I loved how if nothing was on those 4 channels, you just didn't waste the time watching TV. With Netflix you can waste an hour just browsing the selection and then hate yourself for it.
The only streaming service I've used was Amazon Prime, for a couple of months. I took out a subscription so I wouldn't pay delivery on Amaxon orders, mainly. But I could watch shows. There were a couple worth watching but most were garbage. They really plugged The Grand Tour but it was very lame. It was never as watchable as Top Gear, and I wasn't a great TG fan either. The overseas trips were good, though. I stopped Prime. Now I just have a serious TH-cam addiction, and watch iPlayer as well occasionally, via VPN, living in France. I'm trying to get back into reading books, but I have to overcome the YT addiction. Nicorette patches for TH-cam addicts. There's a thought.
I've often spent ages scrolling through netflix only to end up watching TH-cam videos plus it's so frustrating when you get in to watching a series and it's very good only to find out after season 3 that they cancelled season 4. Usually I won't watch a series until it's finished few yrs old and it's 8 to series 😉
The TV show 30 Rock had a running gag that one of the channels most popular shows was called "Milf Island". It was exactly like Milf Mannor but with a Survivor twist. The joke was that this was a ridiculous concept that would never be a real show. This was, like, 10 years ago.
"Closer" to Idiocracy ? What do you mean, "closer" ? Have you seen Trump's supporters in their red caps ? I think that Idiocracy has already arrived some time ago.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw But all of those people just think everyone else are the idiocracy idiots, just as everyone and their granny now have massive cemented opinions on absolutely everything that they've been fed off the internet and therefore convinced they have found "THE TRUTH", so it's impossible to get through to anyone about anything anymore.
"The bullet always matches the gun". This scene Michael is incredible. The acting, the glances between the 3 characters, the awkwardness. You are a genius. Its so so funny. "Its all so clichèed isnt it.... ....... alright people listen up!"
I still have DVDs and boxsets in my lounge, mainly so if in the future a studio or streaming service decide to edit or straight up remove a film or show from every single platform, I still have it to watch whenever I want. Buying digital media isn't permanent enough, especially when it can still be deleted by a company.
And sometimes buying isn't even an option. No boxsets, not even the option to purchase a digital copy. It's on some streaming service, and it might disappear at any time, never to be seen again. Same happens to other digital media, like videogames. Entire parts of our culture at risk of disappearing forever at the whim of some suits in an office.
They should be done for false advertisement, because every show is staged to cause conflict and suspense. There is more reality in a soap opera than those shows. The fishing and truck driving so-called reality shows make me laugh, it is like will I be able to do my job with music in the background, find out after the placed commercials.
I've ignored reality shows for my entire life until the traitors. Its like all the bs shows came before were only to birth this beautiful program. So in my book, reality shows just got GOOD. Watch BBCs version if you want to give it a try, its a blast. No superficiality, no sex, no pointless drama, just beautiful skulduggery.
@@blurgle9185 I don't have a tv licence because I refuse to fund the gross propaganda machine of the bbc!! I won't be buying one to watch a show I have no interest in, but I'm happy you enjoy it
7:21 😂 So good… We have a drinking game in my house every time we binge watch British crime drama-drink whenever they say “cctv”. We always get 💩 faced.
I honestly miss getting excited about waiting for new movies to come out and be bitterly disappointed when all the copies have gone out at Blockbuster and end up watching Condorman.
I genuinely miss movies that turn out to actually _be exciting._ These days, the *Pitch Meeting* is usually much more interesting than the actual movie. The last new movie that was any good was _Pig,_ and that was ruined for me by being produced by Russian mafia middleman Len Blavatnik. (Also Oppenheimer of course but that's only any good for utter and complete nuclear history nut job nerds.)
I used to love going to the video store with mates and getting 5 weeklies for $10. Then going to the shops and stocking up on drinks and snacks, then picking up a pizza. There was always loads of movies youd be really excited about finally watching. I swear i still have anxious dreams about returning latest releases late or returning vids but one case is empty. Remember that musty smell of plastic and B.O that was universal, no matter which video shop you entered?
In Coldhaven we have a store where you can choose a VHS from the store and watch it in a booth on location. That's a real watching experience and nobody bothers you.
One of the best outputs from Coldhaven TV was their drama series 'Fishwife'. Trevor Eve as one-time-Detective-but-now-an-alcoholic-private-investigator John Fishwife, with the other main character DCI Penny Phipps, being ably played by Felicity Kendal. The romantic tension between them was palpable, though they never got it together due to Fishwife's troubled nature. The end of the final (an 23rd series) was brilliant. For various reasons Fishwife had to adopt the persona of a female fish-gutter on the local docks to usurp a nasty 'drugs and weapons smuggling gang', which he did to perfection, though he was in peril at times. It had brilliant dialogue, and the end scene was superb. Phipps - And what now John, are you going to be OK? Fishwife - I think so Penny, though there are going to be some dark days ahead as well probably Phipps - You did brilliantly John, those smugglers didn't know what hit them, Thanks for all of your help Fishwife - Well, you know what they say, Fishwife by name... Phipps - Don't.. And then it cut to the end credits and their famous theme tune which had a saxophone in it. It was a very satisfying conclusion, as they seemed happy at the end. Tbh i'm surprised more people don't remember it.
I did, a year ago. Can't say I've ever looked back to be honest. I think I watched most things it had to offer that were worth watching and it was probably at least 6 months of not watching before I got around to canceling.
I cancelled and then went for the cheapest version whish is £4.99. I was put off because I had heard it would be Standard Definition and multiple ads. It's 1080p and the odd add. Although I much prefer 4k I can't justify the price 😂@@CarryOnChronically
@@HighHoeKermit Same here, I cancelled Prime soon after. I still have Disney but that is for the chop once my subscription is up for renewal next month.
4:22 the thing about DVDs is when you bought one you had it, now if you buy things digitally, they may dissappear like when you "buy" music from that really big company and they change some shit and you don't have that music anymore. Obviously, I'm old. I'll see myself out, thank you, cheers
The excess choice is an addiction mechanism. Every new show or movie you check out - whether you watch the pilot, the trailer, or just read the description - is another coin in the slot machine. Any time you find something you like, it gives you the dopamine kick of winning at the slots. They cancel consistently good shows, because nobody gets addicted to a slot machine where you consistently win (such machines exist: They are called jobs, and their jackpots are called a salary). This might make customers frustrated, but it also makes them keep sifting through trash to find the next dopamine kick. Addicted customers are loyal customers, so in the end the house always wins.
I had this exact conversation last night at the dinner table with the wife and kids. It is baffling as a consumer. "No one is watching this show, so we will cancel it" Hang on! I have loads on my watchlists that I am trying to get to, but there is so much to watch! I will watch it when I can!
I cancelled Netflix a while back and had stopped using prime a year or two ago, I don't have a TV and just use YT mainly, that and books, those things made with paper and ink.
I recently signed on for a free trial of a certain streaming service, and when I was about to cancel just before the trial ended, they offered me another 3 months for .99 cents a month as opposed to their usual higher monthly retail price. OK, great. That was when I realized that even though they were taking in less revenue, they still had a subscriber. Therefore, they can report to their advertisers that they have "x" number of subscribers, which will dictate ad rates. They probably don't have to report how many of those subscribers are 'paying' subscribers.
Great satire but actually serious social critique! Never get rid of physical media! If you do, A. you have to pay a sub to watch it & B. you are left to the whim of all the streamers if they remove it.
