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Spending your vacation at home always involves some degree of coziness. Same with me, after a day on the road we decided to ease it out on the sofa with a "fine" movie. We didn't narrow it down further and that's when the problems began. In the past, you were at the mercy of TV schedules (with a whopping 3 different channels in my youth!) but now we had over 40 channels, multiple online media libraries, Amazon Prime and Netflix at our disposal. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening turned into a real challenge.
While blankets and snacks were already waiting for us we went through a sheer endless movie selection. If I had to elaborate on the meaning of "the agony of choice", this evening would most definitely come up. Even if you happen to find a decent flick after 20 minutes of scrolling there might be better, perfect movies just around the corner. So you keep on looking, barely remembering the promising candidates after 3 minutes of continued searching followed by the inevitable "Why don't we see what Netflix has to offer?".
I like to call this the "Chinese menu" syndrome. At these restaurants, they give you a giant menu with a myriad of delicacies and once you get to "Mongolian warrior with duck" (No. 307) you've either completely forgotten about everything else or the mere thought of a Mongolian warrior with his duck gave you the giggles. Eventually, you'll just pick what you already know. Streaming providers know this issue and try to tackle it with better structuring. This leads to categories such as "Guys that like romantic comedies" or "Guys, that like romantic horror comedies". Some day, there will be a category "Guys that like camels" and in there you will find "The Mummy" next to "Lawrence of Arabia".
A Mongolian warrior, alas, without a duck
The greater the choice, the higher the personal demands. After all, you don't want to watch just any movie. And once a short description catches your fancy, the abysmal ratings get in your way. Who wants to watch a movie that scored an average of 4.4 out of 10 with viewers anyway? I used to be less demanding and many people will feel the same way. 25 years ago when movies like "10" were on TV, ratings skyrocketed as soon as a popular actress went half-naked even though the movie was as interesting as lawn mowing - but that didn't matter. Today, some TV series have budgets that match those of Hollywood blockbusters yet people consider skipping them after just two average episodes.
There's so much choice now and it gets harder for movie creators to keep viewers engaged and to attract a regular audience. Proven schemes (good-looking doctors, a sentimental story, medieval epicness etc.) still work but viewers are clamoring for novelty. If you like teen vampires you're in for a treat, same with zombie fans, even old classics get revived, in a modern fashion, naturally. Sherlock Holmes with a cellphone and lots of Internet research? You got it!
That's why producers keep churning out movies and TV shows even catering to their viewers with tailor-made endings. When fans didn't like the ending of "How I met your mother" they simply came out with a new one. If that should turn into a thing: I'd like for Star Wars VI to end with Darth Vader and the dark emperor sitting around a camp fire with a glass of punch, humming a merry tune while enjoying the romantic view of the death star in the sky. What do you think, Hollywood?
So we kept collecting movie after movie to watch them later but the perfect movie for this evening eluded us. Maybe our expectations were too high - with this big of a selection there just had to be something better! We ended up watching a documentary on the Normandy landings in 1944 where seasoned veterans with furrowed faces told their story. There were few movie scenes, just talk of real life events and that was fine, too.
What I would like to know: Do you use this huge entertainment offer that has developed over the past years or do you stick to the traditional TV program / newspapers / books?
@ Edward (Ted) Weinel
I could have written almost word for word what you have written. I guess we're from about the same generation.
Very few current day TV series spark my interest. Luckily I can find almost anything I want from yesteryear available online, and send it direct to my TV via HDMI cable.
I'm discovering that a lot of TV series from the 50's and 60's were not broadcast here in Australia, so it's a pleasure to watch what are to me new shows.
Ne koristim ove nove ponude, još uvijek mi je draža knjiga !
Sven, your comments are very valid. Too much choice is extremely frustrating. The same problem applies to selecting E-Books to download. Hundreds of books on offer - I can spend hours reading the reviews without making a selection. After selecting a few and downloading them I find that some are not to my liking so they remain unread and then the process of selecting is repeated. Gone are the good old days when the friendly Librarian made suggestions based on my previous selected reads. Always a good choice.
Movies I want to see, are recorded. At least I can fast-forward through the ad's. I have at least a 20 or so on the recorder, but do not seem to be able to find the time to watch them. Have better things to do.
Hi Sven / everyone
We try to keep our eye out on the trailers for new films to watch. We probably find about twelve or so every year and only get round to watching half of them. The planner on the TV is holding onto about twenty movies waiting to be seen, that are films we know we like and record for that reason. Then if you get a chance to watch one, it's like "well we still remember that film from 6 months ago when we last watched it" so what's the point ! Usually though .... I think finding the right film comes down to a bit of Lucky Dip or at least a comedy. After all if it makes you laugh then the movie can't be that bad no matter which one it is.
