It’s tough to parse and gauge the success of a streaming service. The business and the industry are both too new, too far ahead of the regulatory oversight of our governing bodies to be tracked in any meaningful way. Netflix subscribers are fueling a new kind of product, and it’s growing.

When Netflix drops a number like 62 million subscribers, as they did this Wednesday, that’s in service to its shareholders, and of course colored in the most positive light possible. Despite the fact that in the same press release Netflix showed a slowing of net income compared to previous quarters (positive, nonetheless), the stocks bumped up significantly following the announcement. The shareholders are happy. Should you be? If you’re enjoying the recently debuted Daredevil show, then yes, you should.

You should also be happy if you live in a part of the world where Netflix isn’t available. Yet. This is not a company yet stagnated on its own massive backside, but youthful in its desire to upend expectations still. (blame Turn for the obtuse writing).Growth, for Netflix, is two things: content and globalization.

The following is drawn from Netflix’s official releases regarding 2015’s first financial quarter.

Netflix on Original Content: “Our original content strategy is playing out as we hoped, driving lots of viewing in an economic way for Netflix while bolstering the positive perception of our brand and service around the world…We are increasingly spending on the promotion of our original content rather than emphasizing attributes of the Netflix brand and service that are now more familiar to consumers. Early tests in international markets suggest this content focus is aiding member acquisition.”

Netflix on International Growth: “Our international segment was fueled by continued strong growth across our 50+ countries as well as a successful March 24 launch in Australia and New Zealand, which adds about 8 million broadband households to our addressable market.”

And those are the least dry quotes I dug up. The bottom line is the original content, from House of Cards and Orange is the New Black to the recently debuted Bloodline and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is rapidly changing Netflix’s image and basic nature in the market, indeed bolstered by the company’s own deliberation as much as the consensus of the critics. Overseas, especially, has the original content enabled Netflix to reach a wider audience, coinciding with the company’s push for worldwide domination in the market.

At the base of it, Netflix subscribers can simply expect more. More new shows and movies in more places. Mentioned specifically in the release are Sense8, a sci-fi offereing from the Wakowski siblings, Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and a handful of original films spanning genres in a way that no other content provider seems to want to match. Netflix’s greatest consumer-facing strength is just that – there’s something for everyone. (And especially Marvel fans, who like throwing cash at pixels. The four-show deal between Marvel and Netflix is only just beginning)

It’s worth noting that Netflix is trying to downplay HBO as a rising competitor to its unique brand, despite the fact that HBO is one of the few companies simultaneously offering original and licensed content under a standalone monthly fee, thanks to the introduction of HBO Now.

Netflix on HBO: “As we have said in the past, Netflix and HBO are not substitutes for one another given differing content. We think both will continue to be successful in the marketplace, as illustrated by the fact that HBO has continued to grow globally and domestically as we have rapidly grown over the past 5 years.”

Though the two services do offer different content (not different types or content), which makes their competition distinct from that between cable providers, what they’re competing over is time in the day, same as Sony and Microsoft do for the video game slot. And time is something Netflix knows how to drain.

To say that I haven’t been tracking the doings of Netflix in the last couple of months would be a falsity for the pure sake of literary obscurity. Indeed, as I watch AMC’s Turn through Netflix, I’m not only reminded of how, day in and out, I’m reliant on the streaming service for background noise, but also how ingrained it is in my regular routine. Instead of peaking at the providing of content created by others, as it did a time ago, Netflix has maintained relevancy and excitement regarding its product through consistent growth in more than just numbers, but in ideas and ambition.

What 60 Million Netflix Subscribers Means for the Consumer

It’s that ambiguous time of the month again when all those random websites are simultaneously informed of Netflix’s next month in releases. We already did a piece on the streaming service’s original programming coming up in the next few months. Bloodline, starring Kyle Chandler as something other than a High School Football Coach, debuted just this week.

But if you aren’t interested in watching Chandler handle anything other than a football and some overgrown teenagers, here are the most exciting new additions to the service in April, original and not (for the full list, unhampered by some random writer’s biases, jump below):

Daredevil

Of highest consequence this month is, far and away, Marvel’s Daredevil, the first of four planned Marvel shows exclusive to Netflix. If you don’t think that matters, you’re more blind than a lawyer in a skin-tight suit. Not mentioning that Disney, Marvel’s papa, forewent airing Daredevil on its own wildly popular TV channel, ABC, Daredevil also represents the first of Marvel’s popular super heroes to hit the little screen after Disney’s takeover. It’s looking dark and intense, a freedom that Netflix offers over network television.