Plus if you are buying physical media or downloads etc, you then still have the-thing-I-put-money-towards regardless of what a given company decides to do with its content.
I laughed out loud at least twice, during this. You are the best thing to ever happen to the internet. Thank you for describing our collective pain. I feel sorry for the younger people who will never experience what we had when standards were high and the pace of production allowed for that.
Added complaint: pretending to drink but delivering a line straight afterwards with no pause to swallow the liquid. Somehow I can suspend my disbelief to accept terribly silly stunt scenes or cgi dragons but get jarred back to reality over a simple deglutition issue.
@@gordonandmaggie6324 also ads for yoghurt or whatever, where they put a spoonful in their mouth and then immediately give a toothy smile to camera without swallowing. Gives me the ick
People pulling obviously empty carry-on suitcases and then at the destination they have new outfits, including coats and shoes, for each day of the entire 2 week vacation.
As someone who used Netflix's DVD mailing service right until the very end, I can attest that the disks were getting pretty rough. On a few occasions, I was sent a DVD that was just fully cracked in half. I guess quality control for their waning service of the past wasn't a huge priority
@@JohnSmith-vg6hb They had a lot very obscure or just fairly old films available through the mailing service that aren't on streaming and are currently out of print in most physical formats. For instance, Martin Scorsese's Kundun, which I rented a month or two before DVD mailing came to an end, is currently not available to watch or rent on any streaming service in the United States
They did, albeit a VHS ripped pan and scan release from the early 2000s. I ended up just renting that film from Amazon Prime, where it is currently available for a fee here in the US@@SminkyBazzA
I wanted to watch a movie last weekend. Searched on Netflix, it wasn't on there, searched on Amazon and it was there... available to buy. So on top of my monthly subscription fee, I had to pay to rent the movie I wanted even though I hadn't watched anything else that month. If only there was a service where I could choose from a long list of current and old movies and pay a small fee to rent one for a couple of nights....
Its funny how we’ve come full circle to where cable seems more practical than subscribing to 5 different streaming platforms where most of the content is garbage anyway
one big mistake people make is subscribing to all of them at the same time just subscribe to one at a time, watch your series/few films for one month or two, cancel then sub to other platform
we are at the *AMERICAN SUPERMARKET CEREAL ISLE* point of TV. Ive only ever seen an American supermarket cereal isle on TV and I'm pretty sure I would have a panic attack if I encountered one in real life...
American supermarket cereal isle. Now that's a great show idea. Lots of hot supermarket workers for various cereal brands have to win control of the isle by emotionally destroying their rivals.
*this is called "THE ENSHITIFICATION OF THE INTERNET"* a guy [Cory Doctorow] was talking about it on the brilliant podcast "Were Not So Different" yesterday Its very very good
The guy has some good points, and his theory of "enshittification" is spot on w.r.t. the current trends in not just social media, but basically every Internet-centric business. Btw, ever seen his presentation titled "Technology giveth, technology taketh away"? It's rather old; in today's terms we'd classify that recording as "filmed on a potato". But it might be your cup of tea if you haven't already seen it.
Absolutely! I bought Boardwalk Empire as a box set because that way I can still watch it even if HBO removes it from Sky On Demand. Having your favourite shows/films on disc means you still have access to it, even if no one's streaming it. Besides, some things have never been available to stream anyway.
hold on to them, especially as companies are removing episodes or deleting scenes that are 'offensive' because they are now deemed racist or sexist by the woke tyrants
@@multifaceteduser3405 Good point! If you know anything about chemtrails they're putting those in old movies to make the sky look 'normal'; streaking lovely blue skies of yesteryear that I remember as a kid....
I'd give anything to bring back Friday nights after school going to Blockbuster. My parents and sister would pick out a film and I would rent a game for the weekend. Such a beautiful experience. And the way media should be consumed.
Brilliant. I came to your channel because it's the weekend, and on the weekend all the non sport shows are like the one where you travel across Britain.
Excellent Michael. Yes, it's nostalgic for me looking back at how TV used to be. I don't pay for any streaming service. Very rarely watch TV anymore. Mostly watch TH-cam if I'm not busy.
Streamers have also destroyed the ability to chat at work etc about what youve watched cos everyone watches stuff at different times. I miss chatting about last night's episode 😢
I think it also has damaged normal TV as well, as a major revenue stream for them is making a show that a streaming service will buy. Therefore we have so many dectective dramas. And why new comedies has became much less common, not to mention how comedies were green lighted in the first place is very different to how streaming services decide on what to produce next reducing oppotunity.
How many detective dramas can one person realistically handle?? and if you run out of British/US detective dramas you can now watch Nordic and Indian ones.... 🙄
We'll come full circle once streaming services get bundled together (like TV channel packages). Also, the more streaming services you need to buy the greater the drive toward pirating
A few years ago when we had our first child I remember being aware that I was not going to have time to be up on stuff like whatever TV shows everyone else was watching. Sure enough now we have two and I just don't have time to keep up with it all, I've still got stuff on my list from years ago. But I don't feel like I'm missing out anymore. It seems like my situation has happened to coincide with the rise of streaming bloat; *nobody* has time to keep up with *all* the good shows, and everyone is watching different stuff. My impression is that even if you do keep up with all the good shows you are able to, you can have a conversation with someone and they'll have been watching completely different shows you haven't heard of (and that may be equally as good).
You mentioned the 4 TV stations of your youth (and I'm older than Channel 4, so I can remember there being only 3). One of the things people don't understand is that the limitation of choice actually broadened your viewing horizons. I can remember watching huge numbers of foreign (mainly French) films on BBC 2 because that was actually the best thing on. Now it's too easy just to binge on stuff targeted at a particular niche. I can't imagine Twin Peaks having become the national obsession it became in the UK in the early 90s in the streaming era.
Parody has increasingly become reality. I remember The Pilot Show on E4, people were up for this sort of nonsense 20 years ago. Anyone remember 'Lapdance Island'? Then we laughed. Now we just give them what they want.
The issue is expectation of American audience that a tv show should run for 10 seasons. Ideally every tv show should be created for the single season that it is green lit for. If an arc requiring multiple seasons is developed then it should be green lit all at once so that incomplete shows don’t exist.
Also - it’s sort of like the TV version of planned obsolescence. Everything has to stop working after a couple of years (or seasons), so we need the next new, shiny thing.
I've noticed that myself, i only watch shows that have a finished ending like DARK,stranger things etc from netflix. Also i hate when characters finish off each others sentence, i remember that shit decades ago but some films/shows do it to the extreme. Stranger things does it abit and they started unnecessarily shouting at each other instead of just talking normally and explaining the situation for some reason.
I work in film and television. It is always a miracle when a show we work on gets renewed. And it sucks real hard when a show you really enjoyed working on gets canceled!
I go to the cinema now. Don't watch any streaming outside youtube anymore. Luckily I have a local cinema that shows a lot of the older films. This week I watched The Abyss Extended (too damn long) and Enter the Dragon (too damn good!). And more is coming. The Shining next month for example. I wish more cinemas did that.
My brother, having foresighted about Streaming Cancelling shows, now has collected (get this) 1,439 DVD and 377 Blue-Ray Movies, TV Shows and Cartoons. He says that when Streaming ends, he will open up a store. Don't think he has thought that through much.
