Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Stan on the streaming services

Stan addresses the streaming services:

Streaming services -- where's the content?

I'm just doing streaming in this post.  Streaming services first and then news on content being removed from HULU and DISNEY+.


It's Friday.  We went to the movies Thursday night, so we're staying in tonight.  We go to the streams and what is the point?

HULU has the new WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP so if you're interested in that, go there.  But I'm not.  I liked the original, it was funny but I haven't been waiting on a remake.  I have no plans to ever see it.  And the layout of HULU is too damn messy.


Which is the reality for all of them.  


HBO MAX -- next month juts MAX -- is garbage.  It never has anything worth watching.  It's a garbage dump.


PARAMOUNT+?  Another nightmare.  I have it via WALMART+ (grocery delivery).  If my subscription doesn't include SHOWTIME, stop cluttering my TV screen with stuff I can't watch.


Now I do have SHOWTIME -- via AMAZON.  And yet when I go there it's a nightmare of bulls**t.  It's old movies and old shwos and it's the worst layout.  That's also true for my other channels at AMAZON: STARZ and MGM+.  They should note very clearly on their own screens what is new.  Maybe they don't do that because they don't have much new?  


DISNEY+ would be the biggest disappointment of late were it not for HBO MAX.  I didn't realize I was subscribing to a kiddie channel.  Family channel?  I can deal with that.  Kiddie channel?  Not interested.  Their TV shows just don't work.  I don't care about moralizing rescues that play like the old Goliath TV show -- the worst thing about Sundays was having my grandmother pass that crap off as 'cartoons.'  She still laughs when I make that comment.  Stop insulting us.  You can make a family friendly show without talking down to us.

PEACOCK.  Give it credit for having the best layout outside of NETFLIX.  They also have the NBC comedies that I like (LOPEZ V LOPEZ and NIGHTCOURT) as well as MODERN FAMILY and 30 ROCK which I watch in repeats.  I can also easily find whatever's new quickly -- again, great layout.


NETFLIX is the standard and remains it and it always has something.  By the way, credit to FIREFLY LANE and THE NIGHT AGENT which are still in the top ten of most streamed series.  April 27 is when the final episodes of FIREFLY LANE dropped and it's still in the top ten and THE NIGHT AGENT debuted March 23rd and is still in the top ten.  Those are two great shows, make a point to catch them if you haven't.  NETFLIX has a great layout and always has something new each week.  (More than one new offering a week, in fact.)


AMAZON PRIME.  I like AMAZON for AMAZON.  By that I mean, channel add-ons are useless here in my opinion.  See my comments on PARAMOUNT+ about SHOWTIME.  But in terms of having my AMAZON film and TV purchases and being able to find what's new on AMAZON -- free and paid -- it works. 


APPLE TV+ I dropped because it's just bad crap.  You can see how they make their programs.  "So and so is a moderate name let's put them in a quirky show and we'll pretend it's art."  They make garbage that's unwatchable for the most part.  They'll get a Stephen King adaptation, LISEY'S STORY, for example, that is worth watching and it'll end while all this garbage that no one would watch goes on and on.  Yes, the garbage shows that no one ever wants to watch will keep coming back for season after season.  Jennifer Aniston, if your interviews over the last few years didn't make me hate you (they did), then THE MORNING SHOW would.  It's not a show.  It's preaching.  And there's something really sad about an actress who so obviously seems to be a lesbian looking down on 60 and still playing "Why can't I find a man!" 


I'm more apt to watch PLUTO (a free streamer) and THE CAROL BURNETT channel on that streamer than the bulk of the channels I'm paying for.


I'm leaving out YOUTUBETV because I watch that for live programming, I don't usually do a la carte -- especially now that most TV shows are over until fall. 


It's not a question of not being able to afford it.  I make my bills.  But it is an issue of I'm just not watching it.  I haven't watched anything on HBO MAX, for example, in at least three months.  


NETFLIX is worth keeping and AMAZON PRIME and PEACOCK but the rest just aren't cutting it.

Now let's talk about shows and films being dropped.


So DEADLINE's reported on HULU and DISNEY+ both being about to drop shows.  But I actually learned about it through THE VERGE's coverage of the DEADLINE report.


Here's what DISNEY+ is dropping:


  • Big Shot 
  • Turner & Hooch 
  • The Mysterious Benedict Society 
  • The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers 
  • Willow 
  • The Making Of Willow 
  • Diary of a Future President 
  • Just Beyond 
  • The World According to Jeff Goldblum 
  • Marvel’s Project Hero 
  • Marvel’s MPower 
  • Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever
  • Rosaline 
  • Cheaper by the Dozen remake 
  • The One and Only Ivan 
  • Stargirl 
  • Artemis Fowl 
  • The Princess 
  • Encore! 
  • A Spark Story 
  • Black Beauty 
  • Clouds 
  • America the Beautiful 
  • Better Nate Than Ever 
  • Weird but True! 
  • Timmy Failure 
  • Be Our Chef 
  • Magic Camp 
  • Earth to Ned 
  • Foodtastic 
  • Stuntman 
  • Disney Fairy Tale Weddings 
  • Wolfgang 
  • It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer 
  • The Real Right Stuff 
  • The Big Fib 
  • Rogue Trip 
  • More Than Robots 
  • Shop Class 
  • Pick the Litter 
  • Own the Room 
  • Among the Stars 
  • Harmonious Live! 
  • Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays


Garbage.  The only thing on the list that mattered at all was MIGHTY DUCKS and that was only season one.  After Emilio was gone, it was garbage as well.

Now for HULU:

  • Y: The Last Man 
  • Pistol 
  • Little Demon 
  • Maggie 
  • Dollface 
  • The Hot Zone 
  • The Premise 
  • Love in the Time of Corona 
  • Everything’s Trash 
  • Best in Snow 
  • Best in Dough 
  • Darby and the Dead 
  • The Quest


Another list of shows no one cared about. 

I don't understand, however, why they have to prune.  FILMSTRUCK did that as well.  Which is why so much of the whining when it ended made me laugh -- it was obvious that many of the celebrity complainers didn't actually stream FILMSTRUCK.  Jean Harlow's BOMBSHELL is a film film lovers should all see.  And you could on FILMSTRUCK -- every six months.  They'd put it up, they'd take it down.


Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"