Netflix’s routine title removals bring pros and cons

This month, Netflix brings back its temporary category “Netflix and Chills” to provide a selection of horror and thriller content to ring in Halloween. As per its routine, the streaming service will also be removing and adding a list of titles for October.

Sierra Hoeger

This month Netflix re-debuted “Netflix and Chills,” a category that only comes around once a year highlighting the service’s horror and thriller titles. Netflix also released a list of series and titles each month leaving the streaming platform the following month, as well as a ones that will be added soon. 

Every time a list comes out and Netflix reveals a popular title may be leaving or added to the platform, social media goes into a frenzy. Debates about why a show shouldn’t leave Netflix and subsequent Twitter hashtags trend for a couple of days and people take some time to mourn the unavailability of their favorite show or movie. Social media goes similarly crazy when a certain title gets added to the platform, making users eager to watch. 

According to Netflix, the decision to remove shows and films from the platform derives from failure to renew licenses. Netflix can evaluate licenses and decide if they want to renew a license to keep a show or film on, but if don’t, they’ll decide to cut it. 

Whether you’re mourning the departure of “The Carrie Diaries” or anticipating the arrival of “One Direction: This Is Us,” everyone has an opinion. 

“I think a lot of people get attached to characters in a show, so when someone is really invested in one character’s story within a show and then the show gets removed, it feels like something they invested a lot of time in is kind of taken away from them,” said Trevor Trousdale, senior in aerospace engineering. “They can’t invest more into that character. A lot of time it’s just stories, too. If people like the idea that a story’s going in, then that also gets taken away, it makes people mad because they don’t get that story that they were very invested in. I think people just invest themselves in good story ideas and good characters.”

Netflix is no stranger to creating original content, providing streamers with content unavailable on cable or network television. Shows and films such as “Stranger Things,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “Big Mouth,” among others, are popular with viewers and help to retain viewers as well as attract new ones. 

“‘Stranger Things’ is a good one,” Trousdale said. “I think I like the character work they do. The storyline has a lot of built-in nostalgia to it, which can be good or bad, but I think it’s interesting because it brings about a kind of an era of movies that we don’t get so often these days.”

Netflix Original “The Politician” arrives to the streaming service Friday. The show follows high school senior Payton Hobart (played by Ben Platt, known for “Pitch Perfect” and “Dear Evan Hansen”) on the path to achieve his goal of becoming student body president, solely for the purpose of putting it on his Harvard University application and possibly becoming the future president of the United States. 

The show reflects problems that arise in modern-day politics as they would appear in a high school setting, mixing with situations and conflicts that high schoolers would deal with as well. 

If you’re looking for something to binge besides “Glee” or “American Horror Story,” “The Politician” is perfect because creator Ryan Murphy is projected to have created another hit TV show. 

“A lot of these filmmakers that don’t have the ability to direct or make some big giant-scale-like-Marvel-movies or something like that, they’re turning towards these streaming platforms where they can get a smaller budget to make whatever they want to that is going to cost less,” Trousdale said. “This allows people to take more of a chance on a streaming platform, where people don’t have to pay to go see it, so it’s easier to just sit down and watch it.”

Whether you’re saddened by the departure of your favorite film or excited about the arrival of a new one, October brings with it plenty of opportunities to find and enjoy something new on Netflix and maybe squeeze in a horror movie or two while you’re at it.