Man fuq streaming. I'm old-school. I got a dvd collection of around 500 films and growing. I bought up everything I could from dvd rental places that were closing, now my hunting ground is ebay. It's still fun to receive a new dvd, study casing and booklets, pop it in and watch. Rituals matter. So much more satisfying than just clicking on sth, most of which, the new stuff, is just garbage anyway. In my city they even still have a rental place for proper cinephiles. Physical media wins, no doubt. Screw lazy convenience. Plus, I neither have to worry about sth being taken off the platform nor gettin censored or edited for any one of those dumb reasons. Nice video btw. And yes, boxsets are beautiful! Also, remember special features, making of, interviews and director's cuts?
It feels like you have to psych yourself up before flicking through Netflix to find something, work in itself when all you want is to switch off and relax for a bit. I now just go by recommendations only. Browsing can be fun but digging for rare truffles not so much.
This is spot-on, and why I've been falling away from streamers and going back to disc releases. Arrow Video are always super nerdy for this stuff, but the context is so lovingly put together it ends up colouring my enjoyment of the film. The Ringo westerns had a fab documentary about Italian cinema, telling story of how the take-up of tvs were far, FAR less than the rest of the world, being matched by East Asia. How they were absolutely cranking out films to meet the week-to-week demands, bringing over Hollywood actors, how the dubbed versions became b-pictures on UK double bills, etc. Likewise Italian b-movie Contamination had a modern day Q&A with lead actor Ian McCulloch. Really ace, funny interview, in particular "On the way back the airport was changed at the last minute, those of us who spoke English were told to pretend we didn't,a nd we were pretty sure the alien eggs were full of c*caine"
I’ve actually been buying up old DVD box sets (I never got rid of my originals). I’ve even just bought a rubbishy cheap DVD player, because I did, stupidly, throw away my good old DVD player. I miss quality TV so I just keep going back to the classics…
I’m staggered. I cannot believe some of those shows hahah! TH-cam is where I watch all content. I haven’t had Netflix or prime for ages and don’t miss them at all. The withdrawal symptoms will pass brother. Cancel your subscriptions. Hahah!
Doctor Who is still producing Blu-rays with that kind of love - there are even more extras than the DVD release, many of them freshly made (yes for episodes that are 40,50 years old) - fans aren’t even mad that this is the 3rd time they’ve bought the episodes after VHS and DVD, and even those DVD restored images have had their Blu-ray video quality improved even further. There are some bits of film from 45 years ago that are being rescanned in HD. You could even say a 4th time for the old buggers who had to buy the Target paperback novels in the days before VHS were possible.
Most things after early 2000s isnt worth watching.. the movies or box sets either string you out then end unresolved then finnish or they are slipping in "the message" where they can. A 90s movie had a start middle and end the full journey and it ends and your satisfied you watched it, them days are gone.
Brilliant Michael. So on point. Loved your sketches too. However, my TV is only used to watch my DVD's and boxed sets! Some films ARE worth watching time and time again and these are the backbone of my collection. Blockbuster... Oh the nostalgia!
Absolutely right Michael. I don't use any streaming services. I was dog sitting for a friend and she said "use my Netflix to watch something ". I spent about 1 hour looking through, tried a couple of dramas, hated them and then turned the whole thing off. When I grew up in NZ we had one channel on television - that really made life simple.
Once in a while I took a three month trial subscription, canceling it before those three months were finished. I watch the IT Crowd, and Au Service de la France and Lilyhammer on Netflix. Or The Wire on a Dutch streaming service. It’s some time ago now I did it the last time.
[pauses video] Wait.. what?? Netflix still did dvd mail outs until just last year? I don’t know why I feel like I’ve missed out. Huh.. Your American accent didn’t make me want to rip my eyes out. Loving this new structure btw. More, please! ✌🏼
Thank you!!!! One Season of 1899. One season!! Then cancelled. 😠 And now they ignoring the whole concept of binge watching and releasing the programmes in weekly episodes! Why am I paying a subscription for this!
Quit it years ago, some great things to begin with, films like Breasts of no nation. Once you've seen the few bits of good stuff, then it's just dross. I despair at the lack of original output in screen entertainment sometimes, with repetition, reboots and sequels; when there's so many original novels out there...
I've always hated binge watching. It gives you no time to think about what might happen in the next episode. You miss the anticipation. I still don't use streaming services, except Prime, that I had anyway.
I hate to break it to you...1899, while intriguing, was extremely complicated to film--while a lot of it was CGI, an astonishing amount of effects involved complex physical sets and stunt people that seemed straight-up dangerous to me in the behind the scenes footage. It was also made in the weird liminal space of the early-to-mid pandemic (late 2020, to mid 2021), when everything was risky and nothing seemed quite real, which I think is part of how they managed to justify funding that behemoth. It must have been shockingly expensive. I'm a film directing student and I was maybe two episodes in when I stopped and looked up whether the show had been renewed for a second season. I was not surprised when it was not. Although the concept was interesting and the execution was pretty good, the writing was uneven and the plot was frequently, deliberately obtuse. I really enjoyed it and I think I shouted "WHAT?!" at the end of nearly every episode, but I can understand that it would not appeal to large enough audience to justify the cost. I love the show Dark, made by the same people, which got 3 seasons, but most audiences don't want to watch shows that require extensive diagramming with pen and paper to try and follow, and I think 1899 was just too mucn, both in what it cost to make and in what it demanded of its audience, sadly.
@@sharpvidtube Depends on the kind of show, I guess. If it's the kind where there's no overarching storyline, like much of 90's shows, where at the end of every episode the status-quo is preserved, there isn't much anticipation anyway. I'm starting to avoid binge watching for another reason altogether: you don't get time to let it sink in, to absorb it. If I watch too many episodes one after another, I hardly recall what I've seen. Back in my 20's, I think I had the perfect balance figured out without realising it: download a movie or series, and watch it with a friend. If it was good, you'd watch it again with another friend a couple of days later, and since we had many friends, we'd end up watching the same thing at least 4-5 times. Since we didn't have access to this literal flood of "content", we didn't mind watching something good multiple times; so little good new stuff came out that "fomo" wasn't even a factor. But through repetition, we remembered what we watched better, and it also gave us time to pick up on things we missed during the first viewing. Nowadays, I watch most stuff once, and if you ask me a week later, all I can tell you is if it was good or not. Gets worse the older I get. Not sure if it's my aging brain, or this constant bombardment of new content you can't hope to keep up with.
The rights of sorcerer have been withdrawn from the UK. This seems to happen from time to time and you can’t currently legally watch it anywhere in the UK. Another reason to keep physical media.
I’ve felt for a while that saturation has happened in every arena - especially film, tv and music. Which of course are now battling for our attention with TH-cam, Social Media and Podcasts. I have extreme FOMO anxiety now if I start something and it’s not brilliant within the first minute or so.
Making a show just to cancel it is something I had never considered as an option. Now that I've heard of the idea it sickens me because it is probably not uncommon.
I started buying DVDs again a couple of years ago (I don’t trust Netflix to keep the films I like). I like that I have them forever, no one can take them away unless I want them to
Michael is spot on about DVDs. The care, the attention to detail, the packaging, the content. We were living in a golden age and didn't realise it. For me the gold standard will always be The Simpsons DVD box sets. Beautifully packaged, every episode with an interesting and entertaining commentary (I'll say that again - EVERY EPISODE), loads of extra content for geeks like me such as storyboards, animatics and interviews. The amount of work that went into those is insane. In our love affair with streaming we've lost something incredible.
