Last year, Netflix debuted more original content than the entire TV industry did in 2005. They had a shocking 160 Emmy nominations in 2020 on original productions, and currently have almost 300 more projects in development.
The one-time DVD rental giant has become a streaming content behemoth in just eight short years, dating all the way back to their first (and probably still most iconic) Netflix Original: “House of Cards.”
Except, well, “House of Cards” wasn’t the first Netflix Original.
Nope.
That distinction actually belongs to “Lilyhammer,” a 2012 co-production with a Norwegian broadcasting company that stars Steven Van Zandt as a New York mobster who goes into witness protection in a small, morally uncorrupted Norwegian town (you’ll never guess how that turns out). It feels sort of like a funnier version of “Breaking Bad,” but plus Norway, and minus the meth.
The show largely gets buried on the internet, it’s a five-minute scroll down Wikipedia’s listing of every Netflix Original before you find “Lilyhammer” in the co-production category. Even on Netflix’s own platform, it won’t come up in any sort of recommendation engine outside of “Because you watch Norwegian dramas that are also pretty funny and also also star the guy who played Silvio in ‘The Sopranos.’”
"Lilyhammer," starring Steven Van Zandt, debuted in 2012 -- a full year prior to "House of Cards."
Netflix/Courtesy of Netflix“It was Steven Van Zandt’s idea to approach American broadcasters with the show,” co-creator Anne Bjornstad writes to me from her Rubicon TV office in Norway. “He insisted the series would work on TV in the States. This seemed extremely unlikely to us, as no Norwegian drama series had been aired in the US before. So our response was basically: ‘Dream on.’
“At the time, nobody in Norway had heard about Netflix. We had to explain, ‘It’s like iTunes, only with TV series and movies,’” she writes.
But, air it did, complete with a hokey series-opening animation where the old Netflix logo peels away to reveal, “A Netflix Original Series.”
I first discovered “Lilyhammer” after an exhaustive Google search five years ago when I started to wonder if I’d even seen all of the Netflix Originals.
I’ve watched it in its entirety twice since then for three reasons:
1) I have a Norwegian cousin who moved to the United States when I was in high school. He was the Best Man at my wedding and never really told me a whole lot about his Norwegian upbringing (outside of how to say all of the curse words), so I was curious about the culture.
2) The plot is so refreshingly original, Bjornstad describes it perfectly: “The idea works on different levels. On a superficial level, you have the ‘mobster on ice’ element of slapstick-y comedy. Then there is the more profound clash between the mindset of a New York mobster, who is a social Darwinistic predator, used to taking what he wants, when he wants it – who suddenly finds himself stuck in the social security net of the Norwegian welfare system, labeled as a helpless immigrant.”
And 3) Because I think it might be my favorite Netflix Original.
I saw a great take on Twitter recently from Harron Walker that basically pointed out that a lot of Netflix Originals are made to be watched secondarily. Something I thoroughly love about “Lilyhammer” is that you can’t watch it secondarily because maybe a third of the dialogue is in Norwegian (as someone who has had to rewatch more than one episode, I can confidently say that if you aren’t reading subtitles, you’re so, so, so lost). The show requires your full attention in the same way that Prestige TV does.
"Lilyhammer," starring Steven Van Zandt, debuted in 2012 -- a full year prior to "House of Cards."
Netflix/Courtesy of NetflixWhich means you don’t miss things like Van Zandt, who plays Johnny Henriksen (a.k.a. Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano), hilariously learning how to say, “I have new mittens,” in Norwegian while listening to a “How to speak Norwegian” tape on his Walkman.
It means you don’t miss things like Johnny driving a comically tiny electric vehicle through town, or myriad “bad guy” archetypes that are laughably Norwegian (like kind old farmers who owe him money and offer to pay him in reindeer, or Montessori-type school administrators who don’t have room for his twins, or the head of an HOA who wants Johnny to participate in communal gardening). And Johnny is also surrounded by an all-star cast that includes his right hand man, and perpetual aloof underdog Torgeir (Trond Fausa Aurvåg) who went on to star in sleeper Netflix hit Norsemen.
"Lilyhammer," starring Steven Van Zandt, debuted in 2012 -- a full year prior to "House of Cards."
Netflix/Courtesy of NetflixAnd maybe best of all, you get to hear a bunch of Norwegian guys try to talk like mobsters alongside actual mobsters, like in this all-time great exchange:
Mobster: “Who the f–k are you?”
Torgeir's brother Roar: “Who the f–k am I? Who the f–k are you?”
Mobster: “Who the f–k am I? I’m security at this place, so who the f–k are you?”
Torgeir: “Well, who the f–k are you???”
Mobster: "Who the f–k am I?"
Torgeir's brother Roar: "Who the f–k are you?"
Torgeir: "Yeah, who the f–k are you?"
Mobster: "Who the f–k are you?"
Torgeir’s brother Roar: “What’s the line on the Knicks?”
Mobster: "What?"
Torgeir's brother Roar: "What's the f–king line on the Knicks?"
Mobster: “6 ½”
Mobster: “OK.”
Torgeir: “F–king OK.”
“There seems to be a huge appetite for Scandinavian drama series these days, a development we are very happy about, obviously,” Bjonstad writes. “I’m not sure 'Lilyhammer' can take credit for that development, but it was interesting to be a part of the first wave.”
That’s another piece that is undeniably enjoyable: the contrast of polite, reserved Norway with the brash Americanism of Johnny, who is exceedingly Trumpian, something I point out to Bjornstad that makes her laugh.
“Haha, I hadn’t thought of that. We never expected anything like that to happen when we worked on the series. The Johnny character is a typical gangster, but behind his questionable morals, there is a heart of gold that shines through from time to time,” she writes. “I suspect President (Donald) Trump would have a harder time adapting to the Norwegian way of life than Johnny.”
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Why you've never heard of the first Netflix Original, 'Lilyhammer.' And why it's still my favorite. - SFGate
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