I see you have hired Susan Rice on your Board Of Directors.
Now as I see it, there are only 2 possible reasons for doing this. She isn’t exactly a media mogul after all, no screen credits that I know of, not a lot of business acumen on display, hasn’t built a media empire… so what’s left?
1) You are sucking up to The Progressive Socialist Left / Clinton Machine / Obama Wannabee Machine.
2) You are a fellow traveler giving her a great cushy income for doing nothing but “virtue signalling” you are on side.
Now which of these tells me I want YOU to send MY MONEY to HER? Hmmm?
Oh, wait, none of the above.
So, Netflix, I’ve enjoyed your service for about 2 years now. It’s pretty good. BUT:
You are NOT unique.
We have Amazon Prime basically for free because we buy enough the shipping is worth it.
I do NOT want my money sent to suck-ups to the Progressive Socialist Cause
YOU are loudly telling me YOU HATE ME AND MINE by this action
There is NO business case for this. It’s all politics
I am buying an entertainment service, this is NOT promoting entertainment services. It’s ALL political ALL the time.
Frankly, YOU are Pissing Me Off and it’s a very bad idea to piss off your customer base.
Roughly 1/2 of the USA voter base elected Trump. YOU are pissing THEM off too.
Think about it.
Really.
I’ve got a ROKU device. There’s LOTS of channels on it. More than I can count. We pay for 3 services (well, really 2, since Amazon Prime was “for free” as we didn’t even realize we got video… it was just a postage cost thing for us). So we buy CBS All Access and Netflix. You know what, there’s LOTS of other choices for “your kind of stuff”. You may think you have “exclusive content”, but realize this: After a long day of getting stuff done, it DOES NOT MATTER if what I watch is YOU, or Amazon, or CBS, or any of the few thousand titles in my DVD / VHS (yes, it still works) / video library. Then there are plenty of other paid services should we run out of options.
Now just to put it in perspective: I’ve not even managed to SAMPLE all the channels on the Roku. Then there’s the “what channels are on Pluto?” that I’ve not gone through all of. Then there’s the fact that YouTube has more stuff I want to watch ADDED each day than I can possibly get to. Oh, and don’t forget that there’s DirecTV barking up your ass and SlingTV chewing on your ankles. I’m ready willing and able to swap to any of them.
Now, not to put too much of a fine point on it: (He says, sharpening his dirk…) but there are loads of services I’ve not even sampled yet. Hulu, Vudu, and who knows how many more. It could take me a couple of YEARS just to figure out if I’ve found them all and what I like. (No bull shit. It’s that much and I’m just one guy with a remote). So here’s what you must ask yourself:
Can my company, Netflix, survive a year or two if 1/4 of my audience (say 1/2 of the 1/2 that voted Trump) get pissed off and cancel while they go look for alternatives?
So, can you?
’cause here’s the deal: We’re done with the whole “We’ll be nice and you can be shouting shit in our faces and picking our pockets” thing. It’s “on Mother F…” You hit me with a spit wad, I take out the bazooka.
Want to try that whole “parasiteize my wallet to fund your Progressive Socialist Friends” thing, and me and my wallet are running for the exit. You can suck up the cash of your own serfs in the barrios and ‘hoods. We be gone.
So tell Ms. Rice, politely, that her (political sucking up and graft / corruption / influence pedaling as that’s all she’s got to sell) “services” are not actually needed, or expect that a Very Large Percentage of your audience will suddenly discover Cat Videos on YouTube and movies on Hulu are a suitable substitute for you.
It’s your choice (for now), chose wisely. I’ll be choosing in about a month…
Musings from the Chiefio 
I would if I could but I can’t. Quit, I mean.
I’ve never had an encounter with NetFlix.
Apparatchiks
Not to mention on air TV is pretty good in some markets for folks that like the local selections, and we always have the fall back of instead of buying a streaming subscription just spend the same amount every month picking up selected DVDs of movies and series you like. It does not take too long before you have a video library so big you can’t remember the last time you viewed most of your DVDs.
