***Official Streaming Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other streaming sites thread***

[SlammedZero]

Well, wrapped up The Watcher last night. I would say it was a solid watch, overall. I feel like it had a stronger beginning than ending. Towards the ending, it got a little cheesy and a bit predictable for me, but overall, I still enjoyed watching the 7 episodes.

I would say it's worth watching if you have nothing else going on, but I would not tell you to drop everything you're watching to go binge it.

 

[Runwildboys]

Someone posted a clip from Cheers the other day which had me feeling nostalgic. Since then I started rewatching it on Peacock; such a great show.

I prefer Coach over Woody, but Woody's pretty good too.

 

[SlammedZero]

I prefer Coach over Woody, but Woody's pretty good too.

They both had their own unique greatness. I will at least commend Woody for stepping into a pretty big shadow and holding his own in the role.

 

[Stash]

Someone posted a clip from Cheers the other day which had me feeling nostalgic. Since then I started rewatching it on Peacock; such a great show.

 

[CouchCoach]

The creation of Cheers always fascinated me. NBC had the germ of an idea of what they wanted but they did not have the writing team to bring it off so they pulled an industry first. They bought the entire series Taxi from ABC just to get the writers because of the way they'd written the characters and even kept Jim through Coach and Woody. characters. They even announced what they were doing and Taxi would only have that last season.

 

[Runwildboys]

The creation of Cheers always fascinated me. NBC had the germ of an idea of what they wanted but they did not have the writing team to bring it off so they pulled an industry first. They bought the entire series Taxi from ABC just to get the writers because of the way they'd written the characters and even kept Jim through Coach and Woody. characters. They even announced what they were doing and Taxi would only have that last season.

Taxi was another great show.

 

[SlammedZero]

On the topic of Cheers, the show also had one of the most successful spin-offs ever in Frasier (which I also happen to absolutely love that show). Don't hold me to this, but I thought I had read at one time that Frasier holds the record for longest running character in TV history, at something like 20 years.

 

[Runwildboys]

On the topic of Cheers, the show also had one of the most successful spin-offs ever in Frasier (which I also happen to absolutely love that show). Don't hold me to this, but I thought I had read at one time that Frasier holds the record for longest running character in TV history, at something like 20 years.

That can't be right, or maybe it just isn't as specific as what you read, because The Simpsons has been going for 33 seasons.

 

[SlammedZero]

That can't be right, or maybe it just isn't as specific as what you read, because The Simpsons has been going for 33 seasons.

After a quick Google search, it may be that he is the longest running character in a sitcom.

At my quick glance, it does appear that there are actors that have been on soap opera shows for 40-ish years. So, yeah, I guess it was way more specific than I originally thought.

 

[joseephuss]

After a quick Google search, it may be that he is the longest running character in a sitcom.

At my quick glance, it does appear that there are actors that have been on soap opera shows for 40-ish years. So, yeah, I guess it was way more specific than I originally thought.

In primetime, John Munch(Richard Belzer) and Olivia Benson(Mariska Hargitay) have been around longer for non-animated characters.

 

[speedkilz88]

On the topic of Cheers, the show also had one of the most successful spin-offs ever in Frasier (which I also happen to absolutely love that show). Don't hold me to this, but I thought I had read at one time that Frasier holds the record for longest running character in TV history, at something like 20 years.

 

[VaqueroTD]

I’ll still watch all 3 of the aforementioned sitcoms:

Taxi
Cheers
Frasier

They stand the test of time.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I prefer Coach over Woody, but Woody's pretty good too.

Funny you said that. The last episode I watched was when they first introduced Woody.

 

[Creeper]

Well, wrapped up The Watcher last night. I would say it was a solid watch, overall. I feel like it had a stronger beginning than ending. Towards the ending, it got a little cheesy and a bit predictable for me, but overall, I still enjoyed watching the 7 episodes.

I would say it's worth watching if you have nothing else going on, but I would not tell you to drop everything you're watching to go binge it.

I am through 6 episodes so far. I would give the same assessment. It started off well, but as it got further into the story I started to question the stupidity of some of it. Being from NJ and having worked for years out in the area near Westfield, I wanted to watch this series. I know the real story about the Watcher and wanted to see how they handled it at Netflix to make it a story worth watching for 7 episodes.

Spoiler

I have to say I have never met people as dumb and overreactive as the couple portrayed in this movie. The way the run out and publicly accuse everyone without evidence is bizarre. Who would do that? I know in the real story the couple sold the house and moved. They never found the Watcher. But I doubt seriously the real couple behaved as poorly as the Brannocks.

 

[CouchCoach]

Looks like the demise some predicted for Netflix has not happened, they grew their subscriber base by almost 3M since the last report.

This while Amazon has been hammering The Rings and HBO Max, The Dragons.

 

[Creeper]

Looks like the demise some predicted for Netflix has not happened, they grew their subscriber base by almost 3M since the last report.

