Severance: Apple's Billion-Dollar Flop and Influencer Marketing

Critiques of Severance

• 🎯 The show "Severance" is described as a C-minus effort, with a premise that is interesting but poorly executed.
• 😴 Episodes are perceived as padded and boring, with slow pacing that causes viewers to lose attention and resort to skipping ahead.
• ❓ The show is characterized as "mystery box TV", similar to "Lost" or "From," but with insufficient plot advancement or resolution, leading to viewer frustration.
• ⚠️ A significant criticism is the lack of meaningful plot progression, with major plot points like a character's attempted suicide or a character discovering their wife is alive being given minimal development.

The "Severance" Phenomenon

• 📣 There's a suspicion that many high-profile personalities are being paid to promote "Severance" as a good show, leading to a sudden surge in positive social media posts.
• 🧐 The speaker questions why these personalities, particularly those on the right, are championing a show with plot points they might typically criticize, such as LGBTQ+ relationships.
• 📺 The show is contrasted with successful "water cooler television" like "Game of Thrones" or "The Sopranos," which generated significant cultural conversation, a quality "Severance" is seen to lack.

Apple's Streaming Strategy and Financials

• 💸 Apple is reportedly losing up to a billion dollars annually on its streaming ambitions, despite significant investment in shows like "Severance" and "Ted Lasso."
• 📉 Apple TV+ struggles to gain a significant market share, lagging behind competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney Plus, despite having around 45 million subscribers.
• 💡 The lack of "social cache" or cultural impact is identified as a major problem, with expensive projects failing to generate the necessary hype or public discussion.

The "Welfare Soda" Parallel

• 📢 A parallel is drawn between the promotion of "Severance" and a recent controversy where right-wing personalities allegedly promoted a specific talking point about welfare recipients buying soda, suggesting paid influence.
• 💰 The speaker posits that, similar to the alleged paid promotion for the soda issue, some individuals might be compensated to create positive content about "Severance."

Conclusion on "Severance"

• 📉 "Severance" is labeled a "failed show" due to its inability to generate revenue and its perceived lack of compelling content.
• 🤔 The speaker suggests that Apple's internal argument might be a "marketing problem," but argues the core issue is that the show itself is not good enough to capture a wider audience or generate significant buzz.
• 🤷 While acknowledging that some viewers may enjoy the show, the speaker maintains that its financial underperformance and lack of cultural impact indicate a fundamental problem.