Netflix Frustration
I saw this article about fruntration among Netflix subscribers about the company's "throttling" service which was recenlty revealed. "Throttling" gives customers a lower priority on shipping out movies and on getting new movies, thus reducing the costs to the company. Many are crying foul, even though they still say they are getting a good deal from the service.
Up until last month, I was a Netflix subscriber, and for much of that time, I was fairly satisfied, especially in the beginning. I signed up about a year ago for the basic three-at-a-time service. They delivered as promised, and, I saw a lot of movies I wouldn't have normally seen because there was such a great variety. Rebecca and I are "fast watchers." When we get a movie, wether bought, rented or Netflixed, we usually sit down and watch it almost immediately. With the Netflix fare, we usually watched all three movies in the same day, especially on the weekends. So generally, we'd get them in the mail that morning, watch them that afternoon and evening, and send them back the next morning. And since Memphis is one of the distribution centers, we got them fairly quickly. Then, back in the fall, that began to change.
The first problem was we began receiving DVDs that were broken or scratched up so bad they didn't work. So basically what that meant is it took twice as long to get a watchable movie. In at least one case, it took three times to get the DVD because once the broken one was sent back, they sent a disc that was in the wrong envelope and that had to be straightened out.
Then, the shipments started slowing down. DVDs that were mailed on Monday weren't showing up as returned until Thursday or Friday and the next DVDs weren't shipped out until the following Monday - basically three a week. Still, a decent deal at less than $2 per DVD rented and the convenience of not having to go to the video store. Frustrating, but more or less acceptable.
Then came the month were we only receive, maybe four or five DVDs. We still watched them as soon as we got them and mailed them right back, but the next movies took a long time in coming. In one case, it was a week after the DVD was mailed that they acknowledged receiving it. It was another couple of days before they alerted me they had sent the next DVD and it was EIGHT DAYS before I received the DVD. So basically, it took more than two weeks to get my next movie. This kind of thing went on for a couple of months.
Then I heard about the lawsuit. I thought, great, maybe things will get better, and they did, slightly. Or at least they had gotten to the 9 to 12 movies a month level, not the 15 to 18 movies a month level it had been before. At this point I was frustrated - again, still not a bad deal, but not the one I signed up for - so I decided to keep going. Then, I heard about the "throttling" thing a few weeks ago and that was the last straw and I cancelled my membership.
Now, I'm not saying Netflix is a bad deal. And I'm not saying that at some point, I won't resubscribe, but for many people, it's not the deal they signed up for. Even with the changes they have made in their disclosure policies, I still think it's misleading at best. I think they promote the "perfect world" scenario and don't adequately let you know that heavy users will be shuffled to the bottom of the deck.
Netflix is a successful company, and will continue to be successful, at least in the near future because it offers a great convenience and a good selection of stuff that will never be in my local video store (the complete Space: 1999 series for one). But, I think they need to be more up front about their delivery policies, they need to play down or remove the "unlimited rentals" claim, and I think they need to offer the heavy users an option of upgrading their accounts, at a higher fee, which keeps them from being shuffled to the bottom of the deck.
There. That's my rant for the day.
Maybe We'll Finally Get Some Candy
At long last, the long awaited Strangers With Candy movie may actually be making its way to the big screen. Maybe. June or July. Maybe..... It seems that everytime a release is announced, it gets scrubbed. The movie has been floating around for about a year I think. If you haven't seen the series, watch for re-runs on Commedy Central. It's bizarre. Very funny. Made more so by Amy Sedaris (sister of David Sedaris) and Stephen Colbert, who has really come into his own with The Colbert Report on CC. Hell, if nothing else, it should at least be brought to CC's Late Night Stash.
What Was I Thinking?
I have recenlty been watching several DVDs of fairly recent movies and I noticed my opinion of these films changed from the time I went to see the movie to the time I watched the DVD. Four movies, in particular, stood out. Two I liked better on DVD, two I didn't like as much. Granted, I like all these movies. This is like the 180 I did with Independece Day where I really didn't like it when I saw it at the theater, but then liked it much better when I got the DVD.
