The Bela Époque Begins

Ten years ago next week, Vulture published a story of mine headlined How Will We Know If Netflix’s House of Cards Was a Hit or a Failure?The show wasn’t going to be rated by Nielsen, and Netflix had already made it clear it was unlikely to offer any data about how many people watched (a sign of things to come!). My final verdict on how to evaluate the first original series to be greenlit by the streamer? “If Netflix is writing eight-figure checks for original content five years from now, it’ll probably be safe to declare House of Cards a success,” I wrote. Given Netflix (and other streamers) now sometimes shell out nine-figure sums for full seasons of shows, I think we can assume Cards was a hit.

While Netflix leaned into last year’s anniversary for Lilyhammer, the series starring Robin Wright and that actor we’d all like to forget was, in fact, the show which set the streamer on the path toward becoming the original programming powerhouse it is today. So it somehow seems appropriate that almost exactly 10 years after its launch, Netflix founder Reed Hastings has stepped down as co-CEO, while partner Ted Sarandos has turned over his old job as chief content officer to someone else, namely former TV chief Bela Bajaria. This week’s Buffering takes a look at the streamer’s new content czar and the challenges she faces. We’ve also got some breaking news about a big new special saluting one of Hollywood’s most-beloved actors. Thanks for reading! –Joe Adalian

Reach Joe on Twitter @tvmojoe or email [email protected].


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Most of the headlines out of last week’s quarterly earnings report from Netflix focused on Reed Hastings’ decision to step down from a day-to-day management role, as well as the news that Greg Peters would be joining Ted Sarandos as co-CEO. But in some ways, the even bigger story was the announcement that TV chief Bela Bajaria had been promoted into Sarandos’ old job of chief content officer, giving her oversight of all things TV and film. Within the space of 30 months, Bajaria has gone from managing Netflix’s non-English language TV shows to being the top content exec at the company. That’s the very definition of meteoric rise.

And yet, while Bajaria’s ascent has been rapid, she is actually the most seasoned exec Netflix has ever had running its content business. Sarandos, the company’s O.G. creative boss, may now be seen as a supreme showman, and he could probably teach a master class in building a movie and TV business from the ground up. But when House of Cards arrived in members’ queues ten years ago next week, it was not the product of Sarandos’ amazing development acumen or years of experience greenlighting projects (he didn’t have any). Instead, he and his team had simply agreed to write a bigger check than anyone else in Hollywood, and then learned the TV business as they went along. And while Cindy Holland, Bajaria’s immediate predecessor as TV chief, wasn’t quite as much of a content novice as Sarandos, her pre-Netflix development experience was mostly limited to the indie film business. Her biggest skill was picking the right talent to partner with and then giving them the freedom to do their thing.

By contrast, Bajaria knows TV. I first met her in the late 1990s, when CBS insiders were raving about the young exec who was just beginning to make a name for herself in the made-for-TV movies division. Even as the networks were starting to abandon the form, Bajaria kept finding ways to keep TV movies and miniseries relevant. CBS maintained a movie-of-the-week franchise longer than any other network, but eventually even the Eye couldn’t figure out how to make money on movies, so in 2006, Bajaria moved over to CBS’s in-house studio, where she helped the network take advantage of basic cable’s increasing hunger for original dramas. Five years later, she jumped to NBCUniversal and helped bulk up its studio business to meet the needs of the emerging streaming ecosystem, overseeing the launch of shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Master of None. Sarandos, impressed with the work Bajaria had done, brought her into the Netflix fold back in 2016.

One top talent agent who knows her well says Bajaria’s willingness to work outside her comfort zone — like when she took control of Netflix’s non-English language productions — will serve her well. “She is unafraid to try new things, like doing non-scripted and international, or hell, working at Netflix vs. NBC in the first place,” he says. “So overseeing movies will be easy by comparison.” Another agency insider praised her schmoozing skills as well, saying she has the same easy rapport with talent and execs as Sarandos. “When she is with people, they all love her,” this source told me. “She’s honest, she’s straightforward, she cuts to the chase. She knows how to do the exec role.”

