Netflix needs another hit, but ‘Marco Polo’ might be all wet
When Netflix (NFLX) plays “Marco Polo” on Friday, it hopes a lot of people will respond. Its “Marco Polo” is a $90 million action-adventure TV series, not the children’s swimming-pool game of the same name. As Netflix continues to evolve into a destination for original content, it hopes to have more hits than misses. Produced by Weinstein Co., the 10-episode TV series “Marco Polo” is seen by many as Netflix’s attempt to match HBO’s popular “Game of Thrones” with its own epic story. But early reviews of “Marco Polo,” a historical drama, have been lukewarm. Speaking at the UBS Global Media Conference in New York on Monday, CBS (CBS) Chief Research Officer David Poltrack noted the drought. “It has been more than one year since Netflix introduced a true new hit program,” Poltrack said, accordin g to CNN Money Netflix’s “batting average is below that of the pay cable networks…