Quantity One on Netflix is a weekly highlight on no matter is presently the preferred factor on the world’s hottest streaming service. Generally it’ll be a film. Generally it’ll be a TV present. No matter it’s, lots of people are clearly watching, and we’ll attempt to perceive why with a fast assessment. Right now, we’re wanting on the last season of Cobra Kai — in addition to the place it started.
The announcement that William Zabka and Ralph Macchio can be reuniting for a TV present persevering with the story of the Karate Child franchise was a memorable one. The Summer season 2017 Tv Critics Affiliation press tour was in full swing when the lights of the ballroom on the Beverly Hilton Lodge went down; dramatic music started taking part in as Zabka and Macchio had been launched to the group, the chief on stage promising that the brand new present would “lastly give Johnny Lawrence his shot at redemption.”
Macchio advised journalists, “For the report, I used to be completely advantageous leaving him unredeemed, in 2nd place.” “That’s since you gained with an unlawful kick,” Zabka responded. It was a humorous second that instantly made the dynamic of the brand new present clear. It was additionally not paid for by Netflix.
With the discharge of Cobra Kai‘s collection finale, it’s enjoyable to keep in mind that the story of underdogs combating for respect was itself an underdog story: One of many streaming period’s most outstanding examples of a present that was so good, it survived the demise of the platform for which it was initially made.
The primary two seasons of Cobra Kai had been initially produced as unique content material for YouTube, through the period when YouTube was funding large-scale Hollywood productions. Different productions from this time interval embrace the scripted dance drama Step Up: Excessive Water, the dystopian drama The Thinning and its sequel (starring Logan Paul), and Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Tv*. (The * was a wink to the very fact the present was being made for YouTube, not conventional TV.)
“One of the best ways I can describe [Cobra Kai] is like this: ‘Ali vs. Frazier,’ ‘Tyson vs. Holyfield,’ ‘Alien vs. Predator,’” YouTube World Head of Unique Content material Susanne Daniels stated. “We’ve seen some massive rematches over time, however in 2018, YouTube Purple goes to current an unprecedented rematch over 30 years within the making.”
(That’s proper, it was referred to as YouTube Purple, as a result of apparently nobody on the Google-owed firm had heard of RedTube. The initiative was rebranded as “YouTube Originals” in Might 2018, together with a worth improve.)
YouTube Originals was one in all many streaming endeavors launched optimistically within the years following Netflix’s explosion into authentic content material in 2013, and one in all many who finally didn’t survive because of market forces, poor technique, or a easy lack of curiosity. It’s removed from being as infamous because the NBCUniversal endeavor Seeso or new media punching bag Quibi, however when YouTube determined to cease producing authentic content material in 2020, the destiny of Cobra Kai hung within the steadiness.
Netflix then stepped in to amass the 2 produced seasons and greenlight a 3rd, bringing us to 2025, and the discharge of the sixth and last season. It was removed from the primary time Netflix had carried out one thing like this, however what was notable about Cobra Kai‘s rescue from the pit of cancellation was that as a Netflix collection, it actually grew right into a cultural phenomenon.
To be clear, Cobra Kai was all the time a extremely enjoyable present, cleverly designed by creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg to take pleasure in nostalgia whereas additionally taking part in with new dynamics. It simply wanted to search out its viewers, which sadly was not paying YouTube $12 a month to look at its scripted content material. As soon as it launched on Netflix, it turned an enormous hit for the streamer — a basic instance of how a superb present can thrive… If it will probably discover an viewers.
And that’s all the time the tough bit. Critics can rave about unbelievable reveals like The Good Struggle or We Are Woman Components, but when audiences don’t subscribe to Paramount+ or Peacock, they’ll by no means miss out. This provides Netflix a outstanding energy in at present’s popular culture, since of all of the streaming companies on the market, it’s the one mostly subscribed to — if a present is on Netflix, the percentages are a lot better {that a} informal viewer would possibly test it out.
With out revealing an excessive amount of in regards to the collection finale of Cobra Kai, it paid loving tribute to the previous, coming full circle not simply on the collection, however on the Karate Child franchise as a complete. (Although the story is just not over but, because of the Macchio and Jackie Chan-starring Karate Child: Legends, in theaters this Might.) Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Finest” even will get used for a coaching montage!
And it truly packed in some shifting moments, made all of the extra highly effective by the truth that no approach in hell was this the anticipated consequence, when the present was initially introduced. As somebody sitting in that Beverly Hills ballroom in 2017, I assumed it was humorous to see Zabka and Macchio collectively, however six seasons? The preferred present on Netflix? No probability. However that’s the magic of an underdog story — the most effective type of shock.
Cobra Kai is streaming now on Netflix.