Still, the fact that Bajaria is so well-versed in the daily ins-and-outs of making television doesn’t mean she will necessarily do a better job running Netflix content than Sarandos or Holland did — nor is it to suggest that somehow their inexperience was a stumbling block for the streamer. It clearly did well under both execs. But as Netflix enters its second decade greenlighting original content, it makes all the sense in the world that someone with a resume as deep as Bajaria’s now sits at the top of the production pyramid.

As the company has been making clear since 2018, Netflix wants to be all things (and all channels) to all people: Bravo for lovers of reality TV, CBS for folks who love cop shows, HBO for people who want prestige-y Emmy bait. Bajaria has never run a bespoke network (or any network) but instead has almost always been in the wholesale business, finding ways to supply the best shows and movies to the right networks. And that’s what her mission is at Netflix: Find ways to satisfy the extraordinarily varied tastes of the streamers’ hundreds of millions of viewers. That philosophy was on full display earlier this month in The New Yorker’s deep dive profile of Bajaria, specifically when she was asked to name some of her favorite programs. “I mean, I’m a fan of TV. I work in TV. I watch everybody’s things,” she told the magazine. “People have very different tastes, and I have no disdain for whatever those things are … I just want to super-serve the audience.”

Not surprisingly, that New Yorker article included comments from a few production types who mourned the end of the Holland era at Netflix. That’s understandable because no doubt Netflix, like so many companies, probably was a lot more fun to work for and with when it was smaller and was still testing the limits of how big this whole streaming business could be. Also, it spent crazy amounts of money on anything that sounded even remotely interesting back then, which … well, that’s going to win you a lot of fans among producers and agents. But while Netflix is still going to keep writing some big checks, the days of unchecked and speculative spending are very much over. Plus, while Netflix insists it still wants to be home to some HBO-like Emmy-bait titles, it also will be demanding titles be cost-efficient (i.e., modestly budgeted) and in line with the level of audience they attract.

These new realities, though, may be what make Bajaria well-suited for the next Netflix decade. She came up in a TV ecosystem driven by a constant need for ratings hits and commercial success, where titles regularly disappeared after just a few weeks if they didn’t immediately catch on with audiences. And while Netflix can afford to be a little more patient than the Big Four networks used to be, the lessons she learned at CBS and NBCUniversal will no doubt inform many of the decisions she makes as chief content officer: The binge factory now needs to become a hit factory, and it’s on Bajaria to get it done.

Even though Bajaria clearly has the skillset for her new position, being well-qualified doesn’t always guarantee success in Hollywood. Netflix still has plenty of money to spend, and an unmatched platform able to turn a show into a global phenomenon within the space of a few weeks (see: Wednesday). But it also has massive challenges ahead, from increased internal pressure to make production budgets line up with audience size to the relentless competition for top showrunners and talent from other streamers. And while a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter has paused the Netflix On The Ropes narrative that shaped coverage of the streamer for much of last year, the platform’s honeymoon phase is long over. “Bela is now in the [Sarandos] job at a time when it’s going to be a lot harder to avoid scrutiny,” the agency insider says.

While this source generally has good things to say about Bajaria and notes she “has had several wins she can point to” since replacing Holland, he says the turbulence Netflix is sailing through right now makes it tougher to predict how she will fare. “I would be optimistic Bela could do this job well in calm seas,” he says. But “she’s the head of the team during the hangover period, which makes it a little tougher” than it was when Sarandos had control over content.

Another top talent agent is a bit less fretful, arguing Bajaria is “a terrific exec” well-suited for the new gig. Still, he thinks the departure last year of two key creative execs — original series VP Matt Thunnel and overall deals guru Brian Wright, who both helped develop Stranger Things — has been a big loss to the streamer. And this agent says he’s been hearing buzz that Netflix plans to let many of its existing overall deals expire in coming months, which could make finding new hits tougher. “Without the overall deals, how does she build a big slate?,” this source wonders.

