Why Has ‘House of Cards’ Been So Successful? Kevin Spacey Shares His Thoughts

Why has House of Cards been so successful?

According to Kevin Spacey, who plays main character Francis “Frank” Underwood, it’s simple — the show is just plain good.

“People watch what they watch. The audience doesn’t care how they get their content. They just want it to be good,” Spacey said in an interview with Gotham Magazine.

Spacey made the comments in reference to the fact that House of Cards runs on Netflix — a medium that, Gotham Magazine points out, is not beholden to commercials, viewership data, or TV schedules.

In fact, the lack of TV schedule is one reason why Spacey believe House of Cards has seen so much success. Because Netflix releases entire seasons at the same time, fans can sit down and binge watch as their favorite characters negotiate through political life in the White House and in Washington D.C.

In addition, House of Cards is extremely accurate, Spacey said. In fact, the show is so realistic that both President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton have commented on the accuracy of the show. Clinton, who is a friend of Spacey’s, went so far as to tell Spacey that the show is “99 percent real,” according to the article in Gotham Magazine.

Regardless of why House of Cards remains so popular, one thing is for certain: The show has done well, and it has helped to change the way we consume TV. Essentially, House of Cards was an experiment when Netflix rolled out the show in 2013, and at a cost of more than $100 million for the first season, the experiment could have been costly.

Instead, Netflix seems to have reaped the benefits of the efforts to become the next HBO. House of Cards won three Prime-Time Emmys in 2013 and became the first series to win the award that isn’t actually shown on cable or network TV. During the first two seasons of the show, House of Cards was nominated for 22 Emmy Awards. For his work as Underwood, Spacey won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor’s Guild Award.

And perhaps most telling is this: On Friday, Netflix announced plans to go ahead with the fourth season of House of Cards.

Regardless of why the show has become so popular, one thing has become obvious: House of Cards is here to stay, at least for one more season.

Are you a fan of the show? Why do you think House of Cards has been so popular?

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]