My Beef With Netflix

Around two weeks ago, Netflix announced that they are opening their doors, making their online streaming service available to more countries around the world. Many were quick to jump the bandwagon. I, on the other hand, was very hesitant at first.. because I feel I’m such a hypocrite after writing this piece sometime last year.

But I gave in anyway

..because who can resist and say no to free stuff, at least for the next 30 days, right?

Okay, so I’m now a Netflix member, now what? In the palm of my hands, I have access to majority of US TV shows that I can watch anytime on any device, provided there’s fast internet while I use the service. I can finally join the Netflix and chill bandwagon and act all pa-cool about it (if you know me, I wouldn’t really do that).

Just as we’re about to pop our champagnes for that Netflix and chill celebration, I found out that Netflix Philippines doesn’t have all the shows that Netflix US has. Great. Netflix is finally available, but the cool shows are geo blocked. Bummer!! And on my book, this is such a major turn off, haha!

Worrying was cut short upon finding out this nifty app called Smartflix: an app that lifts all restrictions and enables your Netflix account to see all shows from the entire Netflix library. Thanks to my busy twitter timeline because I saw some friends talking about it. Naturally, I got curious what that is about. 😉 So now, my geo blocked problems are solved! As far as I know, it does enable a user to view all shows that Netflix has under their catalog worldwide because I was able to watch shows from Canada, France, Japan, etc.

But my problem with Netflix, really, is..

With all restrictions lifted and able to view the entire Netflix gallery.. what else is there to ask for? All I need to do was choose a show or movie and enjoy it from my bed and binge watch til my eyes fall from their sockets.

That’s what Netflix and chill means, right? No?

I spent hours and hours browsing their catalog and hopping from one show to another.. until I got bored. 🙁 Most of the shows, while familiar, weren’t something I wanted to really watch.

I was disappointed, and it’s a reaction that didn’t sit right with me. I don’t feel that things should end like this. Everybody loves Netflix, but why not me? Why can’t I appreciate it the way people obsess about it? It seems to me that Netflix isn’t all they hyped it to be. It was overrated.

Is it because there’s toooooo many shows and I can’t settle with one? Perhaps this was the main problem. There’s too much too choose, everything is overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, and lastly.. I believe I took it all for granted.

There’s too many shows. It’s better we have a vast choice of movies and TV shows to watch just there.. and get to watching them at some point, but I will not watch all of it now.

Or maybe because most of these shows I’ve already seen before and have downloaded them so no need to stream them anymore.

On the bright side, it’s not that bad

Before you dismiss me as a Netflix hater, calm yo tits because I don’t entirely hate it. As a matter of fact, I have a handful of shows that I discovered there and liked..

1. Bojack Horseman – Reminds me of King of the Hill and I’m a sucker for animated series like this one.
2. Little Lulu – Since I couldn’t download the entire series, I have to make do with streaming them for the meantime. And at last, a service that has this show and doesn’t SUCK at streaming it! (I’m looking at you, h00q)
3. Narcos – Next best thing to the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul type of shows, according to my brother. I agree.
4. Vacation at Abandoned Places – Interesting show but it doesn’t have English subtitles. 🙁 It’s a show from Japan.
5. Celebrity Plastic Surgeons of Beverly Hills – Who doesn’t love these kinds of reality shows about Hollywood? Lol. It’s not a type of show you’re bound to get something profound from at the end of every episode, but it’s one that’s passable to watch to pass by time. It’s not very E!-ish too (as I’ve noticed they always try to force dramas to happen in their shows) so that’s a plus for me.
6. F is for Family – Like Family Guy from the 1970s, haha!
7. Hot Girls Wanted – Contrary to public opinion, I, um, liked this one! Documentary about the amateur pawrn industry consisting of underage teens. From their perspective of choosing this kind of industry, at some point you begin to understand why they chose this instead of the typical employee lifestyle. Mostly because the pay they get here is incomparable and will get them out of debts sooner.
8. Love Me – Documentary about desperate men on the search for love through a mail order brides. Sad, no? Some people really just go through their lives without love that they resort to such desperate measures.

PS: I cannot guarantee you that have I watched all of them from start to finish (per episode, or the entire movie). These are just shows I watched for a few episodes or at least half an hour and enough to say I liked them to keep coming back.

I have a week left before my trial expires and at this point I do not feel like I want to keep my account and would probably just cancel before the deadline. I haven’t experienced that level of being a Netflix user wherein I binge watch a show. No. Or become as obsessed as majority of online users seem to make themselves look.

So far, it’s the documentaries that were interesting enough not the TV shows as the entire Netflix community goes crazy about. Are there more crazy topics of documentaries in Netflix that I am missing?? No, I don’t wanna watch Making a Murderer. It’s too hyped, the reality might be too disappointing to bear.

Also, lately I am not in the mood to religiously follow TV series anymore. I wasn’t even aware that the last 3 episodes of Heroes Reborn already premiered and the show is over. Same w/ Younger and The Flash. I am dropping the last show from my list of shows to follow, too, because I feel it’s not as interesting as I remembered it. Some movies I recently found available for online viewing were Fassbender’s last two movies.. which I am still struggling to sit through. 🙁 It’s Fassy, FFS, why can’t I watch him for hours anymore?

Maybe my attention span for watching shows is just short these days, like my patience, I don’t know.

What I really want, though, is a Netflix-like streaming service consisting of Filipino TV shows and movies from the early years (we’re talking about 1920s-present here, people!). That’d be REALLY, REALLY GREAT. But, considering copyright laws and the prevalent piracy in the Philippines.. the cold hard truth is: Asa pa tayo. 😛 Kudos to iWantv for semi-successfully doing and winging this, even if it’s just shows from ABS CBN. GMA, and other local TV stations, please step your game up. I would gladly binge watch when this happens.

Local services who tried and failed to come close to Netflix-like expectations: iFlix, hooq. Shame on y’all. Also my internet provider for not cooperating whenever I need to stream on those two online streaming providers. Oddly enough, it works fine w/ Netflix and iWantv.

What are you binge watching on Netflix lately?