There Are Now More Shows Streaming Than There Are on Broadcast or Cable

[vonseel]

Someone recently commented elsewhere that they were tired of paying for streaming access to a bunch of shows nobody wants to watch, and they wanted access to the most popular movies/network shows/whatever.

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

Also good:

  - Atypical
  - Love
  - Flaked
  - Maniac
  - Master of None
  - Chef's Table
  - Making a Murderer

This is by no means a complete list, you can find that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_dist...

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.

[2sk21]

These are all good but what I really like are some of the quirky Netflix-only series like "A Very Secret Service", a French comedy that would have been very hard to discover or watch in the old days

[gr__or]

Highly subjective and therefor probably not welcome here, but since this was the comment I saw first:

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

[throwaway98121]

We recently binge watched both seasons of Stranger Things. Stranger Things and Altered Carbon on Netflix and The Marvelous Mrs Maisal and The Expanse on Amazon have been my most enjoyed shows this year.

[pgrote]

It is funny how the thing that is breaking the cable stronghold is the same thing that will bring it back. By 2020 there will be at least 15 competing streaming services backed by large entertainment companies.

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.

[booleandilemma]

This time it’s without commercials, at least.

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.

[scarface74]

Jim Barksdale:

“in business, there are two ways to make money. You can bundle, or you can unbundle.”

[wmf]

That idea is easy to come up with but impossible to implement. Netflix, Amazon, and probably Apple have no incentive to be bundled.

[slothtrop]

I'm surprised that consumers on the whole are quick to suggest they'd rather pay for one streaming service only, by which they mean one consolidated service rather than one over a competitor. I'd rather see it as competitive as possible. It's OK NOT TO SEE EVERYTHING.

[BurningFrog]

Services will be launched, but it very much remains to be seen if consumers actually will pay for them. I don't plan going beyond my current 3-4.

[rapnie]

Tangential. Streaming TV has given us many benefits. More choice, watch at any time, pause, save for later ('record'), etc.

But I am wondering how much that has increased energy consumption for watching TV and having the internet as its backbone?

[Tsubasachan]

LED screens use less power than old CRT TVs.

[21]

On Netflix most of their own series are low production value crap. I don't even bother checking them anymore even if the subject sounds interesting, unless I hear about them in the media first.

This can't be good for them in the long run if the Netflix name becomes associated with filler content.

[sigi45]

Not everything can be that good, unfortunate.

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 :-)

[friedman23]

I agree with you, outside of a few productions the vast majority of netflix content isn't good. Black Mirror, Stranger Things, the new movie the Ballad of Buster Scruggs... I can't think of anything else I like from them.

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.

[ryanwaggoner]

As opposed to broadcast and cable?

For me, the average Netflix show is easily better than the average show from every network except HBO.

[chaosbutters314]

Big mouth, orange is the new black, black mirror, house of cards, narcos....? I think they are doing a pretty decent job

[mosj3]

It's no more the age of info overload but sensory and stimulation overload.

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.

[icebraining]

You should tell that to the ancient Greeks, with their yearly competitions for new plays, and dozens of playwrights. Sophocles alone wrote a hundred and twenty plays, and he had a much smaller potential audience than someone writing for Netflix.