General Entertainment Having movies and shows curated for you vs picking and choosing your own content.

[heydude93]

I guess it's the difference between watching cable TV, going to curated screenings, live premieres, etc vs streaming networks where you consume everything at your convenience. Which do you like most? If you prefer the second (most probably will), are there any instances where you miss the former, or even prefer it?  Do you think there's something positive to be said of that experience, or do you think the netflix queue approach is better entirely?

[Chris-]

I think a balance is ideal; curation is good for the sake of being exposed to things I may not otherwise see, but having some control is obviously beneficial. I like how HBO Max does it with rotating themes to highlight things I may not otherwise look at. 

[CitizenVectron]

The streaming services really need like, 5 "channels" that you can just open and watch whatever is on. Sometimes I just want something on in the background while I'm making supper, and having to actually think about what I want to watch is annoying compared to the old days of TV. Some services have a "random" button, but it's not the same as just having something already playing and curated. There could be a cartoon channel, action channel, comedy channel, etc.

[Remarkableriots]

13 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

The streaming services really need like, 5 "channels" that you can just open and watch whatever is on. Sometimes I just want something on in the background while I'm making supper, and having to actually think about what I want to watch is annoying compared to the old days of TV. Some services have a "random" button, but it's not the same as just having something already playing and curated. There could be a cartoon channel, action channel, comedy channel, etc.

Some of them do have channels.

[Remarkableriots]

I prefer streaming and I don't miss going to theaters at all. I might not ever go to one again tbh.

[Bloodporne]

I miss some of the discovery and surprise elements, even if it turns out not-well, of watching cable back in the day and just committing to something because you stumble upon a cool scene while flipping channels late at night. Things like that. But I mean really, it's no big deal so I don't have much of an opinion. 

 

What I miss most possibly is going to the videostore and getting the local movie nerds to recommend things to me, have passionate discussions about it after and all that. I liked that film nerd environment of a good movie store. 

[dualhunter]

37 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

The streaming services really need like, 5 "channels" that you can just open and watch whatever is on. Sometimes I just want something on in the background while I'm making supper, and having to actually think about what I want to watch is annoying compared to the old days of TV. Some services have a "random" button, but it's not the same as just having something already playing and curated. There could be a cartoon channel, action channel, comedy channel, etc.

 

You could just go with the first "because you watched" suggestion. Just be careful with Disney+, or it will recommend the last thing you watched so you'll loop between 2 shows/movies.

[SimpleG]

Streaming and curated is my preference. And while I do agree with @Bloodporne on finding something great while flipping thru is missed ,more often the not nothing of value was found. 
 

I am also on board with @Remarkableriots, fuck going to theaters.

[Bloodporne]

2 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Streaming and curated is my preference. And while I do agree with @Bloodporne on finding something great while flipping thru is missed ,more often the not nothing of value was found. 
 

I am also on board with @Remarkableriots, fuck going to theaters.

I really miss my local Indie theater. I like the whole social aspect of it but again because it's all movie nerds that go there and they have discussions after the flick is over. You grab a drink and sit in their community space and people discuss the movie. I tend to just sit in the back and listen to everyone babble until my girlfriend can't take the nerdiness anymore and we gotta go though haha. 

[TheLeon]

I attended a small film festival several years ago, and for those few days I just watched as many movies as I could fit in my schedule. That was a pretty cool curated experience, where I saw I bunch of stuff I probably wouldn't have normally seen. It was an indie festival, and most of the movies I saw never really broke out. The one exception was Tangerine, which was a blast at that late night screening. 

 

I think that kind of curation is cool, but for some reason for me it's hard to translate that idea to the streaming space. Mubi is a service that basically uses that as their selling point, and I subscribed for a month or two and barely watched anything. Yes, I might like that obscure Estonian drama you hand selected for me today, but when I'm sitting at home alone on the couch, I'm much more likely to click on some forgettable early 00's action movie that caught my eye on Amazon Prime. 

 

[Fizzzzle]

I like a balance of both. What I wish streaming services did is have an option to not show me anything I've watched before. It's infuriating that none of them do that.

[dualhunter]

4 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

I like a balance of both. What I wish streaming services did is have an option to not show me anything I've watched before. It's infuriating that none of them do that.

 

Disney+ is the worst for that.  After each episode of Wanda Vision the "because you watched" was Age of Ultron which is related and Disney+ doesn't know that I saw it in theatre. But given that I watched Wanda Vision on Disney+ why was it the "because you watched" for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Can you guess what the "because you watched" is for Loki?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE curation to the point where I REFUSE to watch anything that has been "recommended" for me.

[Jason]

14 hours ago, Chris- said:

I think a balance is ideal; curation is good for the sake of being exposed to things I may not otherwise see, but having some control is obviously beneficial. I like how HBO Max does it with rotating themes to highlight things I may not otherwise look at. 

 

The Netflix algorithm is basically "things other people who watched and liked the things you watched and liked" and I'd say it does a decent job. Some of what it turns up are turds but I think that's more about a lot the Netflix-created content being turds than the algorithm itself. I would appreciate more ability to go in and make hard overrides on stuff, though. Like it recommended The 4400 to me recently, which I actually really enjoyed so much I binged it.

 

14 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

The streaming services really need like, 5 "channels" that you can just open and watch whatever is on. Sometimes I just want something on in the background while I'm making supper, and having to actually think about what I want to watch is annoying compared to the old days of TV. Some services have a "random" button, but it's not the same as just having something already playing and curated. There could be a cartoon channel, action channel, comedy channel, etc.

 

I don't use TV as background that much per se and I don't want the full oldschool experience of tuning in halfway through an episode, but I'd definitely appreciate more options for "just make an educated guess about what I'd like and start it from the beginning if it's a TV series". Maybe provide the option to input how much time I think I want to be watching for in the current sitting, or even just TV vs movie which would be a decent proxy for that. A genre control might be okay too. But just very broad "what are you in the mood for" kinds of options that don't make you think nearly as hard as picking something specific, while still making those toggles optional.

[LazyPiranha]

I barely watch anything anymore.  If a movie piques my interest I’ll wait until it’s streaming or borrow it from my local library.  I’ve watched maybe one tv series and one or two anime series in the past five years.  Even when I had cable I haven’t really channel surfed since I was in high school.  If I need some background noise I’ll listen to music or podcasts, if I do t have something specific to watch I won’t put something on for the sake of watching something, I’ll play a game instead.  Really the current setup is ideal for me in every way except trying to figure which of the dozens of streaming services anything is on anymore.