555 Series
posted 11 hours ago #
Funny story, Vimeo is shutting down their On Demand service. As of November 2026, it will no longer be available at all. Truth be told, it's been a long neglected service and (mostly) unnecessary since Vimeo acquired VHX, aka Vimeo Streaming, in 2016.
Another funny story: right around the same time as the VHX acquisition, Vimeo announced Vimeo Originals - a slate of exclusives and Vimeo-funded endeavors - and their own SVOD service. The plan was for people to subscribe to Vimeo content in the same way you would subscribe to Netflix. Those plans were nixed in 2016. I am not privy to the exact reasons why but I do recall it being a surprising bit of news when I worked there.*
One of the headlining pieces of content for that forthcoming Vimeo SVOD service was 555, a five episode series from Kate Berlant and John Early, directed by Andrew DeYoung. The episodes were all released and have been available for years but I just recently noticed that John Early has been posting them to his YouTube account.
Are the episodes being shared because Vimeo On Demand is finally being shut down? Is it promotion for Early's new film Maddie's Secret? Probably a bit of both and I'm happy for it! Here's all the episodes (and the bloopers) in one playlist - let it roll!
* Worth saying: the slate of content from Vimeo Originals was actually quite good and very well curated. The idea of a Vimeo service ala Netflix is a different conversation to have. I hope that Vimeo's legacy is that they highlighted a lot of great, independent, content and even managed to create some of it themselves.
Another funny story: right around the same time as the VHX acquisition, Vimeo announced Vimeo Originals - a slate of exclusives and Vimeo-funded endeavors - and their own SVOD service. The plan was for people to subscribe to Vimeo content in the same way you would subscribe to Netflix. Those plans were nixed in 2016. I am not privy to the exact reasons why but I do recall it being a surprising bit of news when I worked there.*
One of the headlining pieces of content for that forthcoming Vimeo SVOD service was 555, a five episode series from Kate Berlant and John Early, directed by Andrew DeYoung. The episodes were all released and have been available for years but I just recently noticed that John Early has been posting them to his YouTube account.
Are the episodes being shared because Vimeo On Demand is finally being shut down? Is it promotion for Early's new film Maddie's Secret? Probably a bit of both and I'm happy for it! Here's all the episodes (and the bloopers) in one playlist - let it roll!
* Worth saying: the slate of content from Vimeo Originals was actually quite good and very well curated. The idea of a Vimeo service ala Netflix is a different conversation to have. I hope that Vimeo's legacy is that they highlighted a lot of great, independent, content and even managed to create some of it themselves.