I remember being gutted when Dark Angel was cancelled back in 2002... it seemed ridiculous that there was some kind of cold and calculating monetary-only process deciding the fate of many shows. But that went into overdrive in the streaming platform days -- to the point where watching something that hasn't already "completed" (which seems not to even be a target for many shows now) feels like gambling. I think the latest ones that bugged me was Perry Mason, but there are others like High-rise Invasion that stay in "might be renewed next year" limbo for years on end. The news of Sora also worries me a bit from the POV of being utterly flooded in endless "content", in the same way that using ChatGPT to pump out books about every conceivable topic in just a few clicks threatens to completely drown out the hand-crafted, hard-wrought works of literature that described humanity before this era.
Can't recall what show it was but I remember reading up about a series I had been watching and that not only didn't get renewed but even cancelled halfway a season. This was even prior to streaming services by the way. The reason that it got cancelled wasn't because it got bad reviews nor that there weren't enough people watching it BUT because the fans were not in the 'correct' age bracket. In other words, sure lots of +30 years were loving and watching it but the commercials that the powers that be wanted to sell during the running of the show were for the 18 to 25 year olds... there for CANCEL the show because it wasn't attracking the right 'suckers to look at the commercials'. So even then it wasn't about telling great stories, artistic integrity and all that but about whatever gets people to switch to your channel so as to be able to sell advertisement space to companies. TV channels aren't about showing programs but about earning money by selling air time for commercials. And bit by bit streaming services are getting there as well.
Michael, this video really spoke to me on so many levels. Thank you and keep up the great work 🖖😇 PS. I too am looking for Sorcerer on DVD. Missed it when it originally came and now desperately looking to watch it for the first time. Huge William Friedkin fan ❤️
The streaming services shouldn't even be allowed the rights to trilogies of books and if they don't complete the story with enough seasons of the shows based on them. You invest time in these shows. You subscribe to services specifically to watch them and anything else is usually just trawling through garbage till you find something else that's OK at best, but not good. They also seem to know what you're searching for on their services and suggest the amateur hour equivalents to whatever you're looking for they seem to have instead.
You didn't even touch on needing search engine to find which streaming service the programme you want to watch is on; needing to subscribe to half a dozen different services to watch everything worth watching, each service fighting for exclusivity (also a problem in the console gaming world); shows not just being cancelled, but being taken off as if they're running out of space on their hard drive; paying for services to get away from ads then having ads added anyway, and so many more things. It's all driving a push back to piracy, where you can have a system where everything is there where you want it with behind-the-scenes, featurettes, director's commentaries and none of the problems above. All the services are shooting themselves in the foot for profit.
Couldn’t agree more with your comments. There’s also the constant subdivision on genres into yet more streaming platforms for which there’s yet another monthly fee. There is too much choice and there’s simply not enough hours in a lifetime to sort the wheat from the chaff on streaming platforms let alone watch it.
And there was me thinking I was the only one who, five years ago, gave up their TV licence and streaming services to discover the joy of EBay DVDs and amateur filmmakers on TH-cam making better content than the execs at the BBC and Hollywood. Thank you.
I miss going to the video store sometimes for sure. The thing about renting physical copies of movies was that no matter how shitty it was, you watched it regardless because you paid at least $5 to rent it, so you were gonna get your money's worth. Now I sit down sone nights and start a movie then stop it 2mins in if I'm not completely engrossed. Some nights I just watch the first few mins of 6 or 7 films. It's a problem.
going from beard to moustache to clean shaven for a sketch deserves appreciation
yeah, it's not that clever. "Michael" is actually triplets
Props to Hair & Makeup. Really excellent work as usual.
@@RoamingAdhocrat Ahh, so he's nicked the plot device from The Prestige. So much for originality.
It amazes me how quickly he can grow a beard, shave it off and regrow it, world record breaking me thinks?
Agreed
I loved how if nothing was on those 4 channels, you just didn't waste the time watching TV. With Netflix you can waste an hour just browsing the selection and then hate yourself for it.
The only streaming service I've used was Amazon Prime, for a couple of months. I took out a subscription so I wouldn't pay delivery on Amaxon orders, mainly. But I could watch shows. There were a couple worth watching but most were garbage. They really plugged The Grand Tour but it was very lame. It was never as watchable as Top Gear, and I wasn't a great TG fan either. The overseas trips were good, though. I stopped Prime. Now I just have a serious TH-cam addiction, and watch iPlayer as well occasionally, via VPN, living in France. I'm trying to get back into reading books, but I have to overcome the YT addiction. Nicorette patches for TH-cam addicts. There's a thought.
I've often spent ages scrolling through netflix only to end up watching TH-cam videos plus it's so frustrating when you get in to watching a series and it's very good only to find out after season 3 that they cancelled season 4. Usually I won't watch a series until it's finished few yrs old and it's 8 to series 😉
Ugh, like the TH-cam vortex.
@@LittleRoseMouse usually just watch yt documentaries and interesting facts top ten videos ect
I mean, I remember those awful times and they WERE awful. TH-cam plus a good handle on teaching your personal algorithm: That’s the way.
The TV show 30 Rock had a running gag that one of the channels most popular shows was called "Milf Island". It was exactly like Milf Mannor but with a Survivor twist. The joke was that this was a ridiculous concept that would never be a real show. This was, like, 10 years ago.
more like 16 but yeah it's crazy what they put on tv now
We keep getting closer and closer to IRL Idiocracy
"Closer" to Idiocracy ? What do you mean, "closer" ? Have you seen Trump's supporters in their red caps ? I think that Idiocracy has already arrived some time ago.
Still waiting for Alan Partridges Monkey Tennis & it will happen.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw But all of those people just think everyone else are the idiocracy idiots, just as everyone and their granny now have massive cemented opinions on absolutely everything that they've been fed off the internet and therefore convinced they have found "THE TRUTH", so it's impossible to get through to anyone about anything anymore.
"The bullet always matches the gun". This scene Michael is incredible. The acting, the glances between the 3 characters, the awkwardness. You are a genius. Its so so funny. "Its all so clichèed isnt it.... ....... alright people listen up!"
Drink a very large glass of whisky and say 'God, I hate this job'.
@@JHatLpool hahaha spot on!
I'm taking you off the case, you're getting too involved
'It's my last week on the job; gonna be my last chance to crack that cold case.'
I still have DVDs and boxsets in my lounge, mainly so if in the future a studio or streaming service decide to edit or straight up remove a film or show from every single platform, I still have it to watch whenever I want. Buying digital media isn't permanent enough, especially when it can still be deleted by a company.
And sometimes buying isn't even an option. No boxsets, not even the option to purchase a digital copy. It's on some streaming service, and it might disappear at any time, never to be seen again. Same happens to other digital media, like videogames. Entire parts of our culture at risk of disappearing forever at the whim of some suits in an office.
Watching this reminds me how utterly brilliant Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe was.
Brilliant stuff Michael. Love this content from you.
Ooh that's a good shout. Miss that show and Michael's newer videos very much feel like a successor.
This.. he's like Brooker, but with a profanity filter xD
Yeaaah agreed, Screenwipe was so great discussing the state and mechanics TV and film.
I think he used to be on it with Charlie Brooker (?)
Yep this is exactly what it reminds me of and I love it. I've always wanted more of this type of stuff
I cannot express my loathing for "reality" tv shows 🤬
Amen
They get worse all the time, no idea why anyone would still watch them. Just a 10 second clip makes me grab the remote.
They should be done for false advertisement, because every show is staged to cause conflict and suspense. There is more reality in a soap opera than those shows.
The fishing and truck driving so-called reality shows make me laugh, it is like will I be able to do my job with music in the background, find out after the placed commercials.
