The Bluths are back! Beginning today, Netflix (NFLX -3.92%) is airing a new 15-episode season of Arrested Development. More than 5 million have rated earlier seasons of the show, which also merits 1.8 million "likes" on Facebook.
Will that translate into a rush of new subscribers? I would say so, if only because Netflix's outsized first-quarter member gains appear to have been influenced by February's airing of acclaimed original series House of Cards.
George Sr., Lucille, Gob, Michael, Buster, Lindsay, Tobias, Maeby, and George Michael could be as big a draw, if not bigger. And that's in spite of Amazon.com's (AMZN -1.64%) substantial but thus-far ineffective efforts to create competing originals.For example, Alpha House has just 2,839 customer reviews as of this writing, versus more than 385,000 mostly good ratings for horror series Hemlock Grove.
"I would say Arrested sort of fits in an interesting category because it's got a very, very loyal fan base established," said Netflix Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer David Wells at JPMorgan Chase's 41st Annual Global Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference earlier this month.
"So there's an acknowledgment on our part that it might have an impact on Q2 and that we otherwise would have felt like we had lower year-over-year net additions for Q2 based on a seasonal pattern. But Arrested is a wild card. So I would say, in general, we're excited about it," Wells said.
Season 4 trailer. Sources: Netflix, YouTube.
Does Netflix figure into your holiday plans? Don't just sit there. Come on! Vote in the poll below, and then leave a comment to let us know whether you signed up for Netflix to get access to the new season of Arrested Development.
