TV Streams

          I just read an article on the internet, the writer of which said that cable tv will soon be a thing of the past, that the major networks will start streaming all their shows onto smartphones, IPads, laptops, and personal computers, all devices that nearly all of us now have, that companies like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, and networks like HBO, Cinemax, Starz, and Showtime will all produce their own series, documentaries, and movies and stream them to us for a nominal monthly fee. Hell, they’re all pretty much doing that now. I currently have Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, and each one has available more really good stuff than I could ever have time to watch even if my days were all 72 hours long, I lived to be 200, and I never needed any sleep.

          Several months ago I watched all of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, more recently Ozark on Netflix, and just finished bingeing on Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime, all three excellent and all three not available on cable tv. That’s such a better way of watching a good series, one episode right after another, and with very few commercials and without the week between episodes or months between seasons. Even now, who really needs cable if you don’t mind viewing on something other than your television set? And soon enough, all these off-cable companies will be able to stream their material to your television. And I can access anything on my schedule and not on the cable’s and networks’ schedules.

          Then there’s the monthly fee for cable television. I now have Dish, but their fees are much the same as those of every other cable company. I pay just north of a hundred bucks a month for what they label as the Top 200, but when I examine which channels I actually watch, I need only nine in addition to the local networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox), and if I didn’t want the Golf Channel, I could go down to the Top 120 for a lot less money. Why can’t these cable companies let me choose only the channels I want and not charge me for that other hundred or two hundred I don’t want? To any of my television viewing readers, find your cable company brochure and see what plan you’re on. Then count the number of channels you actually watch. You’ll be amazed at how few you watch and how many you pay for that you don’t watch.

          What do I now watch on Dish? My favorite shows are Bull, NCIS, Madame Secretary, The Good Doctor, The Resident, 9-1-1, Blue Bloods, Better Call Saul, The Big Bang Theory, and Mom. Are there a few I wish I’d started watching from the beginning but for whatever reason didn’t? This Is Us, American Horror Story, Sopranos, Mad Men, Homeland, The Office, Parks and Recreation, 24, House, Veep, and Bones. Are there any series I’d like to watch again? Lost, The Americans, The Closer, West Wing, and Glee, to name only a few. Well, guess what—They’re all available on one or the other of the streaming companies.

          Excuse me. I have to go to Amazon Prime to watch more of my latest series, Sneaky Pete. And I can watch as many episodes as I want and watch them whenever I want.