I also get Amazon prime video and follow a couple on air TV programs.
Or they will use her as an insider to stay up to date on pending legislation and lobbying for tax breaks/rulings that favor the company.
One possibility is Netflix was approached by a high-ranking member of the liberal establishment so SR could get another source of income to cover her upcoming legal bills.
Netflix has been OK, but more and more their offerings concern whatever perversion has occupied the liberal mind for the moment. I frankly don’t care about the lifestyle or experiences of queers, lesbians, or trans-whatevers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with whatever they do to each other, but I just don’t want to watch.
Oh, also, I think I will apply my Netflix savings to the $35 Direct TV over-the-internet package that include Fox News, CNBC, the Discovery channel, syfy channel, and CNBC.
“Rice’s appointment was met with outrage from some conservatives. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Netflix had “[doubled] down in support of Obama corruption” by hiring Rice, a controversial figure in the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attack, as well as the “unmasking” controversy surrounding members of the Trump campaign.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/29/big-tech-companies-offer-gilded-safe-space-for-obama-officials.html
@Larry:
We are already at that point. About 3 book cases full of DVDs & Tapes. Sometimes we’ve watched something on a channel with commercials and looked at each other saying “Do we have that on DVD?”… then a short search “Yes, we do!”… then in the machine and off we go.
There’s a couple of shelves of stuff we’ve not looked at in a few years so not sure what’s in the back row of them at all.
Frankly, if we just took the time to catalog the stuff on the shelves and watch, oh, 50% of them to decide “keep or give away”, it would be a year or more of no time left for Netflix.
@Sera:
One hires legal services for that at much lower cost. The “executives” are for who they know, not what they know, and certainly not for how they can function as a law clerk…
My worry is that her purpose is to assure the “right stories” get produced and aired on Netflix and the “wrong stories” get canned. I’ve no interest in paying for my mandated propaganda dosage…
@Jim2:
I’ve been meaning to check out Sling TV. Just not gotten a round tuit yet… Maybe this is a good time…
AT&T has historically had abusive contract terms. Next month my (unexpected) 2 year “lock in” ends and I’m dumping DirecTV (via Satellite) after about 30 years… Not because the programming is bad, it isn’t. But because it has lots of commercials in it and we’ve gotten used to not having commercials.. and because they played games with me last time.
For anyone who’s not heard the story: My DSL died. Phone company problem “up the pole”. I called to get it fixed. Several days later “having trouble fixing it, would you rather have the new Uverse service instead?” So “OK” says I. “Oh, and you can bundle your DirecTV with it”. So “OK” says I. Now I SPECIFICALLY asked, twice, how much does this cost? INCLUDING the TV? and was told $40 / month. Turns out that was only the internet connection and the real bill was closer to $140 / month. Then, with about 3 days left to “protest and withdraw” a letter arrives from AT&T. Buried in the fine print (and found about 5 days later…) was the “surprise” 2 year lock-in clause. Never mind that I’d had BOTH DirecTV AND AT&T internet for well past the initial 2 year lock-in; this gave me a brand new “you are now screwed” clause.
So let’s just say I’m not convinced that the $35 and no long term contract stated by AT&T is at all what will show up in my mail box… I’d be willing to bet that by the time you sign up for actual channels you want, some “uplift” charges will apply.
So I’m going to be dumping them. Maybe “someday” I’ll come back or try them again, but there will be at least a couple of years of “payback” first. Even if they won’t notice.
On “Friends helping friends”: Like Napolitano being handed the Univ. of Calif. system and just shy of $1/2 Million a year while being mostly a puff and nonsense figurehead enforcing campus PC… The degree to which “connections” are being exploited to reward political friends is approaching tht in Banana Republics. We no longer appoint based on skill. In the long run that’s going to fail the society.