I've ignored reality shows for my entire life until the traitors. Its like all the bs shows came before were only to birth this beautiful program. So in my book, reality shows just got GOOD. Watch BBCs version if you want to give it a try, its a blast. No superficiality, no sex, no pointless drama, just beautiful skulduggery.
@@blurgle9185 I don't have a tv licence because I refuse to fund the gross propaganda machine of the bbc!! I won't be buying one to watch a show I have no interest in, but I'm happy you enjoy it
I'm old enough to remember the pain of "Firefly" being cancelled.
You can't hurt me anymore.
😆
It came to light that Netflix will cancel a show even if it has massive viewing figures but the viewers did not 'Binge' it enough.
Which to me doesn't make sense. Surely if someone watches a show gradually over time, they'll be more likely to subscribe for longer...
"Director's Cut"
A DVD thing lost to Streaming.
7:21 😂 So good… We have a drinking game in my house every time we binge watch British crime drama-drink whenever they say “cctv”. We always get 💩 faced.
I honestly miss getting excited about waiting for new movies to come out and be bitterly disappointed when all the copies have gone out at Blockbuster and end up watching Condorman.
I genuinely miss movies that turn out to actually _be exciting._
These days, the *Pitch Meeting* is usually much more interesting than the actual movie.
The last new movie that was any good was _Pig,_ and that was ruined for me by being produced by Russian mafia middleman Len Blavatnik.
(Also Oppenheimer of course but that's only any good for utter and complete nuclear history nut job nerds.)
Dafuq is wrong with Condorman? Except that it's not on Disney+ (nor Watcher in The Woods and Something Wicked This Way Comes)
Condorman would definitely be on the Staff Picks shelf.
I used to love going to the video store with mates and getting 5 weeklies for $10. Then going to the shops and stocking up on drinks and snacks, then picking up a pizza.
There was always loads of movies youd be really excited about finally watching.
I swear i still have anxious dreams about returning latest releases late or returning vids but one case is empty.
Remember that musty smell of plastic and B.O that was universal, no matter which video shop you entered?
Oppenheimer was a complete and absolute disappointment. @@Cancun771
In Coldhaven we have a store where you can choose a VHS from the store and watch it in a booth on location. That's a real watching experience and nobody bothers you.
Need more Coldhaven. Can’t believe it was cancelled so soon.
One of the best outputs from Coldhaven TV was their drama series 'Fishwife'.
Trevor Eve as one-time-Detective-but-now-an-alcoholic-private-investigator John Fishwife, with the other main character DCI Penny Phipps, being ably played by Felicity Kendal.
The romantic tension between them was palpable, though they never got it together due to Fishwife's troubled nature.
The end of the final (an 23rd series) was brilliant.
For various reasons Fishwife had to adopt the persona of a female fish-gutter on the local docks to usurp a nasty 'drugs and weapons smuggling gang', which he did to perfection, though he was in peril at times.
It had brilliant dialogue, and the end scene was superb.
Phipps - And what now John, are you going to be OK?
Fishwife - I think so Penny, though there are going to be some dark days ahead as well probably
Phipps - You did brilliantly John, those smugglers didn't know what hit them, Thanks for all of your help
Fishwife - Well, you know what they say, Fishwife by name...
Phipps - Don't..
And then it cut to the end credits and their famous theme tune which had a saxophone in it. It was a very satisfying conclusion, as they seemed happy at the end. Tbh i'm surprised more people don't remember it.
isnt that what porn shops have too?
Genius
I loved Fishwife. It hit so close to home. Especially since it was shot in Coldhaven. @@thesunreport
I hate that Netflix cracking down on account sharing actually worked for them. Bastards.
Right? We were all full of shit saying we’d cancel it. 😂
I did, a year ago. Can't say I've ever looked back to be honest. I think I watched most things it had to offer that were worth watching and it was probably at least 6 months of not watching before I got around to canceling.
I cancelled and then went for the cheapest version whish is £4.99. I was put off because I had heard it would be Standard Definition and multiple ads. It's 1080p and the odd add. Although I much prefer 4k I can't justify the price 😂@@CarryOnChronically
@@HighHoeKermit Same here, I cancelled Prime soon after. I still have Disney but that is for the chop once my subscription is up for renewal next month.
Netflix never contacted me about account sharing 😊
4:22 the thing about DVDs is when you bought one you had it, now if you buy things digitally, they may dissappear like when you "buy" music from that really big company and they change some shit and you don't have that music anymore. Obviously, I'm old. I'll see myself out, thank you, cheers
Same applies to CD's and Digital publications. Pay for something tangible.
I still have "The Prisoner" on VHS taped off the tele.
The excess choice is an addiction mechanism. Every new show or movie you check out - whether you watch the pilot, the trailer, or just read the description - is another coin in the slot machine. Any time you find something you like, it gives you the dopamine kick of winning at the slots. They cancel consistently good shows, because nobody gets addicted to a slot machine where you consistently win (such machines exist: They are called jobs, and their jackpots are called a salary). This might make customers frustrated, but it also makes them keep sifting through trash to find the next dopamine kick. Addicted customers are loyal customers, so in the end the house always wins.
So much Netflix-made stuff on Netflix is so shit they don’t even need to plan to cancel it after the first series, it just happens naturally
A blockbuster that specialises in Blu Rays with special features I think could actually be a nice attempt at recreating the glory days of DVD rentals
But blu rays don't have special features!
@@IMelkor42Many do.
I'm really enjoying these new videos you're doing. Well thought out takes on stuff, with enough of your comedy to make me chuckle too.
I had this exact conversation last night at the dinner table with the wife and kids. It is baffling as a consumer.
"No one is watching this show, so we will cancel it"
Hang on! I have loads on my watchlists that I am trying to get to, but there is so much to watch! I will watch it when I can!
Which still means you're not watching it.
(which is also a sign they are buying/creating too much content)
@@Tao_Tology Summary Bot, is that you? 😂
@@EvenTheDogAgrees #WhenYouHaveNoFrameOfReference
I cancelled Netflix a while back and had stopped using prime a year or two ago, I don't have a TV and just use YT mainly, that and books, those things made with paper and ink.
I recently signed on for a free trial of a certain streaming service, and when I was about to cancel just before the trial ended, they offered me another 3 months for .99 cents a month as opposed to their usual higher monthly retail price. OK, great. That was when I realized that even though they were taking in less revenue, they still had a subscriber. Therefore, they can report to their advertisers that they have "x" number of subscribers, which will dictate ad rates. They probably don't have to report how many of those subscribers are 'paying' subscribers.
Great satire but actually serious social critique!
Never get rid of physical media! If you do, A. you have to pay a sub to watch it & B. you are left to the whim of all the streamers if they remove it.
👍👍👍👍👍
A reason why I still keep my mp3's. Not physical media per se but also something they can't take away from me.
Plus if you are buying physical media or downloads etc, you then still have the-thing-I-put-money-towards regardless of what a given company decides to do with its content.
Umm, "have to pay a sub"? You have heard about the site with the boat, haven't you?
I laughed out loud at least twice, during this. You are the best thing to ever happen to the internet. Thank you for describing our collective pain. I feel sorry for the younger people who will never experience what we had when standards were high and the pace of production allowed for that.
Thank you for highlighting the empty cup thing. It drives me f*****g insane
Added complaint: pretending to drink but delivering a line straight afterwards with no pause to swallow the liquid. Somehow I can suspend my disbelief to accept terribly silly stunt scenes or cgi dragons but get jarred back to reality over a simple deglutition issue.
See also: people carrying around boxes of files that are clearly empty.