Indeed, Sarandos has made it clear he wants Netflix to deliver a show as big as Wednesday or Squid Game every month rather than just a few times a year. That’s a huge bar to clear, particularly with Disney, Amazon, HBO, and Apple chasing so many of the same writers and producers. The top agent, however, thinks Bajaria’s populist instincts will serve her well here. “She needs to keep programming things people watch versus snobby shit people don’t,” he says. That’s not a motto Netflix is likely to include in its award season advertising — but it’s probably decent advice for a streamer now far more concerned with profits than plaudits.

Comedy legend Carol Burnett turns 90 this spring, and she’s celebrating the way icons do — with a primetime network TV salute. Vulture hears NBC has greenlit production on Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love, a two-hour special featuring musical and comedy tributes from a small galaxy of celebs, including Katy Perry, Amy Poehler, Billy Porter, Bernadette Peters, Cher, Steve Carell, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Vicki Lawrence, and Jane Lynch. The special, to be taped in March in front of a star-packed audience, will air on Burnett’s actual birthday, April 26, and will also stream on Peacock.

Executive producer Mark Bracco says he and his colleagues at Silent House Productions (including fellow exec producer Linda Gierahn) first started talking to Burnett and her reps about the special about a year ago. “We approached them and said that this birthday would be a great reason to throw a big party and invite all of her friends and all of her admirers,” he tells Vulture. “And luckily they liked the idea, and NBC wanted to partner with us to do it.” While coordinating celebrity appearances and performances is never easy, “What’s been so great about working on this special is that everybody wants to say ‘yes,’” Bracco says. “Everybody wants to come out and celebrate Carol. We were laughing just the other day about how pretty much every single person coming is either an Oscar, Tony, Grammy, or Emmy winner.” Jen Neal, who heads up live events and specials for NBCUniversal TV and streaming, said the company was honored to host the event. “It’s hard to imagine anyone in television more beloved than Carol Burnett,” she said.

Bracco, a veteran producer and former ABC unscripted exec whose credits include the American Music Awards and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, says his goal is to make the two-hour special feel like a “very casual,” old-school Hollywood soirée, with celebs sitting at banquettes and tables as Burnett is feted on stage. Helping achieve that vibe: The special will tape at the Avalon Hollywood, which in the 1960s played host to The Hollywood Palace,a long-running ABC variety show known for its musical performances. “Music has been a huge part of Carol’s career for all of these decades, dating back to her debut on Broadway in Once Upon a Mattress, as well as the incredible specials she did with Julie Andrews, all of the incredible music on the Carol Burnett Show, and [the film version of] Annie,” Bracco says, noting that Andrews is scheduling to be in attendance. “So our plan is to take some of those iconic musical moments and pay tribute to them on our stage.” Among the classic Burnett musical numbers set to be honored: “Old Friends” (a tribute to her six-decade friendship with Andrews); “Only an Octave Apart” (from the 1976 special “Sills and Burnett at the Met”; and, of course, the theme to Burnett’s CBS iconic variety show, “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together.”

As for the comedy part of Burnett’s career, Bracco says the special will mix a heavy dose of clips with in-person tributes and comedic segments from attendees. “I think everyone is going to want to have some fun with Carol,” he says. Burnett also recently sat down for an extended interview in which she looked back at the highlights of her career, and segments from that chat will be interspersed throughout the night. “We’re going to have really incredible packages in the show that will take us through Carol’s career, all the way back to ‘50s and ‘60s when she first started and her specials with Julie Andrews, through to The Carol Burnett Show and her other movies, and then all of the great TV shows she’s appeared on, from Magnum, p.i., Law and Order: SVU, and Glee to Better Call Saul…It’s a wealth of material, and we’re going to have to figure out how to put into just two hours,” Bracco says.

In addition to the musical and comedy performances, other guests scheduled to appear on the special include designer Bob Mackie, Ellen DeGeneres, Laura Dern, Lily Tomlin, Marisa Tomei, Sofia Vergara, Susan Lucci and Aileen Quinn.

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