Halt and Catch Fire

While plenty of non-original TV shows are hitting Netflix in April (the final season of Sons of Anarchy), it’s important to note those that are gracing the service for the first time. AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, the dramatized imagining of the computer arms race of the 1980s, is one such show. Lee Pace is one of those guys you assume should star in stuff but he never does. Well, he stars in this one.

Crank

Somewhere in-between Liam Neeson and Tom Cruise, there was Jason Statham, proudly balding and ready to sleep with beautiful women. Initially, his choice of lady-magnet was a car, and he was dubbed The Transporter. Later he turned to drugs in Crank, in which he had to keep his heart-rate at an extremely high level in order to keep living, sort of like Speed with speed. It’s not a good movie. It’s a great bad movie. One of the greatest. There was even a sequel.

The Babadook

This is a horror movie I know nothing about, but a lot of other people seem to think it deserves mentioning. I don’t watch horror movies. It sits at an astonishing 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Did I mention it’s a horror movie?

National Treasure

To know why this exists, watch National Treasure. Your life will never be the same.

Here’s the total list, as promised, including exact dates of release. As in the past, it isn’t set in stone that these are the only Netflix releases for the month. On April 9 I’ll be in a 24-hour hallucinogenic craze, and on April 10 I’ll walk it off in Hell’s Kitchen.

April 1st

And Now … Ladies and Gentlemen…
Bandolero
Barnyard
The Beautician and the Beast
Bound
Buffalo Soldiers
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
Down to Earth
Leprechaun 3
Leprechaun 4: In Space
Leprechaun 6: Back 2 tha Hood
Suicide Kings
Sunset Strip
Underworld
Whiteboyz
Wrong Turn at Tahoe

April 2

Life Partners (2014)
Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2014)

April 3

All Hail King Julien: Season 1
Derek: Special
Starry Eyes
The Quiet Ones

April 4

Delta Farce

April 7

Preservation
Wilfred: Season 4

April 8

Halt and Catch Fire: Season 1

April 9

Crank
Pioneer

April 10

The Awakening
Broken
Burning Bridges
Confusion Na Wa
Finding Mercy
Finding Mercy 2
Flower Girl
Forgetting June
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
Lagos Cougars
Lies Men Tell
Mad Couple
Mad Couple 2
Marvel’s Daredevil: Season 1
Matters Arising
October 1*
Onye Ozi
Ties That Bind

April 12

The Identical

April 13

Video Game High School: Season 3

April 14

The Babadook
Goodbye to Language
Kink

April 16

Hot Fuzz

April 17

Baby Daddy: Season 4
Chris D’Elia: Incorrigible
They Came Together

April 18

Noah (2014)

April 21

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

April 25

Sons of Anarchy: Season 7

April 26

The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear

April 27

National Treasure

Every TV Show and Movie Coming to Netflix in April 2015

So far, Netflix has engaged in a slow burn of self-accreditation, leap-frogging brand new, well-received television shows and a mishmash of movies, comedy specials and returning properties the likes of The Killing and Arrested Development. The strategy isn’t changing, but it is speeding up, signaling a new era of confidence for the streaming behemoth. Over the course of the next three months, a returning critical darling and three completely new shows will debut on the service, each of which to push the boundaries of Netflix’s creative goals into new directions.

House of Cards Season 3 – February 27

If you need an explanation for the what or the why of this show, much less the who, then you’ve already missed the boat. You need to go back, binge watch all the glorious Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright that you can, not before reassessing your priorities, of course, then watch the trailer for season three and experience the swift removal of your pants. So, you know, before this whole process starts, choose to wear your least favorite pants. You’ll never see them, ever again.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – March 6

The creative duo behind 30 Rock, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, are back at it with a half-hour comedy starring the bubbly Ellie Kemper. The role seems tailored to the red-head: she’s a recently liberated cult wife trying to survive for the first time on her own in the most televised city of them all – New York. Though it looks like Fey is staying behind the camera for this one, Jane Krakowski establishes the on-screen 30 Rock influence for avid viewers of NBC’s old show. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was originally developed for the NBC network, only to be sold off to Netflix for this year’s run. It’s got a two-season order in the bag, too.