On the PC in shows: It’s gotten so bad that for most things new, I now play the game of “how long until they have the same-sex couple trotted out or the same-sex Big Kiss.” IMHO it is just propagandizing a particular POV and “forcing it to be normal”. In short order it’s gone from “shocking” to “lost the shock value” and now to “hackneyed overdone boring”. Similarly, I now also look for “do they have even ONE same race couple?”. It’s an amusing metric. Some shows have the one mixed race couple just to show they are progressive enough to keep letters down; while others it’s 100% mixed (sometimes even to the kids in very non-genetic reality ways) just to force the point that they can’t be beat in the Virtue Signalling department.
So last night I started going down the “my list” on Netflix and deciding which shows to just delete from the list now. Flagging a couple for “binge this month so they are done”. Then seeing what’s left that I’ll miss. Not much in the “I’ll miss that” group.
At this point, Amazon and Pluto cover about 50% of my TV time. The local channels are pretty good, if I’d bother to get my antenna project done ;-) The spouse mostly watches CBS shows and some Amazon Prime shows. For me, it turns out my major interest on Netflix has been foreign language shows as a way to practice Spanish and French. Well broadcast has lots of Spanish here, and I can use the internet for French practice should I want (or just watch Franc24 in French on the Roku). There’s a couple of what I call “bubble gum series”, in that you chew on them mindlessly to feel like something is happening, on Netflix as “originals” – but after watching about a year of it, I’m seeing the formulaic pattern in them. Lately I’ve not been able to start a new one as a couple of shows in it’s the same dynamics…
For me, so far, it’s looking like I’ll give Comcast XFinity a try. IIRC their low end package is $40 for more internet speed than I can use (something like 60 Mb/sec) and “a bit more than Basic Cable” per the sales guy… which ought to be local channels, news shows, and some more (but I need to check just what).
Basically, for the cost of AT&T internet I can get faster internet AND some amount of TV…
But all that will happen in about 3 weeks, not this weekend…
I’m no fan of AT&T either. I also had a bad experience when I got their internet service and cancelled when the xbox would run fast enough :) I lost about $200 just to get out of the damn contract.
At any rate, this DirectTV Now thing has no contract. It will run on ROKU. Of course, I’ve already run into problems because I don’t use their “supported” browser, but I think we can work that out.
I don’t know E.M. You have to start saying what you really mean. Your subtlety may just be beyond the grasp of the doyens of Netflix. :-D
AT&T must be going broke. Far too much debit to be serviced from cash flow, so this MBA trick of slamming charges to extract extra money thru screwing their customers.
I just got slammed for $40 in services on my land line that I didn’t ask for or use, some of them they can’t even provide because of the condition of their equipment! Not the first time they have this, but it is getting worse. They must be desperate with this delay in their latest merger/refinance…pg
I probably will cut and paste your note to whatever sales account manager I have with NetFlix, also.
I might add: By the way, Netflix, I just had the 7 day trial of “BritBox” with Amazon Prime video. Old “Doctor Who” episodes, “Last of Summer Wine” specials, many of the mysteries and cop dramas like “Scott and Bailey” … It adds to my “Prime” bill about $6 a month but I figure if I drop your Movie service — I’d actually be two bucks per month ahead. So, what possible reason does a libertarian have to continue with Susan Rice’s corporation?
There are many options available as a substitute.
http://www.wirelesshack.org/how-to-install-kodi-on-the-new-updated-fire-tv-stick.html
Larry mentions: “Not to mention on air TV is pretty good in some markets”
I rather like the re-runs of “Perry Mason” , digitally cleaned up and re-broadcast nightly on the MeTV cheap local network.
Digressing, momentarily, on the Mason episodes:
It’s wild how the business community was portrayed in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The Ball Bearing company, about to land a military contract. The electronics company trying to decide if the aircraft guidance and anti-collision invention was company property or owned by the individual inventor. The low sugar candy company, the guys that were counting on a “coil winding” machine imported from overseas, the annual women’s fashion market, the chemists stealing scent secrets for their own perfume companies … How can maritime law affect insurance claims for a storm damaged vessel? What makes a military court martial different from a civil case? And always if a rat bastard business type was a bit too sharp in practice he’d wind up DEAD! And the cops always picked on a convenient suspect to clear their caseload quickly, but it was usually straightened out — within the week! — at a preliminary hearing. Fast and loose rules of evidence. No jury trial required. Speedy justice.
