Lake effect snow has descended early upon Grand Haven. All day long, the radar pulsates the bands of snow, appearing over the lake, moving inland and dissipating. Or, the static pictures show an unmoving band of snow hovering over our heads. This could be a very long snowy winter. Perfect time to talk about what I stream on my TV, including the new Apple TV+ and Disney+ services.
The Guilt
A favorite old movie of mine was Being There, Peter Seller’s last. In it he played Chance who improbably rises to fame while growing up with only a walled garden… and TV. “I like to watch” was the quote heard again and again in the movie. Say “I like to watch TV” to someone. And you receive the universal disdained of everyone in any cultured society. But yeah, honestly… I like to watch.
First, our hardware weapons of choice
We have a 2019 TCL Series 6 75 inch set. An amazing piece of technology that was surprisingly low cost. Yeah China! HDR and 4K are standard now in TV purchases, but the quality is stunningly variable. Drop down to a lower series of the same size tv and even tho it is still technically HDR and 4K… you lose so much. It is a visually stunning difference. Buying a new set? Do your research! Bang for the buck is never more true. And the bang is loud and live with a high end TV.
Powering the set, we have eschewed the built in Roku and instead wield the Apple TV. The Roku is dependable and solid… but slow-ish. The Apple TV (most recent edition) pumps a beautiful 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision signal with speed. No hesitation, no stutter. Worth it.
Coming directly into our home we have gigabit internet fiber. A year and a half… never been down a moment. No weak hardware links in our streaming.
The base
We were loyal Directv customer since we lived in South Carolina and Joe Montana was the quarterback for our beloved, but distant, Kansas City Chiefs. That finally ending a few years ago when we began to stream everything. Trying several different main services, we settled on Hulu+. Nice mix of local stations, must have nationals, plus the ability to record shows. Some Hulu originals are good, plus they have all episodes of some excellent older shows to stream. Veronica Mars is a guilty pleasure. It originally aired about 15 years ago. I did not even know this show existed, but it is surprisingly high quality. My wife and I streamed all three original seasons, the movie, and the revival season that aired this year. Now Hulu+ is increasing their price per month… again. But so far, we stay.
Adding to Hulu+, we have
Netflix… of course, why would we not? But… eventually, Netflix may become optional. They continue to lose external content. Some of their originals are quite good, some are not. As they keep popping out a few hits like The Crown, Netflix will probably stay in the arsenal.
Prime Video… “free” since we use Amazon for deliveries and Prime pays for itself. Tons of bad (really bad) movies. Some good ones. Some spectacularly good documentaries. And high quality original series like The Man in the High Castle, and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. If you have never used Prime Video, they also have a couple handfuls of older original series that are high quality.
Starz… we watch an occasional movie here, and a few of the original series are good… especially Outlander. If we wanted to cut back, Starz would be the first to go.
HBO… Movies and original series. I have never watched Game of Thrones. Just never got into it. Probably never will. Too much of a time investment now. But Westworld, Big Little Lies, True Detective and Succession were consumed in their entirety.
CBS All Access… even tho we get the local CBS thru Hulu+, All Access give us the large deep bench of current and prior CBS series. Every episode on demand. Plus, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Strange Angel. And… CBS All Access is cheap.
NFL Sunday Ticket… streamed, not subscribed within Directv. A must have to watch my Chiefs… and their competition.
MLB Network… Although the glory of two World Series is a memory, we watch the Royals most every night in-season. Good background noise while reading.
Disney+… I have prepaid for two years worth. Came to be $3.88 per month. Talk about cheap! For that we’ll get the Disney, Pixar, Marvel movies, Star Wars movies and new series. A fantastic deal that is stunning with all the 4K HDR Dolby Vision content. I watched part of The Mandalorian (new Star Wars Series), and rewatched the Star Wars movies. Interestingly, while all the Star Wars movies claim to be in 4K HDR… the HDR is weak in the first few. With a great TV, it is a noticeable difference when viewing light sabres and explosions.
Apple TV+ … fully engulfed in an Apple world, we had to try it. Right now, so very few shows. But entertaining. And brought to the screen in beautiful 4K HDR and Dolby Vision. I’d suggest waiting a few weeks and take the free week when you want to binge a little. The Morning Show was better than I had imagined. For All Mankind might be a science fiction alternate reality show that lasts for many years. Dickinson is creative, engaging and different than anything I have ever seen.. Emily Dickinson would be rolling over in her grave, but it might result in a lot of young, new fans of Emily Dickinson’s work. The other stuff? Haven’t sampled it yet. Only so many hours in the day.
Living in peak TV
All these streaming services. So much content. And still way less than what we were paying for much more limited Directv. Even living free (no work hell), there is no way I could watch every good program. Beaches to visit, social life, puppy, writing… life to be lived
Fifty years ago there were 3 channels, maybe four. People watched reruns of Gilligan’s Island… and liked it. Now, we have peak TV. There is no longer any reason to watch a rerun. Or watch anything but a quality movie or show. But the choices are overwhelming.