Which television shows are you watching? Part III

[civvver]

Netflix lost ~100,000 subscribers in the US for the first time ever last quarter. They have taken on about $7B in debt to finance all of their new content with an annual profit of around $1B per year. Their user interface has gotten worse with each iteration as it 'hides' a lot of content on the service, their original programming is hit or miss (to be generous) and they are losing movies and TV shows left and right as other services yank their content.

The cable subscription model is poised to make a come back as all of these content houses are setting up their own streaming services and in the early stages of bundling them together. Does anyone think Netflix is in real trouble or can they turn it around? Anyone use their DVD-by-mail service?

They have such strong brand recognition it's hard to see them ever totally going away, but you're right, they got there simply by being first to market. I haven't used their dvd by mail thing since like 2012. My internet got faster and their catalog expanded, it costs so much more to get 3 discs at a time or whatever but with 1 disc at a time it just didn't make sense. With the turn around of sending it back and getting a new movie it was like 3-4 days between movies so you end up paying close to red box prices for a month of movies anyway. Or I'd just go to the library and get them for free. And then with prime and more cable on demand stuff, hbo on demand, it was less necessary to order dvds as well.

I think their content programming is basically throw a bunch of mud at a wall and see what sticks. Their whole goal is to just keep you watching. That's why episodes just begin 3 seconds after the credits start rolling. They don't care what you watch. They have a couple flagship series and movies they want to win rave reviews but the rest I honestly don't think they care.

I think most people will keep it cus it's still cheap comparatively. Yes it's more than prime and more than base hulu and more than disney's expected price, but it's still like $12 a month. When people have phone and internet bills in the $100s of dollars $12 is nothing.

Anyway I actually came here to say I finished season 4 of Peaky Blinders. It was a really great season until the end. Adrien Brody is awesome. The story is pretty good, actually felt real tension, unlike season 3 which I thought was a stretch. But the ending kind of jumped the shark a little. The scale is just growing a tad too big. I wonder when season 5 is.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I had the DVD-by-mail service years ago, then gave it up like you did when the streaming content really took off. Then, about a year ago, as the streaming service began to wither as they lost a lot of content, I picked it back up. I have the 2 movie option which is cost effective as long as you stay on top of it. We have stayed on top of it until the last month when we got super busy and began to lapse. I think the library is a great alternative to this service and I'm going to look into it to see what kind of selection they have here.

I think it's not too late for Netflix to turn things around and they are already on the right path. They need their own content which they are pumping out but they need to do a better job of making compelling content and especially content that isn't stupid expensive to produce. That's not an easy task but right now it just seems that you're right - they're throwing a bunch of mud and seeing what sticks. Only a lot of it is very expensive mud and the vast majority of it isn't any good. They have to change that dynamic if they want to keep market share as new services come online.

 

[Kyriakos]

Seriously, didn't Westworld2's ratings make it a joke?

I was genuinely surprised that they will have a season 3. I thought that s2 managed to kill this show for good, and overload it with all the "revelations" no one asked for, while ruining any last semblance of the sense s1 had actual meaning.
I also don't like how they have Ed Harris for a split second there, as a reminder that they know this show is already doomed.

 

[Takhisis]

I've watched a couple of old Star Trek: TNG episodes. Whoopi Goldberg FTW; the rest, well, at least it didn't have William Shatner's overacting.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

This looks like it might be interesting:

 

[EgonSpengler]

On my calendar, in pencil:

Today - Another Life, Netflix, Katee Sackhoff in some kind of sci-fi, outer space thing. I liked her a lot in Battlestar Galactica; I guess we'll see if she can carry a series.
Tomorrow - The Boys, Amazon Prime. An apparently hyper-violent spin on superhero tropes. The trailer I watched had some Sam Raim-style, over-the-top bloodspray and seems to set up the "superheroes" as charlatans who are actually the bad guys. Karl Urban was the only actor I recognized, but he didn't look like the main character.
8 August - Wu Assassins, Netflix. Iko Uwais, Mark Dacascos and Katheryn Winnick in a supernatural, martial arts show. I'd swear I caught a glimpse of Summer Glau in the trailer, too.

On my calendar, in ink:

9 August - GLOW season 3, Netflix
16 August - Mindhunter season 2, Netflix

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Today - Another Life, Netflix, Katee Sackhoff in some kind of sci-fi, outer space thing. I liked her a lot in Battlestar Galactica; I guess we'll see if she can carry a series.

You should check her out in Longmire.

Also for those not familiar with Another Life:

 

[Kyriakos]

Torturo is just nowhere near as good as Connery, and the De Burgos actor makes no sense.

 

[EgonSpengler]

On my calendar, in pencil:

Today - Another Life, Netflix, Katee Sackhoff in some kind of sci-fi, outer space thing. I liked her a lot in Battlestar Galactica; I guess we'll see if she can carry a series.

I couldn't even make it to the end of the first episode. Yikes.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I couldn't even make it to the end of the first episode. Yikes.

I read this morning some scathing reviews so I'm definitely rethinking watching it this weekend. It's a shame because I really like Katee and the trailer did look intriguing.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That sucks because I wanted to watch that show as well

 

[EgonSpengler]

I read this morning some scathing reviews so I'm definitely rethinking watching it this weekend. It's a shame because I really like Katee and the trailer did look intriguing.

That sucks because I wanted to watch that show as well

Hey, don't take my word for it. Give it a try. Maybe you'll like it more than I did.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hey, don't take my word for it. Give it a try. Maybe you'll like it more than I did.

Like Ionesco said: "Don't argue amongst yourselves or you will make others think we don't speak with authority"

 

[EgonSpengler]

Like Ionesco said: "Don't argue amongst yourselves or you will make others think we don't speak with authority"

Alright. THIS SHOW SUCKS, AND ANYBODY WHO LIKES IT IS A DUPE. Jessica Camacho is super cute, though.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Coming soon?!? Not soon enough!

 

[Laurana Kanan]

That was fast...

‘The Expanse’ Renewed for Season 5 at Amazon

 

[Cutlass]

S6 of GoT.

 

[Birdjaguar]

On my calendar, in pencil:

Today - Another Life, Netflix, Katee Sackhoff in some kind of sci-fi, outer space thing. I liked her a lot in Battlestar Galactica; I guess we'll see if she can carry a series.

I watched 5 episodes of Another Life. It is clearly targeted at millennials and is pretty terrible. It has every sci fi trope without any science or thought. They scrub floors of the ship with soap and water. cure alien diseases in 15 minutes. Use screw drivers and flashlights to fix things in the ship. The FTL drive breaks repeatedly and magically gets fixed. The handy emergency tools on the walls are hand a held fire extinguisher and an ax. The crew of overly emo 20 somethings wear street clothes or underwear most of the time. Walk abouts on alien planets are laughable. Most episodes end with a cliff hangers that gets resolved by some "lucky" event. And they go into their version of suspended animation and we get to see their dreams way too often. The inside of the spaceship is just terrible.

Don't bother with this one.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Nearly finished with my rewatch of Friends. I've been heavily into 'comfort media' lately where I prefer the same shows I've seen 10 times already over new stuff.

 

[Synobun]

Nearly finished with my rewatch of Friends. I've been heavily into 'comfort media' lately where I prefer the same shows I've seen 10 times already over new stuff.

Smallville, Deep Space Nine, Gilmore Girls, and The Office are that for me.