@@colin_boyle also “Oof, I’m tired from all this shopping- look at all these annoyingly bulky but also clearly empty paper carrier bags!”
@@gordonandmaggie6324 also ads for yoghurt or whatever, where they put a spoonful in their mouth and then immediately give a toothy smile to camera without swallowing. Gives me the ick
People pulling obviously empty carry-on suitcases and then at the destination they have new outfits, including coats and shoes, for each day of the entire 2 week vacation.
As someone who used Netflix's DVD mailing service right until the very end, I can attest that the disks were getting pretty rough. On a few occasions, I was sent a DVD that was just fully cracked in half. I guess quality control for their waning service of the past wasn't a huge priority
I have to know, why were you using it?
@@JohnSmith-vg6hb Because he had a DVD player and enjoyed watching movies without distractions?
@@JohnSmith-vg6hb They had a lot very obscure or just fairly old films available through the mailing service that aren't on streaming and are currently out of print in most physical formats. For instance, Martin Scorsese's Kundun, which I rented a month or two before DVD mailing came to an end, is currently not available to watch or rent on any streaming service in the United States
@@citymistproductions I heard they also had Sorcerer?
They did, albeit a VHS ripped pan and scan release from the early 2000s. I ended up just renting that film from Amazon Prime, where it is currently available for a fee here in the US@@SminkyBazzA
I wanted to watch a movie last weekend. Searched on Netflix, it wasn't on there, searched on Amazon and it was there... available to buy. So on top of my monthly subscription fee, I had to pay to rent the movie I wanted even though I hadn't watched anything else that month. If only there was a service where I could choose from a long list of current and old movies and pay a small fee to rent one for a couple of nights....
Amazon Prime video is a FREE extra to your Prime subscription of free delivery. You can't have everything!
Its funny how we’ve come full circle to where cable seems more practical than subscribing to 5 different streaming platforms where most of the content is garbage anyway
one big mistake people make is subscribing to all of them at the same time just subscribe to one at a time, watch your series/few films for one month or two, cancel then sub to other platform
The film industry has always been a strange beast. The films that were so bad they went straight to DVD.
we are at the *AMERICAN SUPERMARKET CEREAL ISLE* point of TV.
Ive only ever seen an American supermarket cereal isle on TV and I'm pretty sure I would have a panic attack if I encountered one in real life...
I never even realized we had more cereal than anybody else. America, fuck yeah!
😂😂😂😂😂❤
"The American Supermarket Cereal Isles. Where The Thin Line Between Cereal & Candy Is Clearly Displayed."
@@dm0065
My Dear American Patient
Thank you 4 making me a multi millionaire.
Love
Your Dentist
@@ntandosekay HHAHAHAHAH
American supermarket cereal isle. Now that's a great show idea. Lots of hot supermarket workers for various cereal brands have to win control of the isle by emotionally destroying their rivals.
I still haven't got over the fact that Mindhunter was cancelled! 2 seasons, is all they made and it ended with so many loose ends to the story!
They think it's trendy and edgy doing that , I've given up on movies post mid 2000s
Wait, wait! I've heard they've decided to do season 3 due to the pressure of the public.
Last time i checked it was a massive no , however that was 6 months ago!!@@susanam.826
Mindhunter was incredible.
@susanam.826 that would be amazing but I won't get my hopes up
*this is called "THE ENSHITIFICATION OF THE INTERNET"* a guy [Cory Doctorow] was talking about it on the brilliant podcast "Were Not So Different" yesterday
Its very very good
It's just (hyper)capitalism doing its thing.
The guy has some good points, and his theory of "enshittification" is spot on w.r.t. the current trends in not just social media, but basically every Internet-centric business.
Btw, ever seen his presentation titled "Technology giveth, technology taketh away"? It's rather old; in today's terms we'd classify that recording as "filmed on a potato". But it might be your cup of tea if you haven't already seen it.
@@EvenTheDogAgreesThanks ill look it up
People used to lend or give eachother dvds as an act of friendship -I miss that
I stuck with my dvds and boxsets.. I can see everything on my shelves, and it catches your eye like ooh i'll watch that later tonight
Absolutely! I bought Boardwalk Empire as a box set because that way I can still watch it even if HBO removes it from Sky On Demand. Having your favourite shows/films on disc means you still have access to it, even if no one's streaming it. Besides, some things have never been available to stream anyway.
I find more to watch on Freeview, than on Netflix. Easier to find too.
Same here. And it's great!
hold on to them, especially as companies are removing episodes or deleting scenes that are 'offensive' because they are now deemed racist or sexist by the woke tyrants
@@multifaceteduser3405 Good point! If you know anything about chemtrails they're putting those in old movies to make the sky look 'normal'; streaking lovely blue skies of yesteryear that I remember as a kid....
Nice one. This is a brilliant format that you have evolved into. There will be no shortage of topical subjects for you to highlight either.
I'd give anything to bring back Friday nights after school going to Blockbuster. My parents and sister would pick out a film and I would rent a game for the weekend. Such a beautiful experience. And the way media should be consumed.
Brilliant. I came to your channel because it's the weekend, and on the weekend all the non sport shows are like the one where you travel across Britain.
As someone who still mourns the cancellation of Netflix's Mindhunters - easily the best show they ever put out - this was a bittersweet watch
Excellent Michael. Yes, it's nostalgic for me looking back at how TV used to be. I don't pay for any streaming service. Very rarely watch TV anymore. Mostly watch TH-cam if I'm not busy.
Me too.
Me 3
Me 6
Me 5. Someone can't count! Lol
@@wakingtheworld lol
Good one, right to the point. Funniest bit is the last one “…so i can block u”. lol
Streamers have also destroyed the ability to chat at work etc about what youve watched cos everyone watches stuff at different times. I miss chatting about last night's episode 😢
@@jjtt248 yeah it was but I never saw it coming to be honest, no way did she say that at the wedding. Can't wait for next week
I think it also has damaged normal TV as well, as a major revenue stream for them is making a show that a streaming service will buy. Therefore we have so many dectective dramas. And why new comedies has became much less common, not to mention how comedies were green lighted in the first place is very different to how streaming services decide on what to produce next reducing oppotunity.
How many detective dramas can one person realistically handle?? and if you run out of British/US detective dramas you can now watch Nordic and Indian ones.... 🙄
i'm really enjoying this new series, you have a great balance of witty comedy and genuine insight, and i enjoy how you incorporate your sketches too!
Okay dude chill with the uploads, I'm not ready to laugh every week.
We'll come full circle once streaming services get bundled together (like TV channel packages). Also, the more streaming services you need to buy the greater the drive toward pirating
Shout out to the use of the throwback to a previous video about empty coffee cups. nice. "Eurgh sugar!" 😆
I'm loving these rants with sketches in between, keep them coming please!
A few years ago when we had our first child I remember being aware that I was not going to have time to be up on stuff like whatever TV shows everyone else was watching. Sure enough now we have two and I just don't have time to keep up with it all, I've still got stuff on my list from years ago. But I don't feel like I'm missing out anymore. It seems like my situation has happened to coincide with the rise of streaming bloat; *nobody* has time to keep up with *all* the good shows, and everyone is watching different stuff. My impression is that even if you do keep up with all the good shows you are able to, you can have a conversation with someone and they'll have been watching completely different shows you haven't heard of (and that may be equally as good).
Enjoying this new series. I could honestly listen to you talking about sizes of underpants for 10 minutes (plus a sketch), great stuff!
