Hulu Senior Vice President and Head of Content Craig Erwich said: “J.J. Abrams and Stephen King are two of the most celebrated storytellers of our time, and we are excited to be working with them and Warner Bros. Television to bring this unique take on one of the most seminal historic events of the twentieth century to Hulu. 11/22/63 already resonated with audiences as a best-selling novel, and we are looking forward to bringing the riveting story to the screen.”

Set to be a nine-hour event series, 11/22/63 follows high school English teacher Jake Epping as he travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Once he makes it back there, though, his plans to alter history run into a series of obstacles that threaten to negate the reason for the journey in the first place. The series will be executive produced by King, J.J. Abrams (Alias), Bryan Burk (Lost), and Bridget Carpenter (Friday Night Lights), with Carpenter slated to write the first episode’s teleplay.

Though Hulu has had some high-profile acquisitions (Misfits) and well-received original content (Battleground), 11/22/63 is a move that could bring more buzz to their scripted slate and help the streaming service make up ground on Netflix. There’s no word about when to expect 11/22/63 to premiere, nor has any casting news been announced as of yet.

Would you watch an adaptation of 11/22/63? How do you think this will stack up against other King adaptations, both from the film world as well as the television world? Who could you see playing Jake?

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Eloquent and candid, Spacey, who is the star of the Netflix produced hit House of Cards, spoke about how his show differs from “traditional” television consumption. Now, I put “traditional” in quotes because with today’s changing trends and forms of media delivery, what we think of as traditional is becoming less that, and more of just another option when it comes to watching television. Which is exactly what Spacey was referring to when he said the following:

“The device and the length are irrelevant. The labels are useless.”

And it’s true. With the increasing normalcy of smart phones and tablets, and the number of people with Netflix and Hulu+ subscriptions, our habits are changing. Now, that’s not to say that any medium is better or worse, because we all have our own preferences.

But how does this pertain to putting control in the hands of the audience? Well, as Spacey seems to think, mediums such as Neflix offer that control…because we can binge. Binge viewing, if you’ve never heard the term is exactly what it sounds like – watching hours and hours on end of a show without really stopping. Putting your life on hold for four days to power through a series. But…is that really having control? Being able to watch how much you want whenever you want? Sure, I can understand the attraction of having 13 episodes of House of Cards right there to watch at your discretion, but does it really make regular weekly viewing habits any less appealing?

Is there a mass exodus of cable viewers coming because Netflix has full mini-seasons of streaming?

Probably not.

The logical leap to me would be to say that having Netflix and Hulu-streamed programming only adds to the many, many shows already out there on broadcast and cable networks to enjoy – not makes them less valuable to the audience.

So then, what is this “control” Kevin Spacey speaks so highly of?

Well, to be perfectly honest I don’t really know. I can’t put my finger on one exact definition because as the public, the audience, the consumer – you already have the control. The audience has the power to watch NCIS or change the channel, thus sending the message to the network that you do or do not like what they’re giving you. You decide to pay the $8 a month for Netflix or Hulu, or not. You have email, twitter, facebook, tumblr, the internet at your disposal to express opinions about what you watch, and though you may not realize it – content creators pay attention.

So it was when Spacey said that “audiences just want stories” – I agreed. I do want stories. I love stories and I love television.

But I want cable and streaming. ABC and Netflix. Give me youtube and AMC, and USA Network, and TV Land, and ESPN.

Because we already have control over what we watch. We just have to open our eyes to everything we have to watch.

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