I hate the rise of streaming services over traditional television because it is both hard for everyone to keep up with TV and also because not everyone has the same streaming services. We are all going to go bankrupt $11.99 per service per month. Perhaps someone can put it all together on a united platform at some point and call it something creative like “cable television.”
I agree with EE on both his opening comment and the show recommendations.
First, I grew up in an age where the networks provided programming that everyone watched. For example, SNL - during the Belushi era - was the show my classmates and I watched. Then we would review and talk about it Monday morning in class. It was a shared experience along with Monday Night Football. It provided common ground for my diverse group of friends.
Second, you are so right about Slow Horses and Reacher. Though the themes are very “adult” the stories are well written and entertaining.
Got my rant out of the way. I don’t know about the cohesiveness being lost.
I’ve met more than a few stranger things and Cobra Kai followers. And I’m one of them. In fact stranger things is the only reason my daughter loves vinyl and wears a Pink Floyd shirt.
You can thank ST for many of the current culture trends these days. One of my freinds named their daughter EL. Short for Ellia. But still.
Cobra Kai?
I still see shirts like that all over. Even saw a Bumper sticker the other day.
So I think there is that out there just maybe not as much seen on the mass media. Like who remembers “who shot JR?
Maybe not that. But you still see allot of trends like Groku. (Baby yoda). So there is that.
My biggest worry with watching any show these days is running into woke agendas. Either the main character is gay lesbian or some form of SJW. OR the main protagonist and heroin is a minority or female. (Not that I have a problem with that) it’s not the gender that bothers me it’s the virtue signaling.
The straight white guy is flawed. The lesbian female or minority female has all the answers and is perfect. Looking at you “for all mankind”
I do agree there is too much and in some ways not enough.
Too many shows corrupted with socialistic propaganda. While there is not enough pure entertaining shows.
I’ve had to resort to filtering out the garbage to watch. Example I watch “For all mankind” I skip past allot of it. But I still enjoy it. Same with Foundation.
And unfortunately other than Reacher all the Amazon shows are highly filled with woke agenda messaging. And I will never forgive them for messing up wheel of time. Never!
Yellowstone anyone? Language and violence is a bit much. 1883 was wonderful. 1923 was good, a touch depressing . Bad thing you never know when they were on. Paramount plus is our go to service. Just my opinion. Happy new year everyone.
I find all the Yellowstone series too dark. Great actors but just way too depressing. BUT if you want a show like Yellowstone with a happy vibe I recommend Heartland. Very good Christian themed show.
I did not finish season two of Slow Horses. For me it dragged, and I'm someone who enjoys character and plot development. It sounds like season three may be worth a look see.
I would say Breaking Bad had a similar "community" effect like GoT. I agree with you, Erick. I was speaking to my son just a few days ago about how streaming services don't provide the cohesive effect that cable T.V. did. It was in context of Christmas specials that used to air and everyone would watch. I remember that Wizard of Oz used to air yearly. Another benefit to cable was that cursing and/or sexual scenes were edited out, so a family could watch a movie together without those elements being an issue.
As one who is nearly completely electronics incompetent, I have no idea how to access the Amazon Prime I have, or anything else. If I can't just turn on the TV and select a channel, it doesn't get watched unless my husband is home to make things work.
I’m a reasonably intelligent tech savvy person, but even I get confused with the multitude of streaming services. I see so many people who can’t figure out where to go to see stuff. Half the time you finally figure it out and then it moves to some other service. And is Apple+ different than Apple TV? Also, they keep changing the names. HBO became HBO Max when it merged with Cinemax, but is now just known as “Max”.
I am not so young that I don’t remember that when “cable TV” was first introduced, it was supposed to be add free compared to network, ad-supported television. And now we’ve come full circle - we have streaming services that offer their own content that you have to pay separately for, but the ad supported options are cheaper, so we are paying for non-network TV and still having to sit through commercials. This is indirect opposition to the original premise of “cable “.
Between basic Internet service and all the streaming services it is easy to pay as much as or more than what the former cable bundled package used to be.
Erick, I’ve been saying for years that the vertical streaming services was just a way for publicly traded media companies to bilk us of more money. Deconstructed cable. Funny you alluded to pulling it back together and calling it cable. Watch. Some genius will get a lot of press as a new media guru who’ll be hailed as the person who “built” cable.
Yes I just got an email from Amazon this morning informing me that there will be ads on all of their programs; but for just (another) $2.99 a month I can avoid the ads. We are being nickel and dimed to death!
Pro tip: you can stop and start streaming subscriptions easily if you pay monthly. I do it all the time the time.
I agree with EE on both his opening comment and the show recommendations.
First, I grew up in an age where the networks provided programming that everyone watched. For example, SNL - during the Belushi era - was the show my classmates and I watched. Then we would review and talk about it Monday morning in class. It was a shared experience along with Monday Night Football. It provided common ground for my diverse group of friends.
