Has Netflix and Related Companies Changed Our Watching Habits Forever?

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I was reading an article the other day about Netflix. I'm rather new to it...but really, we all remember television seasons. Now in a nutshell the whole season can be watched in two weeks. Then you have to wait for another whole year for the new season. I think I liked it better in the old days...Your take?
 

I only rent movies via Netflix...and LOVE it.... to me there is so little to watch on TV (my opinion). I choose to watch comedies and lighthearted stuff only.... and since I only get basic cable (which is still too expensive, methinks) I find Netflix a real boon...
I have friends who like the idea of TV shows via videos. They say it gives them a chance to 'catch up' on ones they may have missed...like in Downton Abby (which I never watched but heard was fabulous! :) )
 

I dont have Netflix but do have Sky satellite services and they offer similar arrangements where you no longer need to wait for a series to roll out week by week. I quite like that as I am pretty hopeless when it comes to waiting for next episodes. However, I do not like the effect that the likes of Sky has had on our broadcasters. The non-subscription channels are struggling badly and it impacts on what we are provided - unless we want to pay for it. Even when we do pay for it, the choice is not great. Sky seem to serve up what they can buy from distributers in a job lot. Usually themed on a particular actor. So it is a matter of a rock and a hard place when it comes to TV now, I think.
 
Regarding seasons, I like to binge - watch a program for awhile but when I want something else I stop and treat the show as any other season and start watching weekly.

I have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, all commercial free. I will be canceling Hulu since I rarely watch it.

I have free PBS and a bunch of other free channels that do have commercials.

What I do NOT have are hundreds of sports channels that I never wanted yet had to pay for with cable.

You also have a choice to purchase any of those "premium" channels just like you can with cable, but after almost a year I still haven't found that necessary.

Switching to Internet TV with a Roku plug in (40.00) Has saved me over $75.00 a month. When I drop Hulu, I'll be saving over 85.00 a month.

Just a note about Hulu; it has good shows and movies and a comparable variety. I just don't like the format myself, but others like it alot.
 
Watching Netflix mostly for the movies and their original content. Have found some good ones of late, but you do have to search. Many are smaller independent films. Check out "The Fundamentals of Caring", which was just released. Loved it!
 
debbie in seattle said:
I like binge watching, esp during the winter.
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I'll knock out a 10-13 week series in a month if I really like it. Not much on watching several in one day. The problem with binge watching is by time the new season rolls around, I've forgotten a lot of the previous year. But as far as changing my viewing habits, I still enjoy watching a weekly series on cable like Blue Bloods.
 
I love Netflix and streaming via Roku. You can see pretty much anything you want, movies and TV series, minus the commercials. And you can rewind, fast forward, and see something over again if you want. I get both the streaming version of Netflix and the DVD's. The only problem I'm having is that some of the newer DVD's won't play on my old DVD player. They've apparently changed the format. My solution: I play them on my computer, which I plug into the large screen TV via a cable which cost less than $20.

I enjoy many of the streaming programs, such as Orange is the New Black (Netflix), Moving On, Last Tango in Halifax, and QI (all on Acorn), and some of the PBS series. I don't miss the weekly TV shows at all.
 
Netflix for me too. I haven't had a TV for at least 15 years now and don't miss it one bit. TV shows on Netflix can be streamed to watch episode after episode if so desired, especially those short episodes, you can move right along for a whole season for a good rainy Sunday or days when its just too hot to go out and run around outside. Same goes for movies, a lot to pick from, although quality varies, but there are reviews to look up to see how others regard the offerings.
 
I love to binge watch, it's where I first fell in love with a few series, took two or more seasons of a series in over a week or even one weekend. What fun it was, but you wouldn't have wanted to get a whiff of me up close as I would only move off the couch for food and elimination if the series was really good. :D For instance, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.
 
I guess my main complaint is having to wait...I want a whole new series now;) But now I understand...it's branching out to all the other interesting shows out there. Plus something I do enjoy is rewatching a season. You catch things you missed the first time, then you can watch your favorites again.
 
We have Netflix and Amazon. I came late to Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black, so I had several seasons to watch of each. Now I've got two episodes of Orange left in the latest season. And I have a complaint -- 13 show seasons, then wait a year? What's up with that? I am disgruntled that by tomorrow, there will be no new Orange shows to watch.

Better Call Saul (Breaking Bad spinoff) is good, too. I didn't think the first episode was all that promising, but I watched the second one because of the reviews and was hooked. Another long wait for the next season -- February, I think.

I love Netflix because of the cost, no commercials, huge selection, and I don't have to have a zillion channels of tv I don't want to watch. We canceled Hulu because we really never watched it. Husband watches Game of Thrones on Amazon; we have to pay for the episodes, though.

We watch one or two episodes of a show per day, one series at a time.
 
In the 'old days' when we couldn't find anything to watch on tv, we'd turn it off and walk away. Nowadays, we just switch to another bevy of shows, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV and all the others.............
 
debbie in seattle said:
In the 'old days' when we couldn't find anything to watch on tv, we'd turn it off and walk away. Nowadays, we just switch to another bevy of shows, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV and all the others.............
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Now I find myself frustrated as my wife spends time scrolling through all the various movie titles, looking for the perfect film. I keep saying, just pick something or do it on your computer! :)
 
Netflix has changed the way I watch TV in that I have no movie channels on Dish, I rent what movies I want to see....I can not stream movies so I get the disk....I watch very little TV.
 
We're still on cable and have a TIVO box. Lots of what we watch is on HBO or Showtime, but also some other network shows. Ray Donovan (Showtime) just started back up, so time to start watching that again.
 
They have not changed my watching habits because I don't subscribe to Netflix or any similar services.

They haven't changed anyone's watching habits forever, any more than the Betamax did.
 
We have Hulu. Amazon and Netflix/ And while I'm not saying it has changed my TV watching habits for all time, it sure has for the foreseeable future.
 
Bobw235 said:
Now I find myself frustrated as my wife spends time scrolling through all the various movie titles, looking for the perfect film. I keep saying, just pick something or do it on your computer! :)
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Funny, I find myself doing that sometimes. I end up watching nothing as I'm tired from the search. :p
 
Butterfly said:
Well, I think they've changed mine - I can't imagine going back to putting up with all those commercials. A one hour show on TV is about 42 minutes without commercials.
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we have a DVR with our cable, I record everything I regularly watch and will watch what I've DVR'd so I can skip the commercials. Ever notice the commercials (on live tv) are pretty much synchronized on all the channels now? Can't even switch the channel anymore to avoid the commercials.
 

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