Lilyhammer

Lilyhammer launched on the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK1 in January 2012 and on Netflix in February of the same year — making it the streamer's first-ever original-content release, predating House of Cards by over a year. Netflix had licensed the series rather than commissioned it directly, but the streaming launch is widely cited in academic histories of the platform as the inaugural moment in its content-production strategy.

The series was created by Norwegian writers Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin and developed in partnership with star Steven Van Zandt — by then known for his decades as Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band guitarist and his role as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. Van Zandt also serves as producer, writer on multiple episodes, and music supervisor. The Norwegian-American collaboration meant the series was bilingual: Van Zandt's character speaks English throughout while local characters speak Norwegian, with the show subtitled accordingly.

The series ran for three seasons and twenty-four episodes through 2014. It became the highest-rated original drama on NRK in over twenty years and a foundational reference point for international Nordic-tone TV co-production. The show was sold to over 130 territories and remained on Netflix until 2017 when the rights reverted; it currently streams on various national platforms across Europe.