Prime Video’s Upcoming Sci-Fi Action Show Rewrites The Rules Of Television

Prime Video has been making waves with its growing catalog of shows, but one upcoming series completely changes the game for TV. TV has evolved and changed a lot over its lifetime, with the first innovation of having personal televisions allowing people to view major events from the comfort of their homes as early as the late 1920s.

Since then, the accessibility to owning a personal TV, as well as the range of shows and genres available, has exploded. Then, the rise of network TV pushed studios and production companies to make better and higher-quality content. However, as streamers are now taking the lead as far as audiences are concerned, it seems as though there has been a distinct lack of innovation.

Spider-Noir Is Releasing In Both Black & White And Color

The upcoming Nicolas Cage superhero drama, Spider-Noir, is set to make some waves for a number of reasons. Of course, this is the latest production to come from Sony after they dissolved their previous cinematic universe, and it features a character who has recently gained notoriety thanks to his appearance in the animated Spider-Verse films.

However, the biggest innovation with Spider-Noir’s release is the fact that Prime Video will be providing audiences with a choice of ways to watch this content. The show will debut with both a black and white classic style and a more contemporary full-color edition. And while this may be a novelty that gets eyes on the show initially, it highlights the fact that streaming platforms could be doing more.

Streaming Has Opened The Door For New Projects To Take Big Risks

With the rise of the streaming platform as the primary way for audiences to consume content, there have been some notable changes in how shows are made, and indeed, the lifecycle on a given platform. Back in the day, a show had a slot when it aired, and potentially some airtime in rerun slots, but unless it managed to gain a lot of success, it would soon disappear from the listings.

Of course, videos and DVDs provided a way for fans to go back and revisit their favorite shows, and in both mediums, the distributors would add additional features to make the prospect of buying the series more appealing. But with streaming, it should be infinitely easier to provide additional content, or to modify, enhance, and expand on what has already been released. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for the most part.

Despite The Flexible Format, New TV Shows Aren’t Nearly Experimental Enough

Sure, major projects on Disney+, like the Marvel and Star Wars movies, have gotten additional content that takes a closer look behind the scenes. And with Netflix’s recent release of the Stranger Things season 5 finale, the streamer released additional content to give fans more to engage with after the show wrapped.

But none of this unlocks the potential of what streaming shows can do. In 2018, Netflix released Bandersnatch, a choose-your-own-adventure series that spun off from the popular Black Mirror show. Interactive quiz shows have also appeared on a few streaming services. But, Spider-Noir suggests that more is possible.

Rather than simply following the traditional format, TV shows now have the potential to adapt to the audience’s preferences. This could be done in small ways, but it really depends on the creativity and willingness of the creatives involved to put in the work and consider how their shows could be enhanced, and thus be more engaging to a modern audience.

Sure, the black and white thing seems like kind of a gimmick, but it’s got people talking, and it opens the door for more creativity to potentially enhance what is currently on the market. After all, a couple more experiments and risks like this one could lead to future shows including elements we couldn’t even imagine right now, just like those early adopters watching a grainy box air reruns in the 1920s couldn’t imagine TV on demand.