Dumpster Bust on TV: Obsessing Netflix
Published December 14, 2004
I love Netflix. If I could time transport back to 2001, I'd pour every penny I had (True Confession: $43.95) into its stock. To think... I could have been a thousand-aire.
Netflix is a DVD rent-by-mail company. You pay a flat fee of about $20 a month and you get to keep three DVDs at any given time. No late fees, ever. When you're done with one, you throw it into a little sleeve (free postage) and pop it in the mail. Two or three days later, you get a little present in the mail along with junk mail and the water bill. If you're online omnipresently like myself, you can tweak your DVD queue anytime you want. They have thousands of titles, you don't have to drive and park and drive and park to rent something at a stuffy Blockbuster waiting on a line for someone Stoned Out of Time and Mind to take your cash, and you eliminate late fees forever and ever. So: watch the DVDs whenever you want, no late fee, no hassle, no having to run two errands. I love it: this was made for me.
Netflix is also fantastic for watching season packages of television shows, miniseries (think Shogun, North & South, War & Redemption, whatever's your bag), or really old, obscure, or cult stuff. It's allowed me to watch mountains of television footage that I missed out on the first time around or can't get because I can't afford insane monthly cable fees to get "premiere" channels. It's allowed to take in shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Dead Zone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Alias in from the very beginning.
There's a remarkable difference in watching the very cream of the crop of television shows, without commercials, from Episode 1 to Episode 22 or 24, straight through. Especially with shows with complex and compelling story arcs (all of the shows I mention above apply) you get to feel the full weight of sub-plots, character motivations, and telling foreshadows. Plus, it's great fun to rewind to parts that you missed because a) the dog barked b) the doorbell rang or c) you fell asleep in your 3:30 am cereal.
And, if you're like me, you get to see some really nifty special features that come along with some discs. I personally love a good audio commentary from a show creator, writer, or cast member. Joss Whedon, creator of the incredible trio of shows Buffy-Angel-Firefly, is particularly entertaining in providing directorial notes, cast trivia and tidbits, and a sense of the overall season arc and direction. (Serenity, the film project to come out of the obscenely cut short Firefly, will be out next autumn).
The DB on TV series will get down and dirty into many of the above shows and more, so stay tuned...
For more on this and on every other topic under the sun, check out:
Dumpster Bust: Manufacturing Miracles from Mind Trash, Since 2003
Eric Berlin is the Executive Producer of Blogcritics.org and publisher of Online Media Cultist. He's also prone to referring to himself in the third person in author bios in an attempt to make it look like someone Less Important wrote it for him.
Contact: dumpsterbust@gmail.com
- Dumpster Bust on TV: Obsessing Netflix
- Published: December 14, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Action, Video: Adventure, Video: Animation, Video: Art House, Video: Classics, Video: Comedy, Video: Crime, Video: Documentary, Video: Drama, Video: Family, Video: Fantasy, Video: Film and TV Business, Video: Fitness, Video: Foreign Language, Video: Horror, Video: Military, Video: Music, Video: News, Video: Original Fiction, Video: Performing Arts, Video: Reality TV, Video: Romantic, Video: Romantic Comedies, Video: SF, Video: Sports, Video: Suspense and Mystery, Video: Television, Video: Thriller, Video: Urban, Video: Westerns
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Comments
Wow, that policy, to use a phrase I coined many years ago, blows the donkey.
I noticed recently that Blockbuster advertised all rentals for $.99 for a week. Earlier this summer, they had a rent-all-you-want-for-one-price special going.
I thought at the time: Blockbuster, my dear old enemy, I'm afraid your days are numbered.
Looks like I was right.
~EB
I've been a Netflix member since 1999, and I've never looked back. Being a member of this DVD rental service makes Blockbuster look like a joke.
BTW, in regards to watching TV shows without commercials: Get a DVR!!! You'll get mine when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. :-)
Vic
Vic,
Funny you should mention -- I'm hoping this holiday season in SoCal will be bountiful and forthcoming of DVR glory.
For a few years I scoffed at people who would pay a service fee every month for TiVo or any DVR. But it turned out in my heart of hearts I was raging with jealousy.
A small wee example: I've missed about four episodes of Lost! Thankfully, they'll be re-aired over the coming month.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
Eric,
I'm using the Dish version of a DVR. I think the actual Tivo software is better with season pass and all that. The Dish version is the equivalent of a VCR: It records based on the time slot of the first episode you use as a basis. If the TV show shifts timeslot or day of the week, or has an extended episode Dish won't follow it, but Tivo will.
Vic
Vic,
Thanks for that input. I'm looking into DVRs right now. TiVo was my default choice, since I don't have a dish or digital cable, but the talk about the possibility of mandatory ads on-screen is making me feel iffy...
Ah, choices choices...
About Season Pass: I thought that was a dish thing -- you can sign up for NFL Season Ticket and so on and receive the satellite broadbast. What is Season Pass in connection with TiVo?
Thanks,
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
Season Pass on Tivo allows you to select a show to record, and the box will record that show no matter when it comes on, independent of any specific timeslot.
Vic
Ah, of course -- I didn't realize that that concept had such a fancy name.
Thank,
EB
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Netflix rules! I have been with them for 3 or 4 years this Christmas and I love every minute of it. Just today Blockbuster announced they were eliminating late fees. guess what, Blockbuster, FUCK YOU. You are too late on the bandwagon of treating your consumers like humans. As a DVD lover, I was paying about $20 a month to Blockbuster just in late fees. I hope they go out of business and die a horrible death. They screwed us every chance they got.
oh, and check this little Blockbuster gem out. The new policy gives you a week to return the movie... after a week (get ready for this, cause it's gonna piss you off)
YOU BOUGHT IT!
and if you have an account they already have your credit card number.