So, my Roku box, coupled with Netflix and Hulu is exposing me to stuff I wouldn't otherwise see. As with all TV, it's hit-or-miss. To keep it brief- the hits: The Fall, Comedians in Cars getting Coffee, Spoilers and Moone Boy. The misses: Orange is the New Black, Up to Speed, and From the Basement. The near hits: Continuum and Drunk History.
I could get into the individual merits and demerits of each show, but why bother? What works for me might not work for you. I'll just say that the Fall is a police procedural, Comedians is a chat show, Spoilers is a movie review/variety show, Moone boy, a period sit com, Orange is a dramedy, Up to Speed a travel show, From the Basement a music/performance show, Continuum a Sci-Fi action show and Drunk History a sketch comedy show.
I have another fish to fry, though- see, with all of this stuff, there's a knock against it. Two years ago, a friend cut the Cable TV cord. I was interested, so I asked him about it. He went with Netflix only, and I wouldn't want to do that, but his review, and the compelling reason why he went back to Cable TV was that it was good at getting you to your second choice. For example, you really want to watch WWE Monday Night Raw- he's saying it won't get you there, but it will get you to a good wrestling show. Likewise Maureen Ryan is calling all this sort of thing "B Movie TV"- and the implication in all events is that you'd rather be watching mainstream American TV networks, and you'll settle for this. At the risk of a straw man argument, I'd like to say this isn't true for me. I'm watching exactly what I want to watch. I saw this because I could be watching brand new broadcast TV, and HBO shows- even without a TV antenna, and cable subscription. Besides Vudu and Amazon, there are plenty of "pirate" sites where I could watch the shows immediately, with little chance of problems. So, no, I'm not watching any kind of consolation prize. There are a few shows I like on regular TV, and I've not stopped watching them. I'm still watching Burn Notice, for example. I'm just not really interested in watching Honey Boo Boo or the Bachelor, or Enlightened, or whatever it is that I'm supposed to be substituting. I cut out Cable because it wasn't offering what I wanted, which was more on-demand programming. I didn't want to have to jump through all the hoops to get to the good stuff- like watching 3 years of Lost, only to find that it copped out, in the end. I could skip to the end, if I were to approach it through Netflix. I would never even get to a great show like The Fall, because I'd have to hunt for it through hour upon hour of crap I don't want on the BBC. So, maybe others are like me- they don't want to sit through the monologue and musical number- they just want to see Jerry Seinfeld talking with David Letterman. They don't want to wait for three months to get the whole story of a season of Mad Men, so they'll go with Netflix, and watch 40 episodes in a row. Get the idea? What I'm saying is that you can cut cable, or not, that part isn't important. I'm saying that we have ways now of getting you exactly what you want. I happened to cut out cable because it's redundant- but also because it wasn't getting me to this place that I'm at. Now, if I could only get somebody to stream Lucky....
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