Surprise releases are suddenly all the rage on TV

Vulture

From UnReal's fourth and final season that was released today with no advance warning to Sacha Baron Cohen's Who Is America?, which was officially announced less than a week before its premiere, TV networks and streaming services are finding that surprises releases generate buzz. Netflix did something similar in May when it released Arrested Development and 13 Reasons Why with just a few weeks of advance notice. But don't expect the surprise release trend to continue working. "If everyone starts to take that approach, the wow factor will fade quickly, and the fanfare about each surprise will overshadow the others," says Jen Chaney. "Pop music has already been wrestling with this problem, having been inundated with so many surprise releases over the past few years that it’s hard to process or appreciate one before another comes along. It’s easy to imagine the same issue arising in TV. The most important thing a good series can do these days is stand out and seem fresh, but an unexpected arrival can only help a show do that as long as every other show isn’t doing the same thing."