Bloodline – March 20

Netflix borrowed The Fall from BBC, heavily promoting it through its own services and essentially co-opting the prestige that came with that show. This was Netflix’s risk-averse way of delving into the cop drama, and it paid off quite well. Now we have Bloodline, the family drama, though this time it’s a completely new show developed for the streaming service. That comparison might be weak, but getting into an already-established genre is tricky business. That Netflix is diving in utterly and completely in this case is a vote of confidence for the Kyle Chandler-lead show.

Daredevil – April 10

Here’s the show with the absolute largest potential for disruption in both the Netflix and general TV realms. Marvel has already made a big push for televised versions of its comic books, but never with a character as important to the Marvel universe as Daredevil and never exclusively to a streaming service. Both Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the recently debuted Agent Carter, both on ABC, leach off the prestige of larger super hero names without risking the tainting of those heroes’ potential future on both the big and small screens. Daredevil is no such middle ground, and it’s only one of four shows currently planned for Netflix exclusivity, which makes it an all-important lab rat dipped slowly into the fiery cauldrons of super hero TV.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos told USA Today that 2015 will bring Netflix about halfway towards its programming goals.

“We can successfully support about 20 original scripted series every year, with a new series or a new season every two to three weeks, and still maintain a level of quality we expect,” he said. Considering the future of Netflix includes some Adam Sandler movies, a sci-fi series from the Wakowski siblings and a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there’s very little to suggest the company is slowing down anytime soon.

The Next Three Months of Netflix Shows Are Packed

Rolling Stone just came out with their list of the 10 worst superhero movies of the last 10 years. Because there have been some incredibly great superhero movies recently (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Iron Man, The Avengers, to name a few), I had forgotten how many incredibly awful superhero films have also somehow made it to the big screen. Here are my picks for the 10 most unsuper superhero movies to come out in in recent years (in no particular order).

1. Hulk (2003)/The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Hulk came out in 2003 and just kind of sucked. Then The Incredible Hulk came out 5 years later and sucked a little bit less, but still wasn’t good. In both films the title character was way too CGI-y and hard to take seriously. For a guy who’s supposed to be incredible, these two adaptations make him seem totally “meh.”

2. Batman & Robin (1997)

It pains me to include this one, because I really love George Clooney (and Arnold of course), but man, it was just bad. Rotten Tomatoes agrees, giving it a measly 12% “fresh” rating (8% less than even the lowest rated of all the Transformers movies. Ouch).

3. Catwoman (2004)

2004’s Catwoman was frequently compared to cat litter by critics. Even the so-gorgeous-she-can’t possibly-be-human Halle Berry couldn’t save this one from going down in history as one of the worst superhero movies of all time.

4. Superman Returns (2006)

I know I saw this movie, but I couldn’t tell you anything about it other than I think Kevin Spacey was in it. It was that boring.

5. Fantastic Four (2005)

One reviewer simply stated, “Fantastic it most certainly ain’t.” I think that about sums it up.

6. Ghost Rider (2006)

Oh Nicolas Cage… At least while this one failed as a serious superhero movie, it definitely succeeded as a comedy. The sequel, however, miserably failed on both counts.

7. Jonah Hex (2010)

In case you missed it (it was in theaters for all of about five minutes), Jonah Hex stars Josh Brolin and Megan Fox and is some sort of revenge story about an ex-civil war soldier who can talk to dead people (I think). It only grossed around 10 million at the box office (whomp whomp).

8. Daredevil (2003)

Remember when Ben Affleck wasn’t making Academy Award-winning movies but was instead showing up in J.Lo music videos, acting like a tool, and starring in horrible films like Reindeer Games, Pearl Harbor, Jersey Girl and Gigli? Daredevil reminds us of that period of time.

9. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

OK, so The Amazing Spider-Man was actually a pretty well-made movie. But so was the last Spider-Man origins movie (Tobey Maguire), and didn’t that one just come out like, not that long ago? I don’t know, it just seemed unnecessary to go through the whole Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider rigamarole so soon after the last time.

10. Judge Dredd (1995)

Just kidding. I’ll always love Judge Dredd, no matter what anyone else may say.

10 Not So Super Superhero Movies