Bringing a new edgy sexiness to the realm of political genres, 'House of Cards' has been stirring up audiences and industry veteran alike. Yet, the reason it starts a new categorical genre isn't due to the content of the series, but rather the distribution.
Netflix ventured into new ground with its first original series release -- turning its distribution business into content creators as well. More importantly to this blog, Netflix went a step further in challenging traditional television distribution and chose to release all the episodes at once. This "Binge Viewership" (as critics dub it) method changes the fundamental way audiences experience the series.
So much so, I would argue that "binge viewership" warrants a new categorical genre the same way ratings and formats (online, television, cinema) are used for differentiation. It certainly tampers with the suspense built into episodic dramas. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sees it as an improvement, likening it to releasing books a chapter at a time. Hastings says this way, viewers are able to choose their own pace.
http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv/2013/02/revisiting-house-of-cards-post-binge-viewing.html
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