I love the scroll through the all to short comings of the offerings of NETFLIX,god bless them. In away it has saved my sanity to have some return to real life happenings rather than all this pie in the sky stuff,but it is ok in small offerings.
I agree with Patrick. I have turned to youtube and netflix for documentary type programs and there are no commercials. I like brain food shows not brain dead shows!!!
I just watch John Wayne movies over and over and over.
I have friends who have Netflix, the full Sky package, Roku and various other ways of streaming shows, in addition to the usual terrestrial channels.
I simply don't know how I would find the time to take advantage of this virtually limitless choice of entertainment. With a Freesat recorder, my wife and I watch a fair few live or time-shifted dramas, movies, documentaries and so on, and we still find ourselves deleting recorded stuff that we haven't the time to watch.
But I also prefer restaurants which offer a choice of half-a-dozen dishes, rather than hundreds (so no 'Mongolian Warrior with Duck' for me)!
The Radio Times weekly film reviews, which cover most channels, are very good. I've been using them for a number of years now and had have not had many disappointments. The reviewer allocates the genre and a star rating that is helpful in making a choice. After selecting genres which are of interest to me, I tend to discount anything with a rating less than 3 stars which, in my opinion, are almost always in the "dire" category.
I find that we just set the TV on a marathon of Law and Order (or Twilight Zone or Andy Griffin) and just let it run non-stop. In my house, having as much as 60 minutes without interruption, (even 30 minutes is a stretch) is a near impossibility. I still have not seen "Doctor No" from beginning to end, no matter how many times I've tried.
In South Africa we are watching programs over and over again, just watch the news and live sport on Saturdays and voila. For the sport one have to pay a extra 65 USA dollars. For the news just 6 USA dollars with some National geographic channel. How's that for a dollar. Very expensive for out poor people.
Ha ha ha ! sounds exactly like me. Scroll for hours and then pick a documentary, or fall asleep ! I have gotten to the point now that I pretty much ignore the ratings, especially if it's more than 1-1/2. If it looks like it may be interesting, heck, I'll try it. After all, it's free ! I cut the cord long ago, mostly. I still have cable for local channels but it's almost free with my broadband.
It seems that the more channels to watch the less good programming to watch.
I have no idea how many channels I now have access to - it must be in the hundreds - plus Netflix. But of those I watch maybe half a dozen regularly. I do know what my most watched channels are though: BBC and ITV - the two terrestial channels I had when I was a kid in the 1960s.
I have a very eclectic taste in films and tv, but I do find now that you get box sets on netflix, amazon prime etc. that I end up watching a whole series back to back and then when the new series is set to start I will rewatch them so I can see the continuity errors (sad I know).
We have a freesat recorder, Now tv, Roku3, Apple tv and the 4k fire hd box, so that does give so many options but with all of them you can set up what you would like to watch in your own lists which saves all the trawling through the lists and then once a month our just check for was new and you have a search function if someone else recommended a film/series for you. Also I have dwnloaded Peel remote for my phone and tablet so that gives me all the freesat listing so I can check that at work if I feel like it. So I do think the choice that is now available is good and the production companies are still thinking of new ideas which is good, and some that look like new ideas but if you are old enough you can recognise as a rehash of a long forgotten old favourite.
I recently picked up a Raspberry pi 3 b, so when I get the chance to set that up there will be even more choices, so on to Google for ideas of what's new/old or just downright strange.
Love it ..More more more
Harrison Hall - thanks for that re House - that reminds me that after watching the whole series I missed the last episode......
I don't watch "soaps" but I do like my Westerns from way back when Cowboys and Indians was a boyhood pastime in the fields out back. I don't watch football, basket ball or wrestling but I do watch a little of the Formula One, like the start and the finish. Perhaps children's programs are more fun and entertaining. But Hey! Should we throw progress and development out the window? Now, with all the entertainment that's available on TV, together with a takeaway delivered to your door by demand on your mobile, should we not be perfectly content?
I like to get out and about. I like to cook and try new ways to prepare a meal. I like to write my books and read those that other, cleverer people than me have written.
TV has become a "keeping-up- with-the-Joneses" syndrome like "I have a wider screen and now I have more channels to choose from and now I have a bigger satellite dish."
It WAS better in the old days! With just three channels we were happy.
Ted Weinel
Finished watching House M.D. series, for the second time. Now onto the original X-Files.