Admittedly the scripts were often based on Gardner’s novels and Gardner was in fact a very sharp and accomplished attorney. But he and that show make modern techno-babble “Law and Order” like TV seem just idiotic by comparison. “He’s a rich businessman. Now’s he’s dead. And the other rich guy probably did it. With the motive of staying rich.” Yeah, right.
Larry again “instead of buying a streaming subscription just spend the same amount every month picking up selected DVDs of movies and series you like.”
The local library has a lot of stuff for free. Or even, buy a “membership” at the big city library nearest your (more remote, rural) residences and use those resources. I can’t count how many hours of “educational” video we got from the Dallas library when the 3 kids were littler, and homeschooling. Amazing stuff.
As Columbo (also a MeTV re-run) says, “Just one more thing, sir.”
Rice is the official accused of “un-masking” the names of American citizens “accidentally” caught in surveillance of foreign conversations… Given how FaceBook, Google, and others are recently known to have collected and abused more-or-less accidentally submitted personal data on their customers, is she the kind of person you want with access to NetFlix profiles? Isn’t it fairly obvious that the viewers who prefer, for instance, police procedurals, (the Brit’s “Line of Duty”?) have a different personality type and voting preference than those who enjoy, say, revenge fantasy (maybe, “Kill Bill 1 & 2”) ? Having a list with a movie-preference profile matched to every customer’s email address seems a simple thing rife with potential for abuse. And Rice is exactly the person I’d prefer NOT to have that potential.
EM, thanks for that write-up. I’m glad to see your version…and I agree with every point. Definitely a keeper!
I’ve never been a Netflix user, myself, but if I ever get tempted to try them out, now I have a great reason to stick to my guns. I felt Netflix from the beginning was nothing but a surveillance tool.
I spent a few minutes signed up to Hulu once because I wanted to see if they had an old movie available for some immediate research into show material. But they didn’t have the movie available. So I cancelled. When their little survey came to ask why I backed off, I was glad to mark “What I wanted was not available”. The stuff I want to see isn’t generally available online. I have a nice library of entertainment on both VHS and DVD.
However, I did recently start watching Monk and Murder, She Wrote. I never watched them when they were new. I think it’s mainly because my ex controlled the boob tube back in those days.
Most of the time I have a high tolerance for the old-style production quality, and so far there’s only been one MSW show that was too annoyingly SJW for me to stomach.
Actually, the old-style production qualities include what appears to be a LOT of shooting on location. Nowadays, the few scenes of modern shows I catch are so full of tight shots where you can’t really see the surroundings (or they’re so poorly-lit or uninteresting that they might as well be a bare stage), or they have so be full of CGI stuff that they might as well be animated shows. Meh. It’s got to be really cheap to shoot a scene with nothing interesting in the background. I wonder how much it costs to shoot the modern shows, compared with stuff from the 70s and 80s.
May I continue my rant with some more comments about how ugly modern decor is? I’m really sick and tired of Dirt-Colored Decor [(c) by Me] and all the industrial crap that passes for decorating these past decades. As a novelty, it was worth a glance or two, but now I just end up feeling environmentally abused when I enter a food court or restaurant or shop that has what appear to be cast-offs from the farms in the next county serving as their tables and chairs, etc. You know…stuff that has sat out in the weather in the back 40 acres for at least a generation.
On the other hand, I have seen restaurants that took a thing like an old Santa Fe train station and spiffed it up with cool period linens and period music over the sound system. Those are fun! I love it when someone restores something to something close to its original condition. Those old car shows can be pretty amazing. One came through a few years ago, so close that I had to take time to walk around through it. It was a jaw-dropping experience!
