I didn't comment then, but FWIW: some of the best shows available are now streaming originals from Netflix, Prime, etc. If you haven't checked out specifically any of the Netflix originals, you're missing out. It's a complete replacement for the non-sports watcher.
As posted in response elsewhere below, here's a list of Netflix's best work:
- Stranger Things
- Narcos
- The OA
- The Haunting of Hill House
- Marvel series. All of them!
- GLOW
- Ozark
- Altered Carbon
- American Vandal
- 13 Reasons Why
- Atypical
- Love
- Flaked
- Maniac
- Master of None
- Chef's Table
- Making a Murderer
I tried to skim through it and provide my own short list of what I really liked, so this is just one person's opinion.
My Top Netflix Shows:
- Better Call Saul
- Bojack Horseman
- Mindhunter
- Fargo
- Maniac
- The End of the Fucking World
- Master of None
- American Vandal
My Top Netflix Movies:
- Beats of No Nation
- Roma
- Annihilation
- Okja
And where I think your list is wrong:
- 13 Reasons Why
Very problematic show[1]. I found Netflix' response to the criticism lacking and season 2 doubles down on the mistake. Even if one can ignore that, I think the writing and characters are still insultingly thin.
- Ozark
Not bad at all. But also not nearly as good as Breaking Bad. If we didn't live in this gilden television age, I might've found it worth my time
- Altered Carbon
Visually very entertaining. But it's definitely pulp.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_Reasons_Why#Social_impact
How many subscriptions will people end up paying for then? Someone will then have the idea to consolidate it into one or two packages. Rinse, repeat.
I recently watched plain old tv again (after not watching any for several years) and I can’t believe we used to put up with those! It was like I suddenly turned off my adblocker.
What is most noticeable to me is how wasteful advertising is. I've seen some of the same ad 1000 times, and im just not going to buy that damn car. I cant drive!
That's how cable was sold, too.
Some channels still respect that (TCM) but most others don't.
“in business, there are two ways to make money. You can bundle, or you can unbundle.”
Barksdale was the veteran of IBM, FedEx and AT&T Wireless (he mostly worked at it when it was called McCaw Cellular) who was brought on a few months after Netscape’s founding to provide adult supervision as its CEO.
But I am wondering how much that has increased energy consumption for watching TV and having the internet as its backbone?
This can't be good for them in the long run if the Netflix name becomes associated with filler content.
There have never been too many Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad or StarTrek Voyager.
But Netflix has still lots of other shows to over. They just have all Star Trek series. They buyout really good shows (Like Black Mirror) and there catalog is only growing.
That for only 10,- Euros. Spotify costs me the same!
I bought DVDs and rented VHSrs before. I don't mind paying it to Netflix and other Streaming services instead.
I do believe that the quality and availability got higher and the prices are cheaper than ever.
And btw. for a german person, it is the first time ever that i can watch it all in the OV. Even when you had something similiar to a usa cable subscription, you could not switch the language. Now its a nobrainer.
Glories Times :-)
On the other hand, I've noticed that record companies are reaching further and further into their back catalogs, even going back into the 1950s, and re-releasing on CDs long unavailable stuff.
(I notice this because I often buy thrift store records, wondering what is on them. There are some really nice forgotten gems.)
That was the reason I subscribed all those years ago. They also had Star Trek movies (the pre-JJAbrams ones), but now they're gone.
This is a huge problem with Netflix for me. Things are there today for me to watch, but they're gone the next week, just when I wanted to show them to my wife.
Amazon has the same problem, both Amazon and Netflix seem to pump out tv shows without putting that much work into them going for quantity over quality. First Amazon show I actually enjoyed was the Jack Ryan tv show. Sneaky Pete was good for the first few episodes but it just seems to fizzle out.
In contrast, almost everything on HBO is good. I rewatched Band of Brothers for I think the 3rd time the other week and I enjoyed it just as much as I had the first time I had seen it.
For me, the average Netflix show is easily better than the average show from every network except HBO.
Which is why nobody bothers checking out broadcast/cable shows anymore. They have become synonyms with crap.
Netflix is playing a dangerous game here by letting content quality slip. And I don't think it's about the money, they obviously have it and are willing to spend it, but there is only so much acting/producing talent out there.
Orange is the new black: loses all forms of ‘conflict’ as a literary device by season 3
And these are the flagship titles!
Low bar
Edit: since downvotes pause my ability to post for hours so I cant even respond, the only point is that this is what a Netflix fan can expect to experience from any show they get into. The “good” shows have the above experience, no matter what the rationale or external pressure was, and then there is everything else which is even worse.
All cultures have a handful of the same stories they replayed to themselves for thousands of years. Now we somehow believe all this bullshit "variety" is required to entertain ourselves. It isn't true and it will break down.