Netflix going to $19.99 a month

[Huntn]

Yet they dumped all 8 Reacher eps at once. Was hoping they would protect me from myself. But they didn't. We did limit ourselves to 1 a day for the first 5 days, then realized we were going out of town in 2 days and had 3 eps left. So we did 1.5 a day for the last 2 days.

I remember back when The Soprano's was on, DirecTV would let you add/remove programming via their website. So people would add HBO on Sunday and remove it on Monday. Cost them 40 cents a week to watch it.

Marvelous Mrs Maisel, a show we really enjoy on Prime, we just noticed for this season instead of the entire season appearing it’s only 1 episode per week.

 

[Joe]

I don't mind paying a premium for a great service and HBO Max continues to deliver excellent content on a regular basis.

What are some good series on HBOMax?

 

[Edd]

What are some good series on HBOMax?

For starters:

- IMDb

www.imdb.com

I‘d personally say Deadwood, The Wire, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Succession are a rough top 5. Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and High Maintenance are a good starting place for comedies.

Netflix has nothing as good as the first 5 I listed, IMO.

 

[DT]

For starters:

- IMDb

www.imdb.com

I‘d personally say Deadwood, The Wire, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Succession are a rough top 5. Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and High Maintenance are a good starting place for comedies.

Netflix has nothing as good as the first 5 I listed, IMO.

That's pretty close to the list I would suggest.

Some mini-series (in that they were designed for a single season and done):

Station Eleven - post-pandemic/apocalypse, very clever, it's framed around a traveling acting company, has a little LOST-like vibe with the flashbacks, way more about other-than-the-post-apocalypse

I May Destroy You - drama, very dark comedy that's sometimes hard to watch about sexual assault, a stunning show written/directed/lead-acted by Michaela Coel

Mare of Easttown - simple, procedural cop drama elevated by spectacular performances, takes place in present day, in a small town in PA where they perfectly capture the feel

Definitely watch Season 1 of True Detective, S2 is pretty mediocre, S3 is not bad, a decent return to form (Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff are terrific), but that first season is as good as it gets. It's an anthology series so S01 is totally self contained.

Another single season show is Watchman, it's a sequel of sorts to the comic (not as much to the movie), it's fantastic, uses the original story to frame a new story about racism, government control, it's a "superhero" show, while not being one at all.

Silicon Valley - created by Mike Judge. It's gets the vibe of big tech just perfect, even some of the most absurd bits are more real than you can imagine. This is 6 seasons, and is over.

Barry - starring Bill Hader as an assassin that wants out, it's genius. very funny while having moments of sudden, surprisingly violence, Hader is amazing. 2 seasons so far, 3rd in production, it's ongoing.

 

[Edd]

That's pretty close to the list I would suggest.

Some mini-series (in that they were designed for a single season and done):

Station Eleven - post-pandemic/apocalypse, very clever, it's framed around a traveling acting company, has a little LOST-like vibe with the flashbacks, way more about other-than-the-post-apocalypse

I May Destroy You - drama, very dark comedy that's sometimes hard to watch about sexual assault, a stunning show written/directed/lead-acted by Michaela Coel

Mare of Easttown - simple, procedural cop drama elevated by spectacular performances, takes place in present day, in a small town in PA where they perfectly capture the feel

Definitely watch Season 1 of True Detective, S2 is pretty mediocre, S3 is not bad, a decent return to form (Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff are terrific), but that first season is as good as it gets. It's an anthology series so S01 is totally self contained.

Another single season show is Watchman, it's a sequel of sorts to the comic (not as much to the movie), it's fantastic, uses the original story to frame a new story about racism, government control, it's a "superhero" show, while not being one at all.

Silicon Valley - created by Mike Judge. It's gets the vibe of big tech just perfect, even some of the most absurd bits are more real than you can imagine. This is 6 seasons, and is over.

Barry - starring Bill Hader as an assassin that wants out, it's genius. very funny while having moments of sudden, surprisingly violence, Hader is amazing. 2 seasons so far, 3rd in production, it's ongoing.

Also The Leftovers, Six Feet Under, Boardwalk Empire…the playlist is deep.

 

[DT]

Also The Leftovers, Six Feet Under, Boardwalk Empire…the playlist is deep.

Yeah, geez, if you randomly select an HBO original, it's like a 90% chance it'll be terrific

 

[Herdfan]

Yeah, geez, if you randomly select an HBO original, it's like a 90% chance it'll be terrific

For sure.

Anyone remember the first couple they came out with?

The first one I remember was Dream On. Same creators as Friends. It was a great show.

And then there was Arliss. Lead was Robert Wuhl and he was great.

Arliss was on HBO Max, not sure if it still is. Dream On is owned by NBCU so it may show up on Peacock at some point.

 

[Joe]

For starters:

- IMDb

www.imdb.com

I‘d personally say Deadwood, The Wire, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Succession are a rough top 5. Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and High Maintenance are a good starting place for comedies.

Netflix has nothing as good as the first 5 I listed, IMO.

Thanks. I will start there.

 

[DT]

Thanks. I will start there.

Deadwood fantastic, but ended sort of abruptly at Season 3, the showrunner, David Milch, had another project he wanted to go start. Here's the amazing thing, after 12 years he was able to come back, get the original cast together and shoot a 2 hour movie to conclude the series, and it's fantastic (it takes place is roughly real time from the series to movie).

"You see me empty, sir, do not pause and inquire. Simply assume and refill."

 

[Arkitect]

Currently we have subscriptions to:

Netflix
Amazon Prime
BBC (TV License)…

I'd be hard pressed to point to any series we have watched lately that was satisfying.

Most are aimed at a demographic far younger and with an apparently far shorter attention span than us. Most nights we give up on finding something to watch and just listen to music. Read a book. Talk to friends.

Some series start off well and then over stay their welcome. 1 season (even 1 or 2 episodes) wonders that expand into 2…3…4 seasons!

TV is shite.

 

[Deleted member 215]

Also The Leftovers, Six Feet Under, Boardwalk Empire…the playlist is deep.

Also Girls. Maybe not for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good thing I'm still on my sister's Netflix account Right now I seem to be using Netflix the least out of Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+. I only temporarily subscribed to HBO Max and Showtime to watch specific shows. And I use my dad's Amazon Prime account to order stuff from Amazon and, now, watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

 

[Edd]

Deadwood fantastic, but ended sort of abruptly at Season 3, the showrunner, David Milch, had another project he wanted to go start. Here's the amazing thing, after 12 years he was able to come back, get the original cast together and shoot a 2 hour movie to conclude the series, and it's fantastic (it takes place is roughly real time from the series to movie).



View attachment 11913

"You see me empty, sir, do not pause and inquire. Simply assume and refill."

I screenshot this. I’m a barfly by nature and Al is possibly the best TV character ever so this is my new credo. Mark the date, cocksuckers!

 

[Herdfan]

Good thing I'm still on my sister's Netflix account Right now I seem to be using Netflix the least out of Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+. I only temporarily subscribed to HBO Max and Showtime to watch specific shows. And I use my dad's Amazon Prime account to order stuff from Amazon and, now, watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

I have to wonder how long until they start clamping down on this.

 

[Joe]

Deadwood fantastic, but ended sort of abruptly at Season 3, the showrunner, David Milch, had another project he wanted to go start. Here's the amazing thing, after 12 years he was able to come back, get the original cast together and shoot a 2 hour movie to conclude the series, and it's fantastic (it takes place is roughly real time from the series to movie).



View attachment 11913

"You see me empty, sir, do not pause and inquire. Simply assume and refill."

A friend told me to watch The White Lotus so I am currently watching that. But I'll tackle this list after lol

 

[lizkat]

@Huntn

Yeah, I should do that sooner than later - and thanks Netflix for making our nice 4K TV experience shitter ...

On the, er, I guess maybe upside[?] I was looking at the Netflix app on the iPad and it had games (may have there for some time, just never noticed it), they link over to the Apple App Store, and the cost is noted as a Netflix subscription, so I'm assuming it'll allow purchasing it for free.

The problem for some of us regarding Netflix and gaming is this: it may be a "free" add-on, and it's touted as that by Netflix, but some states specifically tax online gaming (as opposed to taxing streaming services in general) so for instance everyone in New York State who was paying 8.99 a month total to Netflix for basic sub suddenly got a bill in December 2021 for 9.71 total instead.

So now of course the basic sub goes to 9.99 and my Netflix bill goes to 10.79 thanks to the 8% tax. And one pays this whether ever playing a game via Netflix or not, precisely BECAUSE gaming is not a separate option, so the state taxes the whole damn subscription price.

So much for "free lunch" maxims, eh? Netflix proves to me that there's no such thing.

It's nearly enough to put me to cancelling Netflix, all other things about Netflix as noted in this thread also taken into consideration. I'm thinkin' on it some more. When I order my iPad Air is when Netflix should tremble in the chilly breeze off my budget recalculations. Why take an iPad Air out of the rice and beans budget when a handier candidate has popped up?

 

[DT]

Yeah, Flori-Duh has a "digital entertainment tax", so our Hulu is $12.99/month, and an additional $1.68 for Desantis to put into his 3rd home fund ...

 

[Eric]

Yeah, Flori-Duh has a "digital entertainment tax", so our Hulu is $12.99/month, and an additional $1.68 for Desantis to put into his 3rd home fund ...

Just be careful not to say the word gay. They sure love their taxes and restrictions for being the party of "freedom".

 

[DT]

Just be careful not to say the word gay. They sure love their taxes and restrictions for being the party of "freedom".

That fucker was on TV talking about "We don't want teachers pushing the agenda ...". When trump drops dead before 2024, he's ready to take his place.

Oh yeah, the tax is like 12.5%, it's ridiculous, since there's no physical address our profile, they probably just doing a general location via IP, I should setup a VPN just to avoid it.

 

[lizkat]

That fucker was on TV talking about "We don't want teachers pushing the agenda ...". When trump drops dead before 2024, he's ready to take his place.

Oh yeah, the tax is like 12.5%, it's ridiculous, since there's no physical address our profile, they probably just doing a general location via IP, I should setup a VPN just to avoid it.

But your state explicitly taxes "streamed entertainment". Ours and some others only tax "online gaming". Yet Netflix regards and touts its online gaming option as "free" -- so you just use it if you want to, as you might watch one of its movies if you want to, and all is covered under the umbrella of a basic sub.

So then there's no handle on whether you do or don't make use of that included option... and so the damn states that tax "online gaming" just tax the whole platform subscription fee.

And pity the premium subscribers in NYS now paying tax on $19.99 even if they never play one round of any online game via that Netflix option. It's not an online gaming tax in New York for Netflix subscribers who don't game, it's a state ripoff.

But see It certainly doesn't bother Albany that Netflix didn't include some sort of user profile tag that says whether the gaming option has been triggered -- and then assigns to gaming an 89c or $1.17 or whatever portion of the 8.99 soon to be 9.99 revenue stream from a subscriber who exercise their free option. NYS just says oh you have a gaming option, then since you can't identify a fractional cost or even participation by users who opt in to the "free gaming option", then it just means we get to tax the whole gig which is, yeah, great for the state budget!

I'm annoyed, and so Netflix is probably going away sooner than my annoyance will, and way sooner than New York will ever agree to bother legalizing what has become a de facto "streamed entertainment" tax just by way of some company dropping a "free" game option into the mix. Why should they fix what sure doesn't look broke to the grateful state budget crunchers?

Imagine what a haul that is in a state as populous as New York with a service as popular as Netflix still manages to be. Just off me alone on a basic sub, they make an extra 8 bucks a year. How many millions you figure there are like me in NYS?

 

[DT]

Oh, now I see what you're saying - the beer tax is applied to bananas become they're sold at the same store - well that's incredibly craptacular.