Where to Stream: Stranger Things

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Once upon a time, American families gathered around a single television set together. It was a modern hearth, but its warmth came through sights and sounds. Parents, teens, tweens, small children, and grandparents alike all had to contend with the limited options and find consensus on what to watch. So television from the 1950s to the early ’00s seemed made to be watched by everyone.

Now that’s changed. As both lower and middle class families started adding more screens to their homes, television viewing stopped being a family activity and became a personal means of escapism. Today we can see kids watching cartoons on iPads while their parents are split up in different rooms, watching different things on different screens. This is just how most of us watch TV now: alone. The Washington Post‘s Alyssa Rosenberg recently nodded to this change in viewership patterns when she wrote: “Demands for specific plot elements are happening side-by-side with the rising expectation, fueled by Netflix’s business model… Like Renaissance artistic patrons, some of us want work to be tailored to our own personal desires.” She was writing about the rise of “fan privilege,” but the rise of the personalized screen experience has also killed the creative drive to make shows that everyone can enjoy.

Consider any major streaming service’s library of original content. Whether we’re talking Netflix or Hulu, Prime Video or HBO, there is a marked division between what titles are for kids and which ones are for adults. There’s little in between. Back in January, I asked Amazon’s Head of Drama, Morgan Wandell, why their adult slate was so…adult. He told me, “Our whole goal is to do really ambitious adult television. We don’t want everything to be super dark and super difficult to watch, but we are looking to do ambitious stories and tell them in really different, unique ways. There’s plenty of ‘light’ TV that’s out there. We know what customers are really looking for is something that is challenging and distinct from the normal television landscape.”

There may be plenty of “light” TV out there, but until this summer — which we’ll get to — there’s been precious little high-quality programming on streaming services that appeal to every demographic in the family. Netflix’s House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black? That’s decidedly for Mom & Dad. Tumbleleaf (on Prime Video) and Curious George (on Hulu)? Definitely just for the kids. Even Netflix’s Marvel programming is chock full of hardcore sex (see the GIF above), brutal violence, and foul language. Maybe the older teens in the family can watch, but I’m not sure you’d necessarily want a tween tuning in by his or herself. The trend is clear: In the age of streaming, kids and parents are supposed to be watching their favorite shows on separate screens.

Which brings us to Stranger Things. Netflix’s monster summer hit (no pun intended) debuted in July with little to no fanfare, but it became an overnight hit amongst subscribers. The show was sleekly paced – only 8 hour-long episodes! — and cribbed from some of the ’80s most beloved storytellers. It was scary, but not super gory. There was the hint of sex, but nothing too R-rated. There were some expletives, but nothing you wouldn’t hear in a middle school schoolyard brawl. Most importantly of all, Stranger Things is a show about parents and children trying to connect with one another. The cast stretches from tweens to teens to middle-aged stars. Stranger Things straddles the line between being appealing to kids and being made for adults. Stranger Things is the rare streaming show that everyone in the family could watch together.

Netflix is infamously stingy when it comes to revealing viewership data, so there’s no way to know if for sure if Stranger Things‘ cross-generational appeal added to its success. If it did, there’s a chance that more streaming services might just think about making more shows that would bring families together. But in the age of the single-screen, entertainment-on-demand model, is that something that can ever happen again?

[Watch Stranger Things on Netflix]

[Gifs by Jaclyn Kessel, copyright Netflix]