You mentioned the 4 TV stations of your youth (and I'm older than Channel 4, so I can remember there being only 3). One of the things people don't understand is that the limitation of choice actually broadened your viewing horizons. I can remember watching huge numbers of foreign (mainly French) films on BBC 2 because that was actually the best thing on. Now it's too easy just to binge on stuff targeted at a particular niche.
I can't imagine Twin Peaks having become the national obsession it became in the UK in the early 90s in the streaming era.
My thoughts exactly on the ‘reality’ Squid Game. Just weird. Great video 👏🏼
Do they actually portray murder on the reality show? That would be both terrible and awesome.
Parody has increasingly become reality. I remember The Pilot Show on E4, people were up for this sort of nonsense 20 years ago. Anyone remember 'Lapdance Island'? Then we laughed. Now we just give them what they want.
@@CAH123 there are clips on Paul Garners TH-cam, but you can't actually get full episodes anywhere as far as I know.
Remember Iannucci's Time Trumpet? "Rape an Ape" lol
The issue is expectation of American audience that a tv show should run for 10 seasons. Ideally every tv show should be created for the single season that it is green lit for. If an arc requiring multiple seasons is developed then it should be green lit all at once so that incomplete shows don’t exist.
Really enjoying the longer and more regular content!
Also - it’s sort of like the TV version of planned obsolescence. Everything has to stop working after a couple of years (or seasons), so we need the next new, shiny thing.
I'm really enjoying these longer form videos :)
I've noticed that myself, i only watch shows that have a finished ending like DARK,stranger things etc from netflix.
Also i hate when characters finish off each others sentence, i remember that shit decades ago but some films/shows do it to the extreme. Stranger things does it abit and they started unnecessarily shouting at each other instead of just talking normally and explaining the situation for some reason.
I work in film and television. It is always a miracle when a show we work on gets renewed. And it sucks real hard when a show you really enjoyed working on gets canceled!
I go to the cinema now. Don't watch any streaming outside youtube anymore. Luckily I have a local cinema that shows a lot of the older films. This week I watched The Abyss Extended (too damn long) and Enter the Dragon (too damn good!). And more is coming. The Shining next month for example. I wish more cinemas did that.
Excellent. Very well observed and accurate, nostalgic for a time when quality mattered more than quantity.
My brother, having foresighted about Streaming Cancelling shows, now has collected (get this) 1,439 DVD and 377 Blue-Ray Movies, TV Shows and Cartoons.
He says that when Streaming ends, he will open up a store. Don't think he has thought that through much.
😂 I love the intertwined sketches in these longer form videos, keep up the good work Michael!
Man fuq streaming. I'm old-school. I got a dvd collection of around 500 films and growing. I bought up everything I could from dvd rental places that were closing, now my hunting ground is ebay. It's still fun to receive a new dvd, study casing and booklets, pop it in and watch. Rituals matter. So much more satisfying than just clicking on sth, most of which, the new stuff, is just garbage anyway. In my city they even still have a rental place for proper cinephiles. Physical media wins, no doubt. Screw lazy convenience. Plus, I neither have to worry about sth being taken off the platform nor gettin censored or edited for any one of those dumb reasons.
Nice video btw.
And yes, boxsets are beautiful! Also, remember special features, making of, interviews and director's cuts?
It feels like you have to psych yourself up before flicking through Netflix to find something, work in itself when all you want is to switch off and relax for a bit. I now just go by recommendations only. Browsing can be fun but digging for rare truffles not so much.
This is spot-on, and why I've been falling away from streamers and going back to disc releases.
Arrow Video are always super nerdy for this stuff, but the context is so lovingly put together it ends up colouring my enjoyment of the film.
The Ringo westerns had a fab documentary about Italian cinema, telling story of how the take-up of tvs were far, FAR less than the rest of the world, being matched by East Asia. How they were absolutely cranking out films to meet the week-to-week demands, bringing over Hollywood actors, how the dubbed versions became b-pictures on UK double bills, etc.
Likewise Italian b-movie Contamination had a modern day Q&A with lead actor Ian McCulloch. Really ace, funny interview, in particular "On the way back the airport was changed at the last minute, those of us who spoke English were told to pretend we didn't,a nd we were pretty sure the alien eggs were full of c*caine"
I’ve actually been buying up old DVD box sets (I never got rid of my originals). I’ve even just bought a rubbishy cheap DVD player, because I did, stupidly, throw away my good old DVD player. I miss quality TV so I just keep going back to the classics…
I’m staggered. I cannot believe some of those shows hahah! TH-cam is where I watch all content. I haven’t had Netflix or prime for ages and don’t miss them at all. The withdrawal symptoms will pass brother. Cancel your subscriptions. Hahah!
Doctor Who is still producing Blu-rays with that kind of love - there are even more extras than the DVD release, many of them freshly made (yes for episodes that are 40,50 years old) - fans aren’t even mad that this is the 3rd time they’ve bought the episodes after VHS and DVD, and even those DVD restored images have had their Blu-ray video quality improved even further. There are some bits of film from 45 years ago that are being rescanned in HD.
You could even say a 4th time for the old buggers who had to buy the Target paperback novels in the days before VHS were possible.
Most things after early 2000s isnt worth watching.. the movies or box sets either string you out then end unresolved then finnish or they are slipping in "the message" where they can. A 90s movie had a start middle and end the full journey and it ends and your satisfied you watched it, them days are gone.
99.9% in agreement. But there are two exceptions I can think of - Dark and Mister Nobody.
Brilliant Michael. So on point. Loved your sketches too. However, my TV is only used to watch my DVD's and boxed sets! Some films ARE worth watching time and time again and these are the backbone of my collection. Blockbuster... Oh the nostalgia!
"There's only so much time between dinner and sleeping"
Omg. And they are stealing all of it :(
Absolutely right Michael. I don't use any streaming services. I was dog sitting for a friend and she said "use my Netflix to watch something ". I spent about 1 hour looking through, tried a couple of dramas, hated them and then turned the whole thing off. When I grew up in NZ we had one channel on television - that really made life simple.
Once in a while I took a three month trial subscription, canceling it before those three months were finished. I watch the IT Crowd, and Au Service de la France and Lilyhammer on Netflix. Or The Wire on a Dutch streaming service. It’s some time ago now I did it the last time.
[pauses video] Wait.. what?? Netflix still did dvd mail outs until just last year? I don’t know why I feel like I’ve missed out. Huh..
Your American accent didn’t make me want to rip my eyes out.
Loving this new structure btw. More, please! ✌🏼
Thank you!!!!
One Season of 1899. One season!! Then cancelled. 😠
And now they ignoring the whole concept of binge watching and releasing the programmes in weekly episodes! Why am I paying a subscription for this!
Its not obvious to you that they rather have the money from three month subscription than from only one month subscription?
Quit it years ago, some great things to begin with, films like Breasts of no nation. Once you've seen the few bits of good stuff, then it's just dross. I despair at the lack of original output in screen entertainment sometimes, with repetition, reboots and sequels; when there's so many original novels out there...
I've always hated binge watching. It gives you no time to think about what might happen in the next episode. You miss the anticipation. I still don't use streaming services, except Prime, that I had anyway.
I hate to break it to you...1899, while intriguing, was extremely complicated to film--while a lot of it was CGI, an astonishing amount of effects involved complex physical sets and stunt people that seemed straight-up dangerous to me in the behind the scenes footage. It was also made in the weird liminal space of the early-to-mid pandemic (late 2020, to mid 2021), when everything was risky and nothing seemed quite real, which I think is part of how they managed to justify funding that behemoth. It must have been shockingly expensive.
