Naturally, being 2018 and all, Apple is jumping on the streaming bandwagon and is launching their own dedicated streaming service with original content. There were rumors floating around last year that Apple was looking to buy Netflix, but those plans have been scrapped in favor of their own streaming service. While you’d think Apple would be able to put together an impressive set of content given the services massive $1 billion budget, early reports aren’t very promising. In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the service has watered down its content in an effort to be so family-friendly, generic, and non-threatening that Apple’s own staff in L.A. are calling the service “expensive NBC.”
The report goes on to detail how Apple CEO Tim Cook has forced creators to remove or rewrite much of the violent or otherwise edgy content from Apple’s new scripted original series, creating production delays and pushing back its launch date. So far, around a dozen original programs have been announced including a Kevin Durant biopic series, an Oprah Winfrey program of some kind, a family program from the creators of Sesame Street, and Vital Signs, a drama about the life of Dr. Dre. That last one drew particular criticism from Cook who found the sex, drugs, and violence of the series to be too much for the vision Apple executives have for the service.
The Wall Street Journal report goes on to detail out how Apple executives withheld their approval for a new M. Night Shyamalan psychological thriller series until the show’s creators agreed to remove the crucifixes from around the protagonists’ home. Executives were worried that the mere presence of religious imagery in one of their shows might be too controversial for whatever audience they’re imagining for expensive NBC.
Where’s the ghost of Steve Jobs when you need it? Aside from probably sailing through some cosmic nirvana of the tech guru’s own design, that is. Since Jobs’ passing, Apple hasn’t exactly been the trend-setting, innovative, and sexy brand that it used to be – although you wouldn’t know it from their ever-impressive sales figures. People just can’t get enough of that little apple logo on their gizmos to let you know they’re better than you. Until they launch a lame streaming service, that is. Could a flop of a streaming service kill Apple’s reputation? If a $1,000 price tag for a phone can’t, nothing likely can.
