Netflix’s Greatest Sci-Fi Was Too Expensive for Its Original Network After Just 2 Seasons
Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles.
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Black Mirror is arguably one of Netflix's biggest hits — both in the realm of science fiction shows and the streamer's slate of original programming. Most of its episodes tackle everything from the pitfalls of artificial intelligence to how social media is becoming entwined with our lives, and have received critical praise and even award nominations. Series creator Charlie Brooker recently confirmed that Black Mirror will be returning for Season 8, meaning that sci-fi fans will be in for more chilling tales about technology. But long before it was a mainstay in Netflix queues, Black Mirror started out life on cable television — specifically, Channel 4.
Brooker launched Black Mirror after working on comedy-based shows for other British channels, and decided to take his talents in the opposite direction with an anthology drama series. He cites The Twilight Zone as his biggest influence, specifically how Rod Serling would use science fiction and fantasy as a metaphor for real-life issues:
"In Serling's day, the atom bomb, civil rights, McCarthyism, psychiatry and the space race were of primary concern. Today he'd be writing about terrorism, the economy, the media, privacy and our relationship with technology...That's what we're aiming for with Black Mirror: each episode has a different cast, a different setting, even a different reality. But they're all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time if we're clumsy."
While Black Mirror is primarily a sci-fi series, it still keeps the wicked streak of black humor that permeates Brooker's earlier work. Case in point: the premiere episode, "The National Anthem", has a member of the Royal Family kidnapped, and the only way for her to be freed is if the Prime Minister commits a lewd act with a pig. It was both a sign that Black Mirror was going to be unlike anything on TV, and foreshadowed why it moved to Netflix.
Budget Issues Led to Netflix Picking Up 'Black Mirror'
Black Mirror was able to score two seasons on Channel 4, and received equal parts praise and complaints, due to the aforementioned season premiere. It was even one of the most complained-about shows of 2011, which is an honor that's rather fitting for the series. Yet Charlie Brooker and his producing partner Annabel Jones were told by Channel 4 that Black Mirror was facing budget restraints, and needed a co-producer to continue. This led to a bidding war involving different cable networks, including HBO and AMC, yet Netflix won out at the last minute.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child's Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
- You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
- These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
- You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
- You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
- The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
- By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
- You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
- The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
- Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
- Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
- This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
- Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.
The Netflix deal included a bigger budget and a bigger range of guest stars for Black Mirror. It also led to some of the show's most iconic episodes, particularly Season 3's "San Junipero" and Season 4's "U.S.S. Callister." Moving to Netflix also gave Brooker the freedom to push the series' boundaries, including basing each season around a different theme and even releasing an interactive film with Bandersnatch. Such attempts wouldn't have been possible on Channel 4, but Brooker was determined to make the most of his deal with Netflix, and it paid off in waves.
'Black Mirror' Was One of Netflix's Biggest Success Stories
Black Mirror's biggest claim to fame is that it arguably helped cement Netflix, and the idea of streaming, as a major force in the entertainment world when its third season premiered in 2016. Not only did 2016 mark the debut of fellow sci-fi hit Stranger Things, but it was also when the streamer became available worldwide — allowing a larger audience to see more of its original programming and the films it had acquired. This meant that Black Mirror had the kind of reach that wouldn't have been available on Channel 4, allowing it to transcend from a cult hit to a smash hit nearly overnight.
While people will no doubt be tuning into Black Mirror Season 8, a decade has once again changed how people watch television. Streaming services are getting more expensive, and cable is having a tough time as more people are deciding to cut the cord. It's highly unlikely that Brooker could have made the same deal for Black Mirror now that he did then, but the series more than likely will keep its sharp edge when it returns for Season 8.
- Release Date
- December 4, 2011
- Network
- Channel 4, Netflix
- Showrunner
- Charlie Brooker
- Directors
- Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh
- Writers
- Jesse Armstrong
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.