I wasn’t sure where to put this post. This seemed like the best area.
Many of the reviews and articles I’ve read regarding the Apple TV+ shows seem to be consistent (with exceptions for and against in the mix) regarding the quality of the shows. Namely - that they are ok, but not exactly groundbreaking or phenomenal.
So, as I read these shows, and as an Apple TV hardware owner (the only Apple device I own), I was thinking: would these shows be getting attention they’re receive if they were not being made by Apple? Would they even be worth the effort (having to sign up for a new service) necessary to even watch them?
If Microsoft made these shows, and made them the exact same way - would they be worth it? Or if Google did it, or Roku? I feel if Netflix made them, people would watch them because they already have a subscription. But they don’t feel like something I would go out of my way to see, and I don’t think they’d be receiving the attention they are getting if some other tech company made them.
I got the 1 year ATV+ subscription because I bought the iPhone 11Pro Max - the only show that interested me, and that I have watched is SEE with Jason Momoa and it’s excellent - I’ll bet people would watch it if it had been developed by someone else
I don’t have a ATV+ subscription, but the Foundation series they are starting to film has my attention. I loved the books and could see myself subscribing to get it when it comes out next year. Or at least at the end of season 1 and binging it.
I agree. While the Apple TV+ shows might be somewhat good, I am just shaking my head at the sheer quantity of free advertising the press is giving to this. I am especially worried about the press’ recommendations to “sign up now” when they should instead be saying, “check the lineup of shows, wait for a show you might want to watch, and then start your free trial”. We need consumer reporting, not a race to recommend this the fastest. This is like Apple Music where you get auto credit card charged after that 1-year has passed. But its even worse, at least apple music had an actual catalog on day one, this only has a handful of above average shows on day one. SMH. Same thing with the butterfly mechanism for the keyboards, only a handful of people were bothered by the lack of key travel. Everyone else just praised it. We need more objectivity with Apple.
The Foundation series is a very compelling reason for me to subscribe. But I would be interested in this show regardless of if Apple produced it or Netflix or Amazon did it. I can’t really say any of the other shows are compelling to me as a reason to subscribe, regardless of the subscription price.
I’d watch See, For All Mankind, and The Morning Show, and would have watched Dickinson except for the bad reviews. This might sound odd to some, but I’m frankly overwhelmed with the choices on Netflix (a show really has to get a lot of press, like Fleabag or Russian Doll, to get my attention anymore)…having fewer shows actually makes me more likely to be able to pick a series and thus watch.
I watched all three of the available episodes of For All Mankind . It had a number of problems, but I found it worth watching. They came up with a reasonable scenario for the USA to continue expanding into space.
Full disclosure: I was a teenager when the real moon landings took place. I remember reading and hearing about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs; Presidents Kennedy and Nixon; and the real world astronauts. (The real astronauts that were on the Apollo 10 ‘dress rehearsal’ have been replaced in the show with fictional characters. Though the command module and the lunar lander for 10 were indeed called Charlie Brown and Snoopy.) The music, cars, and whatnot all look familiar to me.
Technologically we could have gotten a moon base and space station as shown in the movie 2001 by the actual year 2001. (No monolith, but that is okay.) We did not have the political will to spend the money to do it. If the Soviet Union had continued on to the moon after the USA got there first, then we would have kept going as well. