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One thing I actually miss from themed channels is that they selected content for you, which is actually nice sometimes. Yes, sometimes you just want to watch a

One thing I actually miss from themed channels is that they selected content for you, which is actually nice sometimes. Yes, sometimes you just want to watch a specific show and you want to watch it now, and the streaming services are great for that. But sometimes you just want to turn on the TV and watch something, anything, without really making a choice. I still have cable because it's included in the rent, and sometimes it's nice to just switch the channel to FXX or something and get maybe an old episode of the Simpsons, or a new episode, or maybe some Family guy, or maybe an old episode of some other comedy series, or maybe something completely new. And that's nice and has value, but streaming services absolutely suck at that, because you always have to make a choice yourself with them.

ethbr0 5y ago
I realized exactly this recently: people don't channel surf anymore, and I kind of miss it. It was relaxing to me, post- many cable channels (81?), pre- guide/DVR, to just click through. "Oh, Armageddon is on again. Hercules. (flip, flip, flip)" and then settle on something random, pulled from what's currently playing. It used to be: survey and then choose from a very limited but rotating subset of all content. Now it's: choose from all content ever and then find where the content lives and then figure out how much of it you want to watch. For movies, the new way seems superior. For TV, it feels like a lot has been lost. And overall, I feel like the new system definitely leads to winner-take-all.
- Aloha 5y ago
  I miss just being able to "watch what's on" It's why I still subscribe to satellite radio. (and yes, I've thought about subscribing to video service from Spectrum, but I'm not a huge TV watcher)
- isignal 5y ago
  Try Pluto TV, their content isn’t as good as the paid offerings but I love the mindless channel surfing experience.
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    Ooh, thanks for the recommendation. Game of Death was on, and 80% of the way to the end. I feel back in the 90s already.
jfengel 5y ago
Netflix has a "Play Something" button for precisely that situation. https://about.netflix.com/en/news/play-something-netflix-does-the-work-for-you https://about.netflix.com/en/news/play-something-netflix-doe... It can pick either something you're already watching (TV series or unfinished movie), or guess something based on what it has learned about you. Of course it's just the Netflix catalog, but that's pretty extensive. It sounds godawful to me, so I've never used it. But it sounds like almost precisely what you just asked for.
abruzzi 5y ago
Its funny, but I never watched broadcast TV or Cable primarily becuase "just watching whats on" meant a 99% chance of sitting through dreck that I can't stand, so I never did it. In 1995, I had a collection of over 200 VHS tapes of movies I loved (all purchased, not copied.) In 2005 I had a collection of 500 DVDs that I had purchased. Today, I have about 700 movied ripped from DVDs (and the DVDs still in boxes somewhere), and 500 movies purchased on iTunes. I don't subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, or any other streaming service because, again, 99% of it is dreck I can't stand. So instead I have a collection of 1200 movies that I like and specifically chose and purchased. Some are better than others, but they're all ones I like.
- tomnipotent 5y ago
  > 500 movies purchased on iTunes iTunes sells licenses, not movies. Providers can pull content from iTunes and you lose access to whatever you paid for.
  - Ryder123 5y ago
    I don’t believe this is true, and I can’t find any confirmed examples of it happening. There have been cases where users thought they lost a purchase, but it ended up being an issue where they changed storefronts to one where the purchase wasn’t available. The movie reappeared when they went back to the original storefront (and I believe even that behavior was a bug that’s been fixed). I keep an eye on this because I’ve also purchased a lot of movies from iTunes.
    - Beldin 5y ago
      The licensing part is most likely true. Can you download purchases for offline play in a random (non-Apple) video player? Or do you need iTunes to exist in order to watch "your" purchases?

ethbr0 5y ago

I realized exactly this recently: people don't channel surf anymore, and I kind of miss it. It was relaxing to me, post- many cable channels (81?), pre- guide/DVR, to just click through. "Oh, Armageddon is on again. Hercules. (flip, flip, flip)" and then settle on something random, pulled from what's currently playing. It used to be: survey and then choose from a very limited but rotating subset of all content. Now it's: choose from all content ever and then find where the content lives and then figure out how much of it you want to watch. For movies, the new way seems superior. For TV, it feels like a lot has been lost. And overall, I feel like the new system definitely leads to winner-take-all.

Aloha 5y ago
I miss just being able to "watch what's on" It's why I still subscribe to satellite radio. (and yes, I've thought about subscribing to video service from Spectrum, but I'm not a huge TV watcher)
isignal 5y ago
Try Pluto TV, their content isn’t as good as the paid offerings but I love the mindless channel surfing experience.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Ooh, thanks for the recommendation. Game of Death was on, and 80% of the way to the end. I feel back in the 90s already.

jfengel 5y ago

Netflix has a "Play Something" button for precisely that situation. https://about.netflix.com/en/news/play-something-netflix-does-the-work-for-you https://about.netflix.com/en/news/play-something-netflix-doe... It can pick either something you're already watching (TV series or unfinished movie), or guess something based on what it has learned about you. Of course it's just the Netflix catalog, but that's pretty extensive. It sounds godawful to me, so I've never used it. But it sounds like almost precisely what you just asked for.

abruzzi 5y ago

Its funny, but I never watched broadcast TV or Cable primarily becuase "just watching whats on" meant a 99% chance of sitting through dreck that I can't stand, so I never did it. In 1995, I had a collection of over 200 VHS tapes of movies I loved (all purchased, not copied.) In 2005 I had a collection of 500 DVDs that I had purchased. Today, I have about 700 movied ripped from DVDs (and the DVDs still in boxes somewhere), and 500 movies purchased on iTunes. I don't subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, or any other streaming service because, again, 99% of it is dreck I can't stand. So instead I have a collection of 1200 movies that I like and specifically chose and purchased. Some are better than others, but they're all ones I like.

tomnipotent 5y ago
> 500 movies purchased on iTunes iTunes sells licenses, not movies. Providers can pull content from iTunes and you lose access to whatever you paid for.
- Ryder123 5y ago
  I don’t believe this is true, and I can’t find any confirmed examples of it happening. There have been cases where users thought they lost a purchase, but it ended up being an issue where they changed storefronts to one where the purchase wasn’t available. The movie reappeared when they went back to the original storefront (and I believe even that behavior was a bug that’s been fixed). I keep an eye on this because I’ve also purchased a lot of movies from iTunes.
  - Beldin 5y ago
    The licensing part is most likely true. Can you download purchases for offline play in a random (non-Apple) video player? Or do you need iTunes to exist in order to watch "your" purchases?