10 Big Stars Jumping on The TV Streaming Bandwagon

If you read Cultured Vultures a lot, you might have picked up how obsessed I am with Netflix. TV streaming is the future and I don’t care how much you shake your head at me.

Netflix aren’t the only one of course. I’m not about to be a corporate shill when they’re not even paying me for it. Amazon Prime, Hulu, Vimeo and others are all to different degrees dipping their toe, foot or entire leg into the streaming original content space.

What does that mean? Well, Netflix and its ilk are no longer just about dumping you with digital box sets for a load of old TV shows. They’re doing original shows. For many of us this is old hat – House of Cards started way back in the stone age of 2013. For others though it’s a new, and intimidating, frontier.

Having a DVR means we no longer have to tune in at nine to see the new NCIS, but the idea of an entire series dropping all at once on a streaming service is still somehow alien to many of us. This article is my way of letting those straddling the fence know what they’re missing out on.

Because big names are jumping on the bandwagon. Well know actors and creators are getting in on the act. Here’s who they are and what they’re doing.

 

1. Kevin Spacey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwUzF1q5w4

Everyone who has and uses a TV will be at least vaguely aware that Kevin Spacey is doing some kind of drama about politics. House of Cards, Netflix’s flagship show, has Spacey at his sinister best doing evil politician stuff. It’s compelling, especially when he turns to the camera and tells us all what he really thinks of the idiots around him.

 

2. Jane Fonda

When even a Hollywood legend is getting into the TV streaming game, you know there’s something to it. Fonda stars with Lily Tomlin as a pair of long married women who learn their husbands have been in a secret gay relationship for 20 years. Grace and Frankie has a bit of an odd-couple relationship at its centre, but based on the first episode it looks pretty funny.

 

3. James Franco

Everyone’s favourite James Franco will soon star in a show about a time traveller who heads back to the day of the JFK assassination to save the president’s life. The mini-series, yet another Stephen King adaptation, will be available on Hulu in 2016. Franco is kind of a movie star, so this is big for Hulu. We’re expecting Seth Rogen to be cast as President Kennedy any day now.

 

4. Tina Fey

Alongside writer Robert Carlock, Fey is the mastermind behind Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It’s got the same kind of quirky humour that made Fey’s 30 Rock one of the best comedies on the block. Fey has stared in some pretty big comedies, including Muppets Most Wanted, Date Night and Mean Girls, so she’s actually quite a big steal for Netflix.

 

5. John Cena

Okay, this is technically cheating. While WWE star John Cena starred in Trainwreck earlier this year, he is not about to quit wrestling for acting. WWE however, has dived head first into the world of streaming with the WWE Network. It’s the kind of ballsy tactic Vince McMahon is known for: dumping his entire video library and all his pay-per-views on one subscription streaming service. If pro wrestling’s doing it, it’s time we all caught up.

 

6. Mindy Kaling

Earlier this year, Fox did a typical Fox move and cancelled The Mindy Project. Now though, it’s coming to Hulu and bringing 26 new episodes with it. Kaling is a star who’s risen but Hollywood haven’t quite figured it out yet. The Mindy Project is basically a platform for Kaling to do her schtick, which is fine because she’s a really funny performer. After she left The Office, it was never quite the same.

 

7. The Wachowskis

Who are the Wachowskis you ask? Did you freakin’ see The Matrix, pal? They invented bullet time.  They make wacky, over-the-top, but somehow amazing movies. Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending might not be financial hits but they were absolutely unique. The Wachowskis bought that originality to Netflix this year with Sense8. A lot of people, including me, don’t know what to make of it but it unmistakably has the Wachowskis written all over it.

 

8. Dan Harmon

In my head, Dan Harmon is a big star. The sitcom he wrote and created, Community, bought its sixth season to Yahoo’s fledgling streaming service back in March. The show follows a bunch of misfits who form a study group at a community college. After six years though, it’s become so much more. The community college has gradually become more eccentric and the stories gradually more meta.

 

9. Christina Ricci

The former Wednesday Addams has spent the last fifteen years making a successful career in Indie cinema. Now she’s staring in one of Amazon’s 2015 pilots. Z is a biopic of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, wife to renowned novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. At a glance it will explore Zelda’s journey through the 1920s and the rise of flapper culture. The pilot will be available later this year, with a full series following if it’s well received.

 

10. Krysten Ritter

This list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cocaine of our popular culture. Krysten Ritter has been in a bunch of solid TV shows, including Veronica Mars, Breaking Bad and Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23. Now she’s the lead in Marvel’s second Netflix show, Jessica Jones. If Marvel have cast her in something, you can bet she’s going to be even more in demand once it’s aired.