Argentinian Family, Now Streaming
For two weeks now, the special topic of conversation in the world of streaming has been the extraordinary impact of the arrival on Netflix of the complete collection of Married With Children. The 211 episodes of the popular sitcom premiered by Telefe on April 12, 2005 are now available in the Red “N” catalogue. And as expected, this novelty immediately shot to first place in the Top 10 series, which the platform includes in a very prominent place on its home page.
Netflix’s systematic refusal to share household consumption data for its content doesn’t prevent us from recognizing, with common sense, the absolute validity of first place viewing for married couples with children. Especially with the paradox that underlies the massive success of the series.
Despite the charisma of its lead pair (Guillermo Francella and Florencia Peña), Married with Children was not a sitcom with major impact from the start. It took off in viewer ratings thanks to its first repeat. There, curiously, a social phenomenon beyond television began to arise around Argento’s adventures, a kind of distorted (and very funny) mirror of some of Argento’s fictional behaviors with regard to marriage, home life and family, connecting with friends. . Behavior and reactions that are typically naive, vulgar or forced for their humorous effect have been celebrated non-stop for almost 20 years.
Streaming today serves as an ideal vehicle to deepen and expand the phenomenon of married with children as of late, over time. Especially since Netflix gives viewers the possibility to access the entire official history of the series at once.
Guillermo Francesella and Florencia Peña in the recent theatrical version of Married With Children, performed between January and last March at the Gran Rex, always to a full house – credit: @Adrián Diaz Bernini
Taking it in full and to the letter, the viewers can design the viewing plan as they want. Something that was impossible every time Telefe placed Argentina as a sort of permanent wild card throughout the programming. Married with Children covered the interval, covered spots for programs picked up early or, as is the case at the moment, occupied a full time slot, which ran from 9:00 pm to midnight every Saturday night. Lasts long. In those three hours, six entire episodes could easily be aired consecutively.
With the arrival on Netflix, that invitation to the marathon that Telefe proposes in light doses, multiplies to infinity. And incidentally, it restores meaning to the very act of binge-watching, a practice characteristic of streaming that has seen something of a blur in recent times.
Netflix’s surprising division of the entire Married With Children catalog into five “seasons” of varying lengths (one of 26 episodes, three of 52, and one of 29) is an incentive for binge-watching. If we instead follow the original assembly that the series had at the time of its premiere on Telefe, that interest disappears. Between April and December 2005, the first 137 episodes were broadcast.
The original version of Married with Children released by Telefe in 2005 is now available and complete on Netflix
From the spectacular arrival of a series with two years of recording and almost 20 more years of validity to local streaming, we can learn two other lessons for the future. The first suggests that the Argentine public would like to see presentations with a certain vintage stamp on the platforms. Content similar to that, for example, led to an experience similar to the Volver channel, but now in the hands of the consumer, who has the power to choose how, where and when to watch past successes.
The second arises precisely from the temporal component of the event. Married With Children was born on Open TV, like all the rest of the old content that could be recovered on streaming with the same format. And not just local, if the files weren’t lost along the way. There’s plenty of evidence of the public’s interest in rediscovering full seasons of classic and beloved crossover series such as Los Locos Addams, Gilligan’s Island, Super Agent 86, Bewitched, My Fair Genie, Combat, The Saint, Thief Without Destiny and many more . To watch them without commercials, on a schedule decided by a programmer, as is the case with The Three Stooges’ own channel on the free streaming platform Pluto TV.
In the midst of all this, there lives a certain reality of being married with children. It returned to theatrical format and was seen by approximately 195,000 people at the Gran Rex during 95 performances over two months between January and March. The event now continues in Córdoba, with 17 performances confirmed so far between July 7 and 16 and almost sold out, despite the fact that Luisana Lopilato will not participate in them. The story continues and will be a topic of conversation for a long time beyond streaming.