This while Amazon has been hammering The Rings and HBO Max, The Dragons.

I am shocked, but I wish all these services would speed up the production line because waiting 3 years for the new season of a series is absurd.

 

[Reality]

Looks like the demise some predicted for Netflix has not happened, they grew their subscriber base by almost 3M since the last report.

This while Amazon has been hammering The Rings and HBO Max, The Dragons.

I believe a lot of the 2.4 million they added last quarter was mostly due to them cracking down on shared accounts.

To their credit, they provided a transfer path for people to move from a shared account to their own account and keep their profiles and viewing history which was a good move.

I do not blame them as I have heard a lot of people talk about how they were using other people's Netflix accounts despite not living anywhere near or even being related to the account owner.

However, while the added accounts are technically "new" accounts revenue wise, they really just found a way to to better monetize the viewers they had, which is great but not really sustainable growth-wise going forward.

Their next focus is on an ad-supported lower priced service that they are launching soon, but I am not really sure how people are going to react to that.

They will likely do what most media companies do by showing fewer ads in the beginning to get people to sign-up before slowly transitioning to more ads, longer ads and more ad breaks until people are pushed to upgrade to get rid of them.

I still think Netflix is the best streaming service because they seem to be less manipulative than the other services which are clearly trying to present a "We're like Netflix but with more shows you like" when in reality they are just setting everyone up to transition right back to where we were with one episode per week, pay-per-view for some productions and ultimately showing ads AND requiring you to pay for it. The only thing missing at that point will be Disney's VHS tactic of, "It goes back in the vault" in an effort to drive FOMO subscriptions.

 

[DasTex]

The Watcher

Very interesting first couple episodes.
Then gets really dumb by the end. Pretty disappointing

 

[CouchCoach]

I believe a lot of the 2.4 million they added last quarter was mostly due to them cracking down on shared accounts.

To their credit, they provided a transfer path for people to move from a shared account to their own account and keep their profiles and viewing history which was a good move.

I do not blame them as I have heard a lot of people talk about how they were using other people's Netflix accounts despite not living anywhere near or even being related to the account owner.

However, while the added accounts are technically "new" accounts revenue wise, they really just found a way to to better monetize the viewers they had, which is great but not really sustainable growth-wise going forward.

Their next focus is on an ad-supported lower priced service that they are launching soon, but I am not really sure how people are going to react to that.

They will likely do what most media companies do by showing fewer ads in the beginning to get people to sign-up before slowly transitioning to more ads, longer ads and more ad breaks until people are pushed to upgrade to get rid of them.

I still think Netflix is the best streaming service because they seem to be less manipulative than the other services which are clearly trying to present a "We're like Netflix but with more shows you like" when in reality they are just setting everyone up to transition right back to where we were with one episode per week, pay-per-view for some productions and ultimately showing ads AND requiring you to pay for it. The only thing missing at that point will be Disney's VHS tactic of, "It goes back in the vault" in an effort to drive FOMO subscriptions.

I agree, the lack of ads was the strongest draw for me, just like it was for premium channels. Then, the dropping whole seasons at once was a huge plus because I had been recording premium episodes to watch at my own speed once they were all loaded. The other reason I waited was to try and ascertain if they were going to finish it because if they hadn't announced the next season and this wasn't a series with conclusion, I wasn't going to spend the time with no resolution.

I much prefer the model Netflix first used that Amazon and Disney changed to feeding one episode a week. Hell, that's why I haven't been a TV network watcher in years. That and the fact it is so formula driven and predictable.

I am also Netflix driven because I have been a user for so long and have been through all their changes and "pioneering" in the entertainment arena.

And this avoidance of ads has led me to struggling to try and watch a NFL game that is not on the Red Zone Channel. The herky jerky presentation of the games and not only over abundance of ads but the same ones played into the ground. If I have to watch that stupid ATT LeBron James "fighting for the common man" ad one more time, my head will explode. Showing the same ads in the same ad clusters only causes me to not want to do business with that company unless I have no choice.

In the beginning of broadcast advertising, radio was the frequency medium and TV the reach, mainly because of the expense in trying to create frequency. Now, TV is pushing the frequency envelope and I am trying to avoid that as much as I can so bring on the ad free streamers and I will gladly pay for that.

 

[CouchCoach]

Started watching "The Rings of Power" last night since the entire first season is now loaded and I get some of the disappointment from Tolkien fans but I am not expecting this to be as good as LOTR or even "The Hobbit".

I will say one thing for it, they did spend a good portion of that 1B on the visual effects because a lot of those shots look like a Thomas Kinkade painting come to life. Really visually striking.

I am 3 episodes in and while I do find the editing and movement between characters to be a little abrupt, I do not regret starting it and see the investment of entertainment time to be a wise one.

Spoiler

They dumped the showrunners after the 2nd episode dropped so I do wonder if and when that change might be seen in this first season, if at all.