Better
Serenity - This was actually one of my favorite movies from last year. I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon and started watching the series Firefly in the fall when it was brought to the Sc-Fi Channel. It was cool on the big screen. The story was good. If the series is truly over, it's a fitting ending. But I just watched it on DVD and it just seemed "better." Maybe it just seems more at home on the small screen.
The Fantastic Four - Sentimentality and good casting made this movie alright when I saw it this summer. A typical superhero origin story, it really didn't stretch the boundaries of the genre or of special effects. But it was the FF, which was always one of my favorite comics, and it didn't suck. After rewatching it, I found I liked it a little more. Maybe, since I already knew it was a decent product, I was more forgiving, but it did seem more enjoyable. And I see the cast has re-upped for a sequel, scheduled for 2007. I hope they go into the negative zone.
Worse
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - This one had everything going for it - Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, an favorite movie and story - but was a bit of a let down when I saw it on the big screen. The added story with Willy Wonka's story didn't work for mee (though the disappointment was softened by the fact his father was played by Christopher Lee), and the whole thing was kind of flat. Still, it was okay. Watching it again, however, sharpened those disappointments and highlighted minor ones, such as the somewhat lame nature of the Oompa Loompa songs (again, Danny Elfman, usually awesome. That's two movies he did last year where I was sorely disappoint in the music.). I though Deep Roy actually was one of the best parts of the movie. I'll stick with Gene Wilder.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Easy to understand. I was so relieved when I went to see this at the theater that it wasn't as terrible as I had heard. Again, not a bad movie, but watching it again heightened the disappoinments. The casting for the most part was good, but the additional material, even if it was originally written by Douglas Adams, just didn't work. Plus the whole Arthur ends up with Trillian thing was just counter to, well, who Arthur is throughout the series. Though it's cheezy, I'll stick to the BBC version.
New Music Monday
For anyone who may be interested, I have some new tunage posted at MacJams. Working Class Day is my latest. It is a lament about the state of the working person today.
Also, Politics, Religion and Football has been up a couple of weeks. It's an examination of the taboos surrounding discussion of those subjects. More notably, it's my most extensive attempt todate, to rip off the sound of Adam and the Ants.
TV or Not TV
As the television season begins to head into the home stretch, I find myself ambivalent about the renewal or non renewal of shows that, only a few months ago, I was crazy about. Most are new shows from this season, some are more veteran shows. Here we go:
New
Commander In Chief - Great premise. Started off with a bang. Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland - two great actors in their own rights - carry the show with ease and have a great chemistry together. The first half of the season was great. President Mackenzie not only had to deal with moving from vice president into the top job, but with the politics behind the scenes and the day to day job. I don't know exactly when Steven Bochco was brought into the production, but it was probably about the time all the episodes started being the same - some major crisis arises and President Mac uses her own brand of intellectual insightfulness to avoid disaster for both her politically and for the country. It's still doing okay int he ratings and Davis recently won one of the Much Ado About Nothing awards, so I think it stands a good chance of getting renewed, though, at this point, I'm not too concerned if it does or not. It will be on the schedule during the February sweeps, even though the number of episodes ordered for the season was cut from 22 to 18.
Surface - Of the four sci-fi/supernatural shows that debuted this season, this one was the best. Invasion was boring from the get-go, though the critics picked it as the best (and it did guest star Cirroc Lofton in one episode I watched), it just plodded along - and is still plodding along. Threshold started off with a great pilot and a couple of interesting episodes that followed, but quickly crashed and burned by Thanksgiving. Supernatural was just dumb. Surface was actually the one I thought would be the least interesting, but, through some fluke of nature, it was actually pretty good. I think part of that, at least for Rebecca and I, is a healthy leviathan fear. But, it also turned out that there was some decent plot and decent, if somewhat predictable at times writing. I will say that Lake Bell and Jay R. Ferguson will never win any acting awards. Ferguson is a tubby David Borenaz, without the talent, and Bell, well, it's a good thing she's pretty. But they fill the role they need to fill which is simply advancing the plot, which is actually the star of the show. The CGI monster are really good and the story line about the kid turning into the lizard king really helps out the show. The finale shows Monday, ending a 15 episode run. No decision has been made about its renewal and I don't know how well its done audience-wise, but I know the reruns have a pretty good spot on the Sci-Fi Channel, so there may be hope. I'm a little more interested in whether this one gets renewed or not, but I won't be devistated if it's not. I can't see it having more than a half, or one good season left in the premis without getting weird (in a bad way) or repetitive.
One show I am surprised that I want to see renewed is The Office. I'm a huge fan of the Ricky Gervais BBC series, and when I saw that NBC was going to produce an American version, I though about recent similar efforts such as "Coupling" and the John Laraquette vehicle based on Fawlty Towers. Surprisingly, however, The Office seems to have found it's own way. Same basic characters, same basic premise, but, in large part due to Steve Carell, who took Gervais' character and made it his own, it has succeeded. It's like the movie Office space on setroids. I think between decent ratings and decent success from iTunes downloads, this one will stick around.
Veteran shows
Lost - As much as I hate to say it, the show is beginning to become Lost to me. This season has been slow and fairly pointless so far. I don't care about any of the new characters from the tail section of the plane. The only thing that has really stuck with me this season is the reunion of the husband from the tail section and the wife who was with the main group - a very, very minor plot for the series. It's bogged down and I don't know if it will recover my interest. I know it will be renewed and I'll watch it throughout the reast of the season, but, it may not stay on the Tivo list next year.
24 - Next to The Shield, this is my favorite non-science fiction show on today. In the beginning, the premis was unique, and still is. The writing is good. Keiffer Sutherland is excellent in the role of Jack Bauer, who, for several years in a row, has had one 24-hour period that has just really sucked. This season started off with a bang and has just been rolling ever since. I'm disappointed, however, that several of my favorites from previous seasons were killed off in the opening few minutes of this season - especially Dennis Haysbert who portraid President Palmer in all the previous season. I don't want this series to be cancelled, but I wonder just how far the rollercoaster ride can go and still be fun. This is the fifth season. I would hate to see it start limping as series usually do in their final two seasons.
Shows I'm still enthusiastic about
The Shield
Boston Legal
Battlestar Galactica
Stargate SG1
Stargate Atlantis
We'll see what comes down the pike.
Manson in Wonderland
It might not seem like it at first, but if you think about it who better to writ, direct and star in a movie about "Alice in Wonderlan" creator Lewis Carroll than Marilyn Manson. It should definitely bring out Carroll's darker side, which, I think, we really don't see enough of.
What's Old is New Again
WARNING: Beyond here, thar be spoilers!!!!
I love the new Battlestar Galactica. It's not only one of the best sci-fi series ever, it's also one of the best dramas on TV today. But while I love all the new ground they are breaking with the series, I also love the nods they are making to the 1978-1980 series.
One case in point is the obvious recent reappearance of the Pegasus. Nice twist with Michelle Forbes as Admiral Kane - a cross between Captain Ahab, Captain Blye, Captain Crook and possibly Captain Crunch - I'm just not sure. It took an old idea from the series and molded to the new series quite well.
Another recent idea, which seemed to be taken right from the scripts of the original series was another recent episode. The one where Apollo is with the prostitute he's been seeing and the black marketeers break in beat him up, kidnap the woman and her daughter, threaten to kill the prostitute and they sell the daughter into a child sex slave ring. Apollo hunts down the head of the black market and then shoots him in the head. I mean, you don't get any more of a classic BSG plot line than that. I still remember Richard Hatch's riveting performance in the 1979 version of that episode. Good stuff!
