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It's difficult to imagine that Friends, a show that ended 15 years ago, could be of any real importance to a modern streaming giant like Netflix.
In fact the sitcom, which features a bunch of 20-somethings living together in a time before streaming was even invented, is US Netflix's second-most watched show.
Today, Netflix announced that it's poised to lose its rights to broadcast the series to its original parent company, Warner, which plans to launch its own streaming service, HBO Max in the first quarter of 2020.
The blow follows another announcement in June that Netflix's number one series, the US version of The Office, is also being snatched back by its creators, NBCUniversal, to be broadcast exclusively in the US on its own yet-to-be-launched streaming service.
Old media, analysts are noting with no small amount of surprise, is suddenly bringing the fight to Netflix, and it looks like Netflix could be the one that gets knocked out, or at least very knocked around.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @10:37AM (8 children)
“Friends” was a disaster personified.
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:14PM (7 children)
A very profitable disaster. One that continues to spin money today.
One that will probably will be generating millions 50 years from now.
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:22PM (3 children)
What's so great about it? I know how popular it is but the appeal totally seems to bypass me. Do you need to be a people person? Someone please explain it.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:57PM (2 children)
Jennifer Aniston. And, yeah, that's about it.
I mean, there's some plot here and there, watching Gunther fail repeatedly was fun, and the one on crack .. Pheobe? was a riot.
Smelly cat, smelly cat, something something something.
I learned a lot from Friends. Mostly what I learned is that in my life I never really quite lived. Oh well. I am old. Too late. I stopped watching at season 7 ish but saw the last season except the last episode. They never aired it here, or at least not that I saw. I saw the last ep online years later. They still do reruns here. Like some old shows we can expect reruns for decades.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Saturday July 13 2019, @05:22PM (1 child)
It was originally aired long enough ago that I did not own a HDTV and as such Jennifer Anniston's braless aerobics on the show were borderline not visible, so the NTSC to ATSC conversion for high res digital had people (well, guys, mostly) rewatching Friends now that technology revealed a bit more.
This is also an effect with "Threes Company" and Baywatch and oddly enough "The price is right". I don't remember seeing pokies on "the price is right" in the 80s because TV resolution didn't permit; but holy cow there's a lot to see at HDTV resolution.
There was a major flip in womens fashion around the turn of the century from revealing and showing off the top half to showing off the bottom half and I read a crappy online "journalism" clickbait article trying to claim that womens fashion was downstream of TV back when young people used to still watch TV, and the actresses didn't like how the SD to HD conversion turned their relatively tame shows into jiggle-TV, so the female actors successfully pushed from showing off top half cleavage to showing off whale tails and yoga pants. Its... believable as a theory. Possibly the reason you see basic college girls at the grocery store today in skin tight see thru yoga pants with baggy sweaters on top is literally because of HDTV, whereas in their mom's NTSC TV era it was skin tight blouses and tee shirts often braless with super baggy skirts and pants because that didn't show off too much on 480i resolution. Weird but likely true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @10:29AM
I'm not desperate enough to be giddified by breasts bouncing on mainstream TV shows. We have pornhub and redtube and motherless now you know.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:08PM (2 children)
Yeah...the dicks that be get Firefly cancelled due to their incompetency, but Friends goes on as long as it did.
I NEED JUSTICE!
I'll watch Firefly and I.T. Crowd any day. Friends... mrrrrmmm...
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Chocolate on Sunday July 14 2019, @10:34AM (1 child)
Where would we be if they had shown the first half of the first season of Friends out of order, at different times of the week, and then cancelled the show after the 13th episode due to low ratings?
Probably one of the best features of Netflix and their kin is the ability to watch a TV series in order, and go back and rewatch. Normal TV can't hold a candle to this.
What I really don't understand is why the regular TV stations never brought out their own TV shows with their own schedules including ads for free to meet demand. A lot of people say they would have watched a couple of ads in exchange for free TV online. That said, I can't watch the crap they have now because they keep showing the same ads over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday July 14 2019, @03:24PM
A. men.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Spamalope on Saturday July 13 2019, @10:51AM (44 children)
That the centralized one stop shopping is what suppressed bootlegging. Pre-Netflix streaming every secretary knew how to bootleg shows and they'd share actively so only one needed to download a season.
They're going to get that again.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:09AM (10 children)
Yep. It'll take them a few years to figure out that people will just pirate rather than deal with a dozen exclusive groups of asshats but they'll learn eventually.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:30AM (5 children)
Except the next time, the users are going to be more sophisticated.