I'm a film directing student and I was maybe two episodes in when I stopped and looked up whether the show had been renewed for a second season. I was not surprised when it was not. Although the concept was interesting and the execution was pretty good, the writing was uneven and the plot was frequently, deliberately obtuse. I really enjoyed it and I think I shouted "WHAT?!" at the end of nearly every episode, but I can understand that it would not appeal to large enough audience to justify the cost. I love the show Dark, made by the same people, which got 3 seasons, but most audiences don't want to watch shows that require extensive diagramming with pen and paper to try and follow, and I think 1899 was just too mucn, both in what it cost to make and in what it demanded of its audience, sadly.
@@sharpvidtube Depends on the kind of show, I guess. If it's the kind where there's no overarching storyline, like much of 90's shows, where at the end of every episode the status-quo is preserved, there isn't much anticipation anyway.
I'm starting to avoid binge watching for another reason altogether: you don't get time to let it sink in, to absorb it. If I watch too many episodes one after another, I hardly recall what I've seen. Back in my 20's, I think I had the perfect balance figured out without realising it: download a movie or series, and watch it with a friend. If it was good, you'd watch it again with another friend a couple of days later, and since we had many friends, we'd end up watching the same thing at least 4-5 times. Since we didn't have access to this literal flood of "content", we didn't mind watching something good multiple times; so little good new stuff came out that "fomo" wasn't even a factor. But through repetition, we remembered what we watched better, and it also gave us time to pick up on things we missed during the first viewing. Nowadays, I watch most stuff once, and if you ask me a week later, all I can tell you is if it was good or not. Gets worse the older I get. Not sure if it's my aging brain, or this constant bombardment of new content you can't hope to keep up with.
The artwork of DVDs themselves was a creative outlet for cultural expression. I miss that
Your analysis is superb Michael. From DVDs, box sets to.....a wasteland.
The rights of sorcerer have been withdrawn from the UK. This seems to happen from time to time and you can’t currently legally watch it anywhere in the UK. Another reason to keep physical media.
Yep bluray for £8, not bad. And unless you have a house fire, it's yours til plastic biodegrades.
I swear it was on TV last year.
Good to see Sergeant Listenup still getting work, even if he did get a bit typecast
I’ve felt for a while that saturation has happened in every arena - especially film, tv and music. Which of course are now battling for our attention with TH-cam, Social Media and Podcasts. I have extreme FOMO anxiety now if I start something and it’s not brilliant within the first minute or so.
Making a show just to cancel it is something I had never considered as an option. Now that I've heard of the idea it sickens me because it is probably not uncommon.
This was so obviously going to happen as demonstrated by Disney when they started pumping out low rate Star Wars spin offs
This new content is superb! Always looking forward to your point of view in any subject.
You’re right. There is far too much choice. I became so overwhelmed by it all that I cancelled all but one.
I’ve started rewatching my old DVDs again.
I started buying DVDs again a couple of years ago (I don’t trust Netflix to keep the films I like). I like that I have them forever, no one can take them away unless I want them to
Michael is spot on about DVDs. The care, the attention to detail, the packaging, the content. We were living in a golden age and didn't realise it. For me the gold standard will always be The Simpsons DVD box sets. Beautifully packaged, every episode with an interesting and entertaining commentary (I'll say that again - EVERY EPISODE), loads of extra content for geeks like me such as storyboards, animatics and interviews. The amount of work that went into those is insane. In our love affair with streaming we've lost something incredible.
Wow! What a difference! Blockbuster Video!
I remember being gutted when Dark Angel was cancelled back in 2002... it seemed ridiculous that there was some kind of cold and calculating monetary-only process deciding the fate of many shows. But that went into overdrive in the streaming platform days -- to the point where watching something that hasn't already "completed" (which seems not to even be a target for many shows now) feels like gambling. I think the latest ones that bugged me was Perry Mason, but there are others like High-rise Invasion that stay in "might be renewed next year" limbo for years on end.
The news of Sora also worries me a bit from the POV of being utterly flooded in endless "content", in the same way that using ChatGPT to pump out books about every conceivable topic in just a few clicks threatens to completely drown out the hand-crafted, hard-wrought works of literature that described humanity before this era.
Can't recall what show it was but I remember reading up about a series I had been watching and that not only didn't get renewed but even cancelled halfway a season. This was even prior to streaming services by the way.
The reason that it got cancelled wasn't because it got bad reviews nor that there weren't enough people watching it BUT because the fans were not in the 'correct' age bracket. In other words, sure lots of +30 years were loving and watching it but the commercials that the powers that be wanted to sell during the running of the show were for the 18 to 25 year olds... there for CANCEL the show because it wasn't attracking the right 'suckers to look at the commercials'.
So even then it wasn't about telling great stories, artistic integrity and all that but about whatever gets people to switch to your channel so as to be able to sell advertisement space to companies. TV channels aren't about showing programs but about earning money by selling air time for commercials. And bit by bit streaming services are getting there as well.
Michael, this video really spoke to me on so many levels. Thank you and keep up the great work 🖖😇
PS. I too am looking for Sorcerer on DVD. Missed it when it originally came and now desperately looking to watch it for the first time. Huge William Friedkin fan ❤️
Love how this channel has become a middle aged dad “life was better back when…” channel. Genuinely great insights. Thanks.
Sorcerer is avaliable at HMV on dvd and Blu ray.
I found a copy of Sorcerer in the interval between you mentioning it and the end of the video, out on the high seas
The streaming services shouldn't even be allowed the rights to trilogies of books and if they don't complete the story with enough seasons of the shows based on them. You invest time in these shows. You subscribe to services specifically to watch them and anything else is usually just trawling through garbage till you find something else that's OK at best, but not good. They also seem to know what you're searching for on their services and suggest the amateur hour equivalents to whatever you're looking for they seem to have instead.
You didn't even touch on needing search engine to find which streaming service the programme you want to watch is on; needing to subscribe to half a dozen different services to watch everything worth watching, each service fighting for exclusivity (also a problem in the console gaming world); shows not just being cancelled, but being taken off as if they're running out of space on their hard drive; paying for services to get away from ads then having ads added anyway, and so many more things. It's all driving a push back to piracy, where you can have a system where everything is there where you want it with behind-the-scenes, featurettes, director's commentaries and none of the problems above. All the services are shooting themselves in the foot for profit.
You are on top form, and observations are so true. 😂😂😂😂
Couldn’t agree more with your comments.
There’s also the constant subdivision on genres into yet more streaming platforms for which there’s yet another monthly fee.
There is too much choice and there’s simply not enough hours in a lifetime to sort the wheat from the chaff on streaming platforms let alone watch it.
I love this new format, Michael! Great writing and performing, and the commentary with mini sketches is brilliant, I'd subscribe again if i could
And there was me thinking I was the only one who, five years ago, gave up their TV licence and streaming services to discover the joy of EBay DVDs and amateur filmmakers on TH-cam making better content than the execs at the BBC and Hollywood. Thank you.
I miss going to the video store sometimes for sure. The thing about renting physical copies of movies was that no matter how shitty it was, you watched it regardless because you paid at least $5 to rent it, so you were gonna get your money's worth. Now I sit down sone nights and start a movie then stop it 2mins in if I'm not completely engrossed. Some nights I just watch the first few mins of 6 or 7 films. It's a problem.
There are so many Star wars offshoots,they've got to a galaxy, er, next door.
Great analysis. Excellent acting. Love it