@ pouncer – “One more thing” I liked was your point that it can’t be healthy for non-progressive folks to allow someone like Ms. Rice to take the reins of a service like Netflix, for the reasons you describe!
PowerGrab — re: Rice controlling profiles …
It is just so short sighted, especially for NetFlix.
Remember Napster? Remember BitTorrent? Remember “peer-to-peer” networking?
We don’t have to remember, really. The general ideas never went away. Only three things allowed major hubs and servers and centrally controlled “services” to collect rents on the distribution of intellectual property — movies, music, software, whatever. Rice is about to ruin the deal.
1) Convenience of “off site” storage. It is certainly easier to store 100 pointers on my tablet to account and database on NetFlix than to store 100 boxes of DVDs. Ditto digital books on Amazon versus dead tree versions on my shelves. BUT, I get to pick how to display the furniture of my mind, with the choices on display on my shelves. I can, for instance, (and purely hypothetically) put the “Harvard Classics” in the parlor and the “Zane Grey” or “Erle Stanley Gardner” series in the back bedroom. Highlight the fact that EVERYTHING I ever read is on display, and not just to visitors in my home but strangers browsing by, and “convenience” no longer looks so attractive.
2) Good faith among the consumers of int.prop. to support the CREATORS of such property. In order to support Brad Bird and encourage him to make a sequel to “The Incredibles” movie, I will pay Disney and Pixar $15 or so for a dime’s worth of plastic encoded as a DVD that I might otherwise pay to a pirate for an equally good DVD-copy. I will likewise pay Netflix or Amazon to warehouse a digital copy on their service, on the assumptions that I own at least access to that copy — it won’t surprise me by going away — and it’s nobody else’s business but mine, Netflix’s, and Brad Bird. (And Bird,only in so far as he gets his penny royalty from me. ) Break faith with me and I see no reason *NOT* to do business with pirates — and send a penny to Bird from time to time via PayPal or BitCoin.
3) Quality of Service. Generally it seemed that Amazon, Netflix, etc were services that were “always on” and “highly complete” with most of the properties I’d be seeking. Any peer-to-peer networks, (and I remember this clearly) might be more like the dial up bulletin boards that used to pass around “shareware” for the Commodore 64, where each hobbyist might have a few dozen interesting things but to find one particular interesting thing you had to dial up five or eight different boards. I’m not sure I want to rely on a collection of random hobbyists to house a collection of creations. ON THE OTHER HAND, I remember, too, the ending of Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” where finding and listening to refugee hobbyists with imperfect memories of otherwise burnt-books had become the ONLY way to access such creations. Let Susan Rice be the fireman in charge of corporate or government archives and the hobbyists hiding in the forest would seem to provide damned fine service, by comparison. However hard it might be to access, the censors haven’t botched it and the secret police aren’t tracking who has “checked it out”.
Convenience and quality and fair trade are all very SOFT values. They arise from trust and confidence in the parties offering a trade. And I’ve been pleased to make that trade with unabashed greedy marketeers like Jeff Bezos, the ghosts of the Disneys, and Reed Hastings (accused of founding NetFlix specifically to drive Blockbuster VHS rental shops and their late fee policies into oblivion. I got on board with that goal early!) I’m NOT investing any faith at all in more “virtuous” operators who care less for profits — and delivering desired services for affordable fees — than in re-engineering society.
Hot button, huh?
E.M.
Socialism is no longer creeping, but with appointments such as that of Susan Rice, our would-be masters have really tipped their hand, Or am I totally paranoid?
“I just had the 7 day trial of “BritBox” with Amazon Prime video. Old “Doctor Who” episodes, “Last of Summer Wine” specials, many of the mysteries and cop dramas like “Scott and Bailey” “
Can you get “Foyle’s War”?
If you can it’s well worth a watch.
@P.G.:
Interesting point…. I’d not considered it might be desperation. Just assumed it was greed…
@Pouncer:
Another good point about added services inside Amazon. I’ve avoided actually buying anything beyond what comes for free in Prime (as we’d not intended to buy any video from them, it just showed up when we cut our shipping costs…) BUT, it’s something to remember that I’ll have $14 / month (we’re on a big plan) to spend if / when we dump Netflix… That could buy a fair amount of ‘value added’ even on Amazon…
I’ll have to find out how much Bribox costs. I remember seeing it, thinking it looked interesting, and deciding I wasn’t ready to spend on more services when I’d not even explored what was in the free part of the bundle.
Oh Yeah, MeTV! Saw it when playing with the antenna and thought it looked interesting…
We’re fans of the old programs. Some of them are significantly more stimulating in the thinking department. We’ve gotten sucked into “What’s My Line?” reruns… It’s a hoot! And the banter is just wonderful. Folks could do conversation then.
@Power Grab:
I’ve noticed that slow creep of green-screen GCI and animation along with shooting on sets with no content; like folks on a stage with a wall behind them… It really stands out when you get one like “Ms Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” (set in Australia) that uses real antique cars, old houses, real set dressing, actual period costumes, etc. etc. It just “pops” compared to the other stuff.
In one show, it was going along with real actors and ‘pulled back’ to an aerial view. It was obviously all CGI, even the people. Not to ‘slap in the face’ obvious, but still issues like walking mechanically and too uniform of surface textures. I think it’s all just cost cutting. A tight shot on faces with a bland backdrop is cheap. No need to pay for set dressing, renting props, etc. etc.
Then the plots. They are strongly trending to formula based. The “Drama” coming in standard packaged ways.
Interesting point on the “disintermediation” potentials and just what value add the intermediary provides…
@Alexander K:
You are not paranoid. They have just become blatant.
@ossqss:
Oh Yeah, Kodi… I ought to give it a try on the Pi M3 or Odroid again…
I would offer this suggestion to Netflix users on tablets or mobile (not sure of PC users). Take a look at your battery usage. My #1 battery hog ,on a daily basis, has been Netflix for the last few months, even when I have not used it for days. Think about that for a minute. Big background data sucking sound present.
I have had to force stop the app to kill the battery drain. It is gone now regardless from dumping Netflix. Thank you Susan Rice for saving my tablet battery! That is the only good thing she has ever done for me, or anyone for that matter ;-)
MeTV has those old Sherlock Holmes movies I like.
My Netflix account lapsed when I left Florida in June 2017. Now I have a reason to shun them so they won’t get another dollar from me.
Now I need to figure out how to get the programs that I really want:
ACC sports in general but Dook and UNC in particular.
The Washington Redskins no matter how badly they stink.
Rugby football in general and Wales in particular.
Any golf involving Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. (Don’t call me racist…….what counts is talent).
For David Walker, Amazon offers in direct competition with BritBox another bundle of British TV shows called “Acorn”. There is the same sort of overlap between bundles one might see in the US between competitors “Showtime” and “HBO”. And, more significantly to your question, some channels have separate and exclusive offerings.
Foyle’s War is on Amazon via Acorn, but not Amazon via BritBox. Acorn is about $5 per month, BritBox about $7. If you have the big bucks to toss around like our host ( WOW! $14 per month just for TV? Luxury!) you can have both.
I’m not sure, but I believe Amazon allows the owners of any of their display devices (Fire or FireTV stick) to set up a subscription to a steaming “channel” independent of PRIME (free parcel shipping) So if you don’t need the free shipping, you can still subscribe to Acorn or BritBox, or for that matter CBS or PBS or HBO.
It can get weird. We support PBS via the local affilates and get the Amazon PBS “Passport” channel as a “gift” — and Passport has SOME but not ALL of the PBS shows, some of which (Foyle’s War) may be (from time to time and for a limited time) on Acorn. Or maybe BritBox.
This seems to fit about here
https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/the-second-great-extinction-of-the-liberal-dream/
For high quality production, check out Agatha Christie’s POIROT, starring David Suchet.
Also recently enjoyed Farscape, a scifi series by the Jim Henson Company.
