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Netflix Has a New Golden Age for Mainstream Romance Series With Virgin River
by Elyse Sommer
The streaming platform's move into the world of romance-sourced novels as series has been an astounding success. It's not that romance writers like Virgin River author Robin Carr haven't been big moneymakers for years. But, heretofore, they've been considered too low brow and specialized to be seen alongside more prestigious romantic fare by the likes of John Patrick Shanley.
The way Virgin River has out-performed all other Netflix content is especially amazing given that its fan base is female and even its main actors are not high-profile actors. What's more, while billed as a feel-good escape from our ever increasingly troubled real world, the series' plot developments are hardly lighthearted. In episode after episode, its characters suffer devastating illnesses and grief. As for the peaceful, bucolic fictional northern California landscape, that too includes plenty of darkness -- a drug-peddling colony as well as incidents of rape and murder.
There
was yet another purpose for the addition of this genre.The high cost of holding on to subscribers has forced even the biggest subscription service of them all to look for new revenues. And, so, the open digital door for Virgin River.
The expanded format of romantic fiction as a series rather than single-view, Hallmark-ish movie has, of course, been common on PBS Masterpiece. And this bingeable series has had a ripple effect at Netflix with its Regency costume drama Bridgerton and on the Masterpiece platform with the recently completed series of Jane Austen's unfinished last novel, Sanditon. In fact, Sanditon triggered another new wrinkle to on-screen entertainment by extending its intended single season to three as a result of viewer demand.
While I didn't read or plan to read the novels that Virgin River was based on, I'll admit that the casting and smartly structured and paced adaptation of the series did hook me in like the rest of its fans. That said, I can understand why Netflix would
want to cash in further on the series' success but doing so with a Virgin River Stories Game strikes me as odd. The viewers who love the series are not gamers -- and gamers aren't typical Virgin River fans. Yet, Netflix has launched the gaming app before posting the sixth season (It HAS been filmed!) of the series, which bingers are
eagerly waiting for.
Romance writers have long been relegated to outsiderdom from prestige fiction, which made them become entrepreneurs. Their self-published narratives are actually selling well enough to reach bestseller status, with publishers offering them big advances. And as adapting these books as series has created this screening golden era, so the print versions have seeded the creation of successful romance bookstores all over the country. But that's another story for this type of fiction.
And so, before I close this hodge-podge about Virgin River's remarkable success despite its limited viewership, a bit about what's happening on Broadway and Off-Broadway.
A look at the announcements popping up on marquees all over town seems to point to a cohtinued comeback from the pandemic years, as indicated by strong sales for Stephen Sondheim's finally successful Merrily We Roll Along. But the high price of tickets, the continued preference to work from home rather than in Manhattan offices and the use of limited theatrical runs rather than landmark-style runs like Phantom and Cats are still with us.
One upcoming must-see is the latest Gypsy, with the always-must-see Audra McDonald. The problem is that Audra has a busy home life and is likely to skip matinees and end her Mama Rose role early. In addition, the intense summer heat may have some less inclined to leave their air-conditioned homes. Others may seek "comfort food" diversions from the troubling political zeitgeist.
I can't predict how any of this will play out, but ask me to predict one theatermaker who can make another golden era of theater audiences possible. My answer is the technician who can find a way to film the final live performance of a show, possibly at a price lower than what currently only the producers of Merrily We Roll Along can afford.
To check out news of what's new and coming up on and off The Great White Way, go to Playbill's link below:
