we’ll all protest and switch to a different streaming service.
For now, it’s okay to be upset and feel some resentment toward Netflix, but the more progressive approach to the issue is to sit back and appreciate what we have until it’s gone.