I know a lot of non-tech people that either already have a VPN or are considering getting one.
Right now they're using it for watching Netflix content outside of their viewing region. In the future it'll be for pirate bay.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:25PM (4 children)
A VPN isn't the final answer in pirating movies and such. My VPN service is just about the best, IMO, but they got kicked out of Russia, because they refused to play the Russian surveillance game. Private Internet Access may very well be shut down, any time the *affia organizations lobby the proper combination of asshats in the various capitals around the world. Look at China, a recent article suggested that it was, or soon would be, against the law to use a VPN.
It always has been, still is, and always will be, an arms race between "us" and "them". And, we've always been at war with Eastasia.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:37PM
But has the VPN you connect to from THAT VPN been kicked out of Russia?
Op Sec is hard. [kym-cdn.com]
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:57PM (2 children)
Well, telegram refused to play Russian security game but it is alive as well so far. Perhaps, one needs better engineers and bolder managers.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:28AM (1 child)
Actually, you can't be sure that Telegram was being truthful with it's users. Where is/was the canary switch? PIA tried to negotiate with Russia, Russia refused to negotiate, so PIA pulled out. They made it quite clear that Russia would not permit them to remain in operation, unless PIA buckled under. I can't be sure that Telegram has been compromised, but you certainly can't be sure that they have not.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @01:03AM
For as much as anybody can be sure about anything in politics, I am reasonably sure telegram is not compromised yet. The reason mostly is that a lot of very powerful bureaucrats lost their face in the battle and they are still in power. If/when they got what they want, they wil advertise it, I believe. Besides, I have a good idea how telegram avoids blocking and vpn's could use the same strategy, but they decided it does not worth it. It is actually a good business decision as they don't make money in Russia. Telegram, on the other hand, has a personal vendetta going.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:32AM (1 child)
True but why is "woke" Netflix the single source of distribution? Also conceivable that people cannot be bothered pirating and just stop watching such insipid shit altogether.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday July 13 2019, @08:53PM
Stop watching?
Hasn't happened yet..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:00PM (1 child)
MAFIAA and friends will wage a bitter war against fully loaded Kodi and related "pirate" services (including the websites and servers that streams are scraped from).
Kodi with plugins is still tough for plain folks to use (I know because I've set it up for a few). But when it does work, at its best, it's kind of like Netflix, except free. Which is terrifying for MAFIAA members (Netflix joined in January 2019).
You have to maintain a Kodi setup to keep it working. You'll see weird update failure messages, plugins that work great but later break (possibly due to DMCA or legal threats), and video sources that don't work, buffer slower than real-time, have reduced quality, have hard-coded Turkish subs, lack working English subs where needed, etc.
If there was an easy-to-find "app" that installed a robust, idiot-proof, fully-loaded Kodi instance onto a streaming device or smart TV, that could threaten legit services. If it's like it is today, many people will just give up and pay for 1-3 of the streaming services (which could still undercut a cable subscription). But it is plausible that the plugins will get better and the video sources will benefit from new codecs and cheaper bandwidth (cheaper to provide X Gbps of streams, with a stream of a given quality/resolution requiring progressively less bitrate with H.265, AV1, and so on). Hardware should also improve. Raspberry Pi 4 can supposedly decode 4K @ 60 FPS (and Kodi/LibreELEC probably benefits big time from that 4 GB of RAM), new streaming sticks can decode 4K, and more smart TVs could make separate streaming sticks/boxes unnecessary. The Kodi software and LibreELEC are also improving.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:07AM
I prefer old school downloading not only because the quality is better, but because it forces me to choose what I want to watch in advance as opposed to mindlessly staring at the screen. I do realize that degrading the consumer is an important goal which forces them to promote all kinds of instant satisfaction schemes.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Chocolate on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:47AM (32 children)
Who would bother ripping Netflix off when it's $10 a month?
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:09PM (30 children)
I have "ripped" content even when I had the legit disc or streaming service available.
Netflix is $9-$16 per month, with the cheapest plan offering only SD content. The point isn't the cost of Netflix (which has increased several times), but the balkanization of streaming services, each with their own costs.
Having everything in one place... priceless (literally).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:19PM (1 child)
I just want to watch old movies from the 70s, 80s, 90s.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:25PM
Find a cinemageddon.net invite.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:31PM (6 children)
Haha. I've "ripped" content just to avoid searching through my stored pile of dvd boxes, almost-every-time since have fiber internet. And always keep the downloaded copies in my NAS. Really should dump all these dvds that won't use any more, but still keep them for sentimental value.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:38PM (3 children)
You're using ripped wrong.
You have pirated content to avoid finding the relevant DVD. Ripping refers to converting the content from a DVD/BluRay/VHS/WebStream to a stand-alone file that can be stored and/or shared without DRM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:11PM (2 children)
What has this got to do with being on a ship on the high seas raping and pillaging?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:35PM (1 child)
I tried raping a dvd once, but the hole was too big.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:51PM
Take out the dildo, put a smaller one in. Try using the one your girlfriend shoves up your ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:10AM
I used to rip dvd's from netflix just to avoid watching previews and fbi warnings.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday July 15 2019, @02:56PM
In the USA, ripping the DVD and using that on your own device, is called "fair use". You need to keep the DVD for legal reasons, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:41PM (17 children)
I call that "it's on the shelf", or "bought the blu-ray" or "bought the DVD." Bonuses:
...of course, these are all very minor issues. I'm sure streaming is much better and I'll finally realize that... just as soon as I suffer a few head injuries. :)
PS: This all works for music too.
--
Kleptomaniacs always take things literally.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 13 2019, @05:39PM (8 children)
I don't have enough physical storage space for all the video I want at my fingertips. Maybe if I threw out my bed and slept on piles of cases...
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Saturday July 13 2019, @08:13PM (6 children)
Your church must be used very differently than my church. We just dedicated a wall to DVD/blu-ray storage, floor to as high as either of us can reach, shelves exactly as spacious as the tallest case we had in the collection at the time.
--
Fact: Celery is 95% water
and 100% not pizza.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @07:29AM
He's talking about discs purchased at actual stores containing mainstream content like blockbuster movies and tv series. Not kiddy porn.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 14 2019, @11:14AM (4 children)
I currently have over 4TB of H264 video. Mostly 480p but a notable amount of 720p as well. It would take up an unholy amount of space in one-deep rows of discs and still be much slower to access.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:32PM (2 children)
I have stacks of boxes with the original disks, which I almost never access. I've ripped it all to MPEG2 (DVD) and H.264 (Blu Ray) and then reencoded it all to H.265. The machine I'm typing from has a 3TB share of media files, and I've got Kodi installed on most of the devices in the house.
It's incredibly convenient - but the whole setup process, including ripping hundreds of disks and reencoding them, was a royal pain.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 14 2019, @04:11PM (1 child)
Truth. It's much easier for one person to rip video and distribute it than for everybody to have to rip it themselves. Greener too from all the juice used for each encode.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Monday July 15 2019, @09:12PM
Right now I don't distribute. I can see the ethical arguments for it but I don't completely buy them. I might change my mind.
As a more practical thing, I know just enough about anonymity software, etc... to get myself into trouble. With my luck the first time I tried to use Tor to upload to a pirate torrent site I'd get malware on all my boxes and an overnight MPAA lawsuit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 15 2019, @12:02PM
You bugger me hearty shiver me timbers PIRATE!
Take all your ill gotten rips outside, pile 'em up, and set fire to 'em.
Then, pull down your pants, open your wallet and hold it in front of your, pull down your pants and wait for the 'appropriate authorities' to come deal with you.
YOU STINKIN ASS PIRATE YOU
how dare you rip off the starving artists! deprive them of an income! consume their content for free! glutton! evil, misbegotten pirate! Burn on a pyre of DVD-R disks!
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Sunday July 14 2019, @08:35AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 4, Insightful) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:17AM (7 children)
In short, you want ownership rights as opposed to usage ones. That's the main difference between capitalism and socialism.
We do build socialism and most don't even notice. For example, one owns money as gold, while fiat money is just a use right.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 14 2019, @11:17AM (6 children)
Gold is no different than paper unless you have a non-currency use for it. And it's a shitload heavier.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @04:06PM (4 children)
The biggest difference is that gold can't be easily devalued by the authorities. Yes, Romans and such shaved the coins and added silver, but it was a long process with limited results.
Gold or any other commodity money would hold value as long as community accepts it. Money, by definition, is a commodity used for exchange. In this sense Marx's prediction that money would dapperer and by the effort of the very capitalists has come to be already and most don't even remember what money is.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 14 2019, @04:20PM (1 child)
Dunno what gives you that idea. What they accept as $1 of value is entirely up to the government. They could easily make gold worthless except as a commodity within a decade.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @04:47PM
Roman emperors tried and failed. I doubt ours would be more successful.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 15 2019, @12:16PM (1 child)
easily devalued
ORLY?
Executive Order 6102 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:52AM
If FDR weren't shit with money, we wouldn't be spending ~3/4 of what we take in in taxes every year on entitlements, so your point's just a wee bit undermined by your choice of example.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 15 2019, @12:06PM
How many kilograms to "1 shitload"?
Is that like a 'metric buttload' or is it 'x metrix buttloads to 1 shitload'?
Inquiring minds wants to nough.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:19PM (2 children)
I found it was easier to torrent stuff i had a legitimate copy of, because ripping all of Battlestar Galactica was going to take hella long, disk after disk after disk after disk, box after box after box................................................................................................
Torrent took a couple hours or more: set, forget and go do something else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @04:00PM (1 child)
I spent days ripping Farscape, 4 seasons, old PC, took ages. A while later a nasty accident destroyed the disks. So glad I took a backup.
I've read about the peacekeeper wars. Maybe it'll come to Netflix some day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @04:03PM
Or just rent it
https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Farscape-The-Peacekeeper-Wars/70020043 [netflix.com]
</sarcasm>
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:33PM
Yes, that!!
I have never, in my life, been able to justify the cost of cable, satellite, or most of the internet offerings. But, ten bucks per month for unlimited watching? It's almost worth that, even to me, to give the wife and kids something to waste their time on. Back in the day, when the kids thought $60 was reasonable to get all the channels they wanted to watch? Believe me, my kids were disappointed!!!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:26AM (13 children)
https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/the-office-leaving-netflix-2021.html [vulture.com]
I'm not clear on who NBCUniversal is actually paying for The Office streaming rights. Themselves? But whatever the case, maybe it wasn't worth the $450 million Netflix was prepared to pay.
Lots of people are streaming The Office on Netflix right now, and it will remain available there until January 2021. Its popularity will probably wane in a year and a half.
The NBCUniversal service will compete against Netflix, Amazon, Hulu (33% owned by NBCUniversal), Disney+, Apple, GooTube, Warner/AT&T/HBOMax (Friends), and others. Netflix has a good chance of sticking around, and they can fund a lot of original content (e.g. Stranger Things) for that $450 million they were prepared to give up. Will anyone use the NBCUniversal service? That remains to be seen. If that $500 million actually leaked out of their pockets, will they even make it back in ads/subscriptions?
Which is worse: Friends or Big Bang Theory?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mmcmonster on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:37AM (7 children)
I think we have it backwards.
1. A lot of people have Netflix.
2. People log onto Netflix and look for something to watch. Because of the paradox of choice, they look for something familiar. They see Friends or Office or Big Bang Theory and play it because it's easy and familiar. There's probably 30 other series that can fill that void.
What Netflix should be doing is creating their own 24 minute formula comedies to fill the gap and advertise the hell out of them. If they get a couple to stick, they're golden. And they have the money to do it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:15PM (5 children)
Yeah, that's a good point. Original content is cheaper to make than blowing hundreds of millions on rights. Of course, even if you can make 20 new comedies for the price of that Office rent, there's no guarantee any of them will be watchable (which could impact subscriptions). But Netflix has lured big name actors and directors for buzz factor and proven willing (along with others, like Amazon, AMC, etc.) to offer more creative freedom than in the past.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:43PM (4 children)
Yesterday I found several shows on Netflix that could be worth watching. Tonight we'll start with Happy! [netflix.com] "A boozy ex-cop turned hit man thinks he's losing his marbles when a cartoon unicorn only he can see urges him to rescue a girl kidnapped by Santa." maybe rewatch Russian Doll [netflix.com]. They recently added Neon Genesis Evangelion. I've been meaning to watch Eva for ages. It could be a while before I'd need to go elsewhere. I never signed up for HBO for GoT, a friend gifted me the DVD set for xmas. I can easily see a couple of months of shows to watch on Netflix, so we're all good for now. I'd love to watch old movies from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:43PM (1 child)
I follow Netflix and Crunchyroll.
"Violet Evergarden" was available on both services.
But on Netflix the subtitles were too small to read comfortably.
On Crunchyroll they were of adequate size.
I do not understand Japanese; the English subtitles are a must for me.
There's more than which shows a service provides that determines which service I use.
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @07:31AM
Same. The first season of Saiki [wikipedia.org] was excellent, but I've put watching the second and third on hold due to lack of subtitles.
I usually multitask while watching anime so with subtitles I miss half of it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @04:05PM
I heard Netflix trashed up that dub:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/06/25/netflix-evangelion-changes [ign.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday July 13 2019, @07:38PM
Happy is great. It's so gritty it's grit has grit on it. Can't watch it with the kids though...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:07PM
It's not because of the Paradox of choice, it's because Netflix still has a shitty UI that makes it hard to find anything that they haven't chosen to display prominently. If something isn't one of the dozen or 2 things that are shown under the few categories they display, your likelihood of knowing it's there is very low.
It's a problem that's almost as big as the problem they have with their rapidly diminishing catalog of TV and movies. There's not much point to having a large catalog if nobody can find what they want.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:38AM (4 children)
Normie tier GenX "comedy" with gay jokes.
Millennial ""comedy""
Some questions don't need answering but BBT is utter garbage.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:10PM
BBT, aka Nerd Blackface.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:51PM
Agreed. Friends is basically normies trying to be interesting, but mostly only interesting to other normies. One character is supposed to be a nerd, but for some reason they think the occasional one liner about dinosaurs is enough for that.
Big Bang Theory on the other hand is basically for geeks to make fun of nerd stereotypes. takyon's nailed it.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:52PM (1 child)
They make jokes about gays, or the jokes are really gay?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 14 2019, @01:15AM
both! [youtube.com]
(Score: 1) by jonathan on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:32AM (4 children)
While I think it will not help Netflix. I suspect people will not jump to Warner's streaming service to see Friends. People flocked to Netflix because it had so much content and ended up running Friends since it happened to be there. Some will cancel when this show and others are gone, no doubt about it. But many will probably find other content to watch. It might help Netflix's original content get more views. I'm sure Netflix is banking on this which is why they have been ramping up the creation of their shows but unless the original content is really awful, I suspect Netflix's losses won't be the big gain of the other services particularly when there are so many slices of pie out there.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:15PM (1 child)
Why would I pay more money for other services? I have friends with two or three and sometimes four services. They are spending over $50 a month just to keep people in their household happy. Most of them are switching to a vendor per month model. This month is Netflix. Next month will be Stan. It's like switching TV stations.
A friend told her kids that if they didn't like it then they could pay. They never have.
(Score: 1) by jonathan on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:41PM
Yeah and then see most subscription services go to a yearly model and making sure their buddies (other Hollywood studios) all adopt this way to lockout most content. Just a thought I had.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:10PM (1 child)
I see no particular reason to watch Friends on a streaming service. Isn't it typically on demand on virtually all cable systems at this point? It's kind of a comfort food sort of a thing where people mostly watch it because they've gotten used to watching it due to it's ubiquity.
At this point, I'm not sure when the next time I'll turn on Friends is as I've seen the episodes worth seeing far too many times as it is. And it seems like each time I watch it, I realize more and more just how unrelatable the characters are.
(Score: 1) by jonathan on Saturday July 13 2019, @07:11PM
That's your point of view but is also irrelevant. The article points out that the show is number one on Netflix and you seems to forget that a lot of people on Netflix are cord-cutters who don't have cable services.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @11:58AM (1 child)
The dichotomy here is that competition is good for consumers, but fragmentation is bad for consumers. When one of these Netflix-wannabes runs out of cash, or their parent company decides that the losses can no longer be justified to the "we only care about the next quarterly earnings report" investors, the rights to these exclusive shows will be sold to the highest bidder. This will drive the costs up for the remaining services and will be passed along to the consumers.
I'm not advocating for maintaining Netflix's pseudo monopoly. Just pointing out that this land rush will start with low-priced loss-leader style service packages and a predictable financial bloodbath that ends up splashing the consumers during the consolidation process.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:15PM
Competition is good for customers when there's alternatives. You may personally like one of the brands of ketchup, but if it's no longer available or the quality drops, you can just buy a different brand. TV shows and movies are usually not so easily replaced. If there's a particular show you want to watch, that's what you want to watch. You might accept something else because you couldn't get what you wanted, but in many cases people turn to nautical themed sites as shows are not really substitute for each other.
