The State of Netflix

It's pretty wild that, of the several streaming services I subscribe to, I might be most likely to suspend (though not get rid of permanently) Netflix right now.

There's plenty on there I want to watch, and occasionally something really good, but it is increasingly a repository for pretty good stuff to watch once the really good stuff is out. Which is valuable, but even getting it to that point involves a fair amount of thought and curation, and the fact that you can't even order your films/shows any more is incredibly stupid and frustrating.

I might watch a few things on there I'm most interested, do a little audit of what's upcoming, and cancel for a few months, which I think I probably haven't done for something like a decade now.

I rarely have more than one streaming service going at a time. As soon as I finish Slow Horses I will cancel AppleTV+ & concentrate on HBO Max. This is what I am planning to watch on Netflix once I’m done with HBO. You’re right about “thought & curation” - I need an assistant to do all this for me.

Blonde Netflix 9/28
The Good Nurse 10/26 Netflix
White Noise 12/30 Netflix
Sunderland ‘til I Die Netflix
I am Georgina 2 Netflix
Dahmer Netflix
The Watcher Netflix
All Quiet on the Western Front Netflix
Bantú Mama Netflix
The Wonder Netflix
Farha Netflix
Lady Chaterlee’s Lover Netflix

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I've heard about this strategy before, keeping one streaming service that you pay for, and then cancelling it and rotating the others at different points throughout the year. This does sound like a good idea to save money, but how do you all determine what to keep when, when to cancel and start another one, etc. I understand the basic idea, but how to strategize that on the calendar and plan it out for the year is something that I don't understand. Can anyone share what you do, if you do this?

It'd be based primarily on new releases, IE: "I definitely wanna see Ted Lasso so I'll start Apple+ back up after the first few episodes have gone up."

Other than that I can't imagine there's any real system possible other than "this one has the most so I'll have it activate when I'll be watching more TV."

I think I explained how I do it in the post immediately preceding yours.

You did explain that you were going to sign up for Netflix and mentioned shows you would be watching when you did so, but how do you determine that its time to sign up for Neftlix, and when to switch to another service? Do you try to watch all the netflix in one month, then cancel, do you sign up for like three months, and then switch after the three months are over. Why are you now choosing to watch Netflix instead of another one of your streaming services, etc?

That is the kind of stuff I'm asking about. Thanks for your guidance on this.

Ok, currently I’m with Apple+ since this is where I am watching Slow Horses. There’s nothing else in Apple in my watchlist. Six more episodes of SH to go at which time I will concentrate on HBOMax. I signed up for HBOMax before SH began its 2nd season since I had watched everything on Apple+ & SH drops only once a week.

As soon as I’m finished with HBO, I will cancel & move to Netflix.

I don’t set timetables for myself. If HBO takes 2 or 3 months to work through my watchlist so be it. Sometimes I’m only in a streaming option for a month. This is what I like best: not to be tied down contractually to a streaming device. It’s up to me how long I stay.

I also have 2 or 3 other watchlists: Amazon Prime, Hulu, et al.

It’s all very complicated, I admit. The amount of content out there is staggering.

All I know is I need Fraiser back on Netflix. It's my comfort food.

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

Thanks! This is definitely helpful. So, it seems like the idea is to align the time to start the streaming service with a particular show that you want to watch, consistent with what Yoda suggested, and during that time, to research other shows you may also want to watch on that streaming service, and watch them during that same time window. Then, move on to the next streaming service and do that for all the streaming services that have shows or movies that you want to see. For example, I like "Succession" on HBO, so I'd sign up around the time that show premieres its new season, and then either watch it over the 10 or so weeks and pay for three months or so, canceling the other months of the year, or wait until the season has wrapped, and then watch it all within one month to avoid having to pay for additional months. That's the idea, yes? I think I understand that!

Is anybody else doing this differently, like getting out a calendar in January, researching the shows that are premiering that year for each service and then structuring the full year out with the different timeframes for each service, and including all the streaming services that you want to watch, and planning it all out that way?

To the person that was talking about Yellowstone, Cole Hauser, who is an actor on the show, said this season is not the last season and that Season 6 is currently being written. I think that Season 6 will likely be the last season. Given the theme of the show, I think there are a finite number of stories that can be told (the Duttons are either going to lose their ranch and succeed in beating back the developers, or they're not), and with...SPOILERS FOLLOW..............................John Dutton becoming governor this season, I think they are planning for an end game in the near future. Also, Kevin Costner doesn't really seem enamored with the idea of being tied down to the same TV show for much longer, and he is already planning a multi-film, or potentially TV mini-series Western, called Horizons that he is in the process of doing.

https://screenrant.com/yellowstone-s...user-response/

Yes, more or less. I try to gauge it so that everything finishes during the time I’ve paid for. Sometimes though the series ends just after what I’ve paid for so for 3 weeks or so of that next month I’ve paid for nothing. It’s okay.

What I never do is have more than one streaming service going at full tilt if I can avoid it. I only need one service at a time.

I never “research” shows. If The NY Times & The New Yorker say it’s worth watching then I put it in my watchlist which is part of my iPad notes. That’s it!

FYI, we do have a Yellowstone thread. https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ht=Yellowstone

I got a Netflix card today and was forced to get a subscription. Premium $19.99. I found the movie I wanted, pressed play, and it booted back to the login screen. Tried this numerous times same result. Went on Google and found the app. Getting the message "Netflix will be installed on your device soon." which actually means they're never going to download the app to my device. Seems like a waste of money. I went through all that to watch a movie only available on Netflix and simply cannot. Amazon is much better.

This title is not available to watch instantly? Well, then, whats the process in addition to steps I already took?

I give up on Netflix, sticking with Amazon. 0% bullshit.

Netflix has worked for me, sorta. I can generally find something I like and the connection has worked well. Amazon Prime seems to have content that's a baby step lower, but I've bought enough stuff that I get it for free, so that's OK too. My main question is what to do with all of that content. I can't spend more than a couple hours per day watching stuff without getting stir crazy, so having 10,000 movies and TV reruns in my queue seems excessive.

I'm reluctant to get engaged with any of those Netflix series, in part because of the time commitment and, in part because it seems likely that some of those "Season One" things will never come back. I don't want to get engaged with a story only to find out that it will never be completed, so I don't start any of those, except for a few of those "ancient astronauts" sort of brain-junk. I don't care if I ever finish those.

I'm guessing my membership will probably work on PC but not on my phones but my PC isnt set up for internet usage and streaming so I will go ahead and cancel this until I can get my electronics together.