Netflix has released a couple of new trailers for its newest exclusive show, Mako Mermaids, which debuts this Friday. The show is a spin-off of the popular Australian teen show H20 – Just Add Water. All thirteen episodes of the first season will be available on July 26th.
This will be the second exclusive show debuting on Netflix this month following the already-popular Orange is the New Black. According to the LA Times, Mako Mermaids is the result of a deal Netflix struck with Jonathan M. Shiff Productions, giving Netflix the rights to at least 26 episodes, so you can expect a second season, most likely next year. This would further the trend of multiple seasons for all of Netflix’s original series (the rest are official, except for Arrested Development, which they are in talks to get moving forward).
While its first original series (Lilyhammer) debuted in 2012, this has been the year that Netflix has really been pushing forward with original content, and it seems to be paying off, at least in buzz and critical acclaim. Netflix shows have 14 Emmy nominations among them, and would most likely have more if Orange is the New Black came out a little earlier in the year. The company will release its quarterly earnings report later today, and hopefully we’ll get an idea about how the original programming has impacted the business side of things.
With Mako Mermaids, Netflix is taking the logical step in branching out with other demographics. If the show proves popular among its target audience, it should fit quite well between the mature content of most of its early original shows and the forthcoming kids content it gets as a result of its big DreamWorks deal, which will include a show based on the movie Turbo, which came out last week. The series, Turbo F.A.S.T. will debut on Netflix in December.