This is more or less what they want, they want for customers to have to sign up for a half dozen different sites with the assumption that most people have large amounts of disposable income and are willing to deal with the hassle of figuring out which service has the show they want. My parents just have Netflix, Sling and Prime and that's almost too much in terms of trying to remember what shows were where. Then there's Prime's annoying habit of making it a pain to find programming that's included as they insist upon mixing the paid content in with the free content.
The solution is pretty simple, prevent the exclusive agreements that allow one or two services to hoard all the programming people might want.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:08PM (1 child)
We can also expect a push by "old media" to increase legislative pressure on alternative streaming sites and their viewers, up to and including those watching "pirate" sites.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:23PM
MAFIAA has its crosshairs on Kodi (pirate enhanced versions, and pre-installed boxes). I'm not sure that it is a huge threat to profits, given that it can still be confusing for users.
The alternative streaming sites (I like "illicit streaming sites") that are used by Kodi plugins are involved in a game of whack-a-mole as usual. But things could get worse if we have some site blocking legislation or host countries crack down on the sites to normalize their relationship with "intellectual property" holders.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:39PM (7 children)
I heard a rumor that there will be a new Friends sequel in which all dialog between characters takes place via smartphone.
(Score: 2, Funny) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:52PM (3 children)
I heard a rumor that I am starting right now where there will be a reboot of friends where they live in a totalitarian society where you only care about people who let you live in their million dollar apartment for reduced rent and the word 'friends' means that your only intention is to spy on them and submit their data to the military and various fanatical religious cults.
And they will be homeless because irritating people without life skills cannot lead a middle class life if their parents disown them because they didn't vote for President Undertaker.
So it's going to be kindof a cross between Orange is the New Black and Requiem for a Dream, until in the 39th anniversary season they all get drafted in their late 40s to face the choice of clearing minefields near Tehran or hunting mega-pythons in Baltimore.
(Score: 1) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:56PM
Spoiler Alert: They will choose to fight the pythons and the show will achieve its greatest ratings of all time.
Friends: Python Hunter 2034 - FPH Baltimore, Python Boogaloo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:47PM (1 child)
Wait, is this the Chinese or the Russian knockoff? It's so hard to tell. More information please.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:56PM
It will be called GoodFriends
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:03PM (1 child)
But you don't get to see what they're texting. Riveting.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:32PM
True, the text is blurred out, but you can read the banner ads.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Saturday July 13 2019, @05:32PM
The problem with modern remakes is the studios think they "have to" appeal to leftists and the Overton Window is moving so fast for leftists that today's commie propaganda is tomorrows smashable fascist, and everybody knows they have to publicly support it but nobody actually likes it or watches it.
Now what I'd like to see is a brave studio try right wing appeal. Give us "Friends" with Archie Bunker humor or some kind of weekly series conversion of "Gran Torino" or "American History X" or similar. That would get a heck of a lot of viewers.
You can have a lot of fun taking some purple haired modern SJW and showing them some youtube clips from Archie Bunker and after they foam at the mouth about how the writers and studio were obviously nazis then you get to have even more fun explaining that they were not white nazis but the stereotypical leftist Jews and their mind gets blown.
Just imagine "Gran Torino: the weekly soap opera" I'd pay money for that. That scene where he takes the kid to the barber shop to teach him how to talk like a man still cracks me up a decade later.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:48PM
This is one of those zombie companies that never makes a profit but seems to have access to an unlimited line of credit. If that ever starts drying up they will shrivel up like pets.com.
(Score: 1) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Saturday July 13 2019, @12:58PM (2 children)
If all of the major media companies started their own netflix-clone and THEY ALL FAILED?
So hoping for this.
El Mariachi was a better movie than all of the Iron Man's put together.
(minds blown)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:06PM (1 child)
https://www.mpaa.org/press/mpaa-welcomes-netflix-as-new-member/ [mpaa.org]
Netflix isn't some heroic service, and they don't have a monopoly on quality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_(film) [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday July 15 2019, @03:02PM
Personally, I loved Bright. It was a very fun, action movie. Sure, it was some weird mash up of the real world and World of Warcraft, but once you got past that it was straight up a great film.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @01:52PM (3 children)
I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime. I won't pay for other streaming services. If you want a piece of my money, negotiate with Netflix. If I want to watch your stuff and it's not on Amazon or Netflix I'll rip it off DVD or download it. In fact I may still do that even if it is on Netflix or Amazon: it works so much better when I can play the files in my own media player instead of being imprisoned in somebody's streaming app. Netflix and Amazon's streaming have enough warts of their own. When somebody hires programmers on the cheap and tries to roll their own it's even worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:16PM (2 children)
Netflix are really starting to load in old anime series. If they continue like this I won't ever need anything else.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:59PM (1 child)
Except what I've seen so far is that Netflix uses subtitles that are too small to read from a sensible viewing distance.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:22AM
Netflix's inability to do subtitles was the main reason I quit it for good.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ShadowSystems on Saturday July 13 2019, @02:54PM (4 children)
Back when I could still see to enjoy such things, I tried a little experiment.
I turned the TV to channel 40, watched an episode of StarTrek, then turned it off.
Except for DVD movies & being used as an occaisional secondary computer monitor, I didn't turn the TV back on again to watch any TV shows.
For. A. Year.
At the one year mark I turned the TV back on again to see if the quality of shows had improved any.
I stood there in disgust & dismay as *the same episode of StarTrek* commenced to play across the screen.
Same damned channel, same damned show, a year later.
I promptly unplugged the set from the antenna & didn't bother with broadcast TV ever again.
I'd kind of keep up to date on what others were watching, just enough to know that "Friends" was a situational comedy that they thought amusing, but when I'd go over to someone's house & watch it with them, I couldn't get past the artificial laugh track.
If a show has to prompt you to laugh, it wasn't funny in the first place.
That was over a decade ago.
I have since moved to reading about what others watch on services like Netflix, Hulu, & Amazon.
And once again it all sounds like crap.
Why do people bother with TV/streaming at all?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:19PM (1 child)
You could have tried a different channel or a different time. Star Trek tends to be one of those shows that gets a time slot for a very long time. It's sort of like MASH where I could count on it being on the same channel at the same time consistently for years at a time. I could practically set my watch to it.
Anyways, it sounds like you're not the target audience for this form of entertainment if you're being this judgmental. OTA TV has never been as good as what's available on cable, once they got to the point where they weren't just repeating broadcast TV. Similarly, subscription TV is usually better than the regular cable TV. It has to do with the market and the restrictions put in place by the FCC.
(Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Saturday July 13 2019, @05:56PM
So your cure for crap tv is to watch more crap tv?
No thanks, I think I'll go rot my brain playing D&D & ShadowRun 4th edition.
=-)P
*Shakes a palsied fist*
Now get off my laaaawwwwwn!
Danged whippersnappers anyer newfangled leck trickity.
*Flings my hearing aid at you & hopes the giant tuba-bell-cone sticks over your head*
=-D
(Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday July 13 2019, @05:42PM (1 child)
They don't anymore.
Talk to "old people" like genx and older and its a statistical fact that something like a third of the population watched the last episode of MASH, TV had immense cultural influence.
Today about two minutes with google and wikipedia will show that one of the top rated shows in the country "the good doctor" which is a stereotypical hospital drama with a twist that the doc is a super high functioning autistic, has something like 7 million viewers out of a population of 328 million people or about 2% of the population.
TV lead American Western culture by being universally watched up to the 90s or so. Its an also-ran now, nobody watches anymore.
In the 80s, lets say, you get six people in a room and the odds are excellent a conversation can break out about MASH and its cultural effects, or any other show of that era. In the late 2020s, if you want a conversation to spontaneously break out about the cultural impact of "The Good Doctor" you need to stuff the room with about one hundred people, and the other ninety eight are gonna talk about something other than TV so likely a TV related conversation will never break out.
TV is dead as a cultural influence. It still makes money, just like telegrams and newspapers, although it no longer matters.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday July 14 2019, @12:26AM
If true, that's really cool! That means there is still hope.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 13 2019, @03:43PM (1 child)
From TFS:
I was under the impression that "The Jeffersons" was the most-watched show.
(Score: 1) by hwertz on Saturday July 13 2019, @04:24PM
" It's difficult to imagine that Friends, a show that ended 15 years ago, could be of any real importance to a modern streaming giant like Netflix"
Well, last time I was at a friends with Netflix, when I just decided what I'd like to watch... "I'll try watching this... they don't have it. OK, 2nd choice... don't have it.. 3rd choice... nope they have season 5, the want I want is in season 7. 4th choice... nope."
They have a lot of shows, but there are many many shows they DON'T have too. I think Friends was a terrible show (I can't point to any specific flaw, I just found it not funny at all while others would be laughing their ass off at whatever was going on...) but I could see it being one of the top shows on there.