Enjoy!
Netflix is now a subsidiary political propaganda of George Soros, who bought into it not so long ago. Hence Rice and Obama becoming part of the itinerary.
http://www.dcclothesline(dot)com/2018/03/30/george-soros-is-a-leading-shareholder-in-netflix/
I quit Netflix when I sat down to a solitary meal, to watch a movie and up pops an ad for the Netflix Original Movie – Santa Clarita Diet. “She craves human flesh, but he just wants a normal life. Sometimes compromise is the only way to save a marriage.” Pictured was a young couple walking down the street carrying a bloody cooler between them.
Netflix was trying to normalize and trivialize cannibalism about the time the Spirit Cooking and Podesta p3dophilia scandals were breaking. Ruined my meal and whole weekend. Angry, horrified, I got on the phone and made them refund that month’s money and ended my relationship with Netflix forever. At the time, I didn’t know about Soros getting involved, but did notice it was getting harder and harder to find decent movies and TV shows to watch on Netflix.
Soros destroys and degrades everything in his path.
Netflix is now a subsidiary political propaganda *tool* of George Soros, who bought into it not so long ago. Hence Rice and Obama becoming part of the itinerary.
(Getting so old I leave out words before 3+ cups of coffee)
@Georgiafl:
Didn’t know about the Soros connection. Explains a lot.
The last two days I’ve gone through the “My list” and sampled some of them. I’d loaded it up with a lot of “maybe” stuff. Each time I’ve ended up pruning far more than I kept. For most of them I’d just read the synopsis of episodes and be done. for some, sample a show or two.
Turns out a lot of them are basically soap operas. Folks emoting at each other over changing partners, wanting the same partners, or having issues with partners. Don’t need 20 shows of that… Along the way I actually watched the first couple of episodes of the Santa Clarita Diet.
Just poorly done. Realize, I’m not bashful about slasher flicks or ghouls. I loved Dexter. (A sociopathic murderer who finds a “good” niche killing off other “bad guys” while working for the police department). It’s not the gore or the topic that drove me off. It was the poor story lines and gratuitous stupid in it. (Like tossing in cheap “potty humor” jokes with poor timing and presentation). Basically, it is working at about 8th grade level of interest, and I’m not.
That lead to my general observation that a LOT of the “Netflix Original” shows are formulaic. It looks like they are being churned out on an assembly line from standard parts. Take a couple, have them in conflict over {pick from conflict bin}, place in situations that raise their conflict, have them stress then make up {pick from make-up methods bin}, bring in {friend | neighbor | new arrival in town} as complication {pick from complication type bin}… I actually found myself more interested in mapping out the algorithm to write the “Scriptwriter Program” than in the actual shows.
The Spanish language shows were the worst for this. Clearly “daily soaps” more alike than different. Many focused on the drug trade and glorifying it. Just so heavily stereotyped and repetitive that I didn’t even want to watch them for language practice (though they do dress up shapely women in tight / revealing clothes and with significant skin showing – so not yet in the puritanical genderless mode…)
Then there was a large batch of PBS repackaged. Since I can get PBS directly, not seeing much reason to run it though Netflix.
I’m not done yet, but the My List is shrinking fast. I’ve got some Star Trek on it; but with CBS All Access we already have the Trek library… Then there’s some BBC re-warmed that I’m pretty sure I can get elsewhere. So it goes.
Once you realize that the Netflix Original Content has gone down hill and formulaic since the days of House Of Cards, the rest starts to pale.
Re: Amazon Prime – I do not look a gift horse in the mouth, but like you, the prime thing was a postage (and still is) thing for me. So the prime (on all my Roku TVs) is a freebie.
And like you, Netflix has seen the last of my money. If I want to pay for Obama sycophants, I can go to NBC, CNN or ABC.
I dropped Netflix the day that I heard about them hiring Rice. Just like obama I drew a red line, the difference is I will not step over the line.
Netflix just had a great quarter. Wonder how they will fare this one. We need to spread the word!