Second, you are so right about Slow Horses and Reacher. Though the themes are very “adult” the stories are well written and entertaining.
Different life than when TV came out some 75 years ago.
First, I canceled cable.
Next, I pay for Netflix, Prime and Sling year-round. Sling is kind of expensive, but I get it for local and national news.
Then, depending on what I want to watch, I will pay for one other service at a time, rotating between the various services.
This way, I can watch nearly everything I want, while keeping the cost down.
Got my rant out of the way. I don’t know about the cohesiveness being lost.
I’ve met more than a few stranger things and Cobra Kai followers. And I’m one of them. In fact stranger things is the only reason my daughter loves vinyl and wears a Pink Floyd shirt.
You can thank ST for many of the current culture trends these days. One of my freinds named their daughter EL. Short for Ellia. But still.
Cobra Kai?
I still see shirts like that all over. Even saw a Bumper sticker the other day.
So I think there is that out there just maybe not as much seen on the mass media. Like who remembers “who shot JR?
Maybe not that. But you still see allot of trends like Groku. (Baby yoda). So there is that.
My biggest worry with watching any show these days is running into woke agendas. Either the main character is gay lesbian or some form of SJW. OR the main protagonist and heroin is a minority or female. (Not that I have a problem with that) it’s not the gender that bothers me it’s the virtue signaling.
The straight white guy is flawed. The lesbian female or minority female has all the answers and is perfect. Looking at you “for all mankind”
I do agree there is too much and in some ways not enough.
Too many shows corrupted with socialistic propaganda. While there is not enough pure entertaining shows.
I’ve had to resort to filtering out the garbage to watch. Example I watch “For all mankind” I skip past allot of it. But I still enjoy it. Same with Foundation.
And unfortunately other than Reacher all the Amazon shows are highly filled with woke agenda messaging. And I will never forgive them for messing up wheel of time. Never!
Yellowstone anyone? Language and violence is a bit much. 1883 was wonderful. 1923 was good, a touch depressing . Bad thing you never know when they were on. Paramount plus is our go to service. Just my opinion. Happy new year everyone.
I find all the Yellowstone series too dark. Great actors but just way too depressing. BUT if you want a show like Yellowstone with a happy vibe I recommend Heartland. Very good Christian themed show.
I watch both shows and agree they are worth the Apple subscription. The last season of See was tough because the kids seemed pretty stupid.
I stopped watching TV a loooong time ago, about when Hill Street Blues, Cheers and MASH went off the air. I don't feel I have missed much.
I did watch when the Braves won the Super Bowl.......is that right?
But I read about 3 books a week, sometimes more. I pick up news from sources I can - mostly - trust.
I did not finish season two of Slow Horses. For me it dragged, and I'm someone who enjoys character and plot development. It sounds like season three may be worth a look see.
Dude
Slow horses and Gary Oldman the best character actor on this planet....15 out of 10 especially in this world of crap TV
I would say Breaking Bad had a similar "community" effect like GoT. I agree with you, Erick. I was speaking to my son just a few days ago about how streaming services don't provide the cohesive effect that cable T.V. did. It was in context of Christmas specials that used to air and everyone would watch. I remember that Wizard of Oz used to air yearly. Another benefit to cable was that cursing and/or sexual scenes were edited out, so a family could watch a movie together without those elements being an issue.
As one who is nearly completely electronics incompetent, I have no idea how to access the Amazon Prime I have, or anything else. If I can't just turn on the TV and select a channel, it doesn't get watched unless my husband is home to make things work.
I’m a reasonably intelligent tech savvy person, but even I get confused with the multitude of streaming services. I see so many people who can’t figure out where to go to see stuff. Half the time you finally figure it out and then it moves to some other service. And is Apple+ different than Apple TV? Also, they keep changing the names. HBO became HBO Max when it merged with Cinemax, but is now just known as “Max”.
I am not so young that I don’t remember that when “cable TV” was first introduced, it was supposed to be add free compared to network, ad-supported television. And now we’ve come full circle - we have streaming services that offer their own content that you have to pay separately for, but the ad supported options are cheaper, so we are paying for non-network TV and still having to sit through commercials. This is indirect opposition to the original premise of “cable “.
Between basic Internet service and all the streaming services it is easy to pay as much as or more than what the former cable bundled package used to be.
Erick, I’ve been saying for years that the vertical streaming services was just a way for publicly traded media companies to bilk us of more money. Deconstructed cable. Funny you alluded to pulling it back together and calling it cable. Watch. Some genius will get a lot of press as a new media guru who’ll be hailed as the person who “built” cable.
Yes I just got an email from Amazon this morning informing me that there will be ads on all of their programs; but for just (another) $2.99 a month I can avoid the ads. We are being nickel and dimed to death!
I got the same message. I'm canceling, anyway, as I don't need the additional monthly charge in this new year.