How the Emmys Made Netflix’s Very Good Week Even Better
When the Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday, there were any number of people who were hoping Netflix’s already excellent week would end with a fizzle.
The old school broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox), HBO, Amazon, Hulu, AMC, BBC America and FX all had shows that were widely admired and due for recognition at the annual awards extravaganza.
Netflix, on the other hand, was coming off the widely panned season of “House of Cards,” the critically admired but little-seen “Bloodline” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” and the domestic flop of its $90 million historical epic, “Marco Pollo.” Additionally, “Orange Is the New Black,” which had a strong third season both in terms of reviews and ratings, was forced by a change in the Emmy rules to submit as a drama rather than a comedy, putting it up against more hard-hitting dramatic programs.
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As it turns out, Netflix’s very good week would keep going with a record setting 34 nominations. This is dwarfed by HBO’s 127 nominations, but this is a remarkable number for the streaming service nevertheless.
The shower of nominations came on the end of a week in which Netflix stock price continued to climb at a rapid pace, making it the single best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year. Netflix continues to grow rapidly, adding 900,000 domestic users in Q2 and a staggering 2.4 million users internationally, widely exceeding expectations of 6000,000 and 1.9 million, respectively.
If there is a downside, it is that Netflix is unlikely to actually WIN in any of the major Emmy categories. The beloved series “Mad Men” and “Parks and Recreation” should have a lock on the comedy and drama awards (and if Jonathan Banks of “Better Call Saul” doesn’t win besting supporting actor in a drama, there will be riots!). But for Netflix, it is still an honor just to be nominated.
The streaming giant will not be resting on its laurels. Coming on the back of its critically-acclaimed and bone-crunching adaptation of “Daredevil,” the company will be teaming up with Marvel again for three more shows. Netflix will also be amping up its feature film division with debuts from “True Detective” director Cary Fukunaga and an action movie starring Brad Pitt.
The company may walk away empty handed when they hand out the golden statues on September 20th, but for the time being, everything is coming up Netflix.
Coming Soon: Deductible Relief Day!
You may be familiar with the concept of Tax Freedom Day – the date on which you have earned enough to pay all of your taxes for the year. Focusing on a different kind of financial burden, analysts at the Kaiser Family Foundation have created Deductible Relief Day – the date on which people in employer-sponsored insurance plans have spent enough on health care to meet the average annual deductible.
Average deductibles have more than tripled over the last decade, forcing people to spend more out of pocket each year. As a result, Deductible Relief Day is “getting later and later in the year,” Kaiser’s Larry Levitt said in a tweet Thursday.
Chart of the Day: Families Still Struggling
Ten years into what will soon be the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, 40% of families say they are still struggling, according to a new report from the Urban Institute. “Nearly 4 in 10 nonelderly adults reported that in 2018, their families experienced material hardship—defined as trouble paying or being unable to pay for housing, utilities, food, or medical care at some point during the year—which was not significantly different from the share reporting these difficulties for the previous year,” the report says. “Among adults in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty level (FPL), over 60 percent reported at least one type of material hardship in 2018.”
Chart of the Day: Pragmatism on a Public Option
A recent Morning Consult poll 3,073 U.S. adults who say they support Medicare for All shows that they are just as likely to back a public option that would allow Americans to buy into Medicare or Medicaid without eliminating private health insurance. “The data suggests that, in spite of the fervor for expanding health coverage, a majority of Medicare for All supporters, like all Americans, are leaning into their pragmatism in response to the current political climate — one which has left many skeptical that Capitol Hill can jolt into action on an ambitious proposal like Medicare for All quickly enough to wrangle the soaring costs of health care,” Morning Consult said.
Chart of the Day: The Explosive Growth of the EITC
The Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income workers, was established in 1975, with nominal claims of about $1.2 billion ($5.6 billion in 2016 dollars) in its first year. According to the Tax Policy Center, by 2016 “the total was $66.7 billion, almost 12 times larger in real terms.”
Chart of the Day: The Big Picture on Health Care Costs
“The health care services that rack up the highest out-of-pocket costs for patients aren't the same ones that cost the most to the health care system overall,” says Axios’s Caitlin Owens. That may distort our view of how the system works and how best to fix it. For example, Americans spend more out-of-pocket on dental services ($53 billion) than they do on hospital care ($34 billion), but the latter is a much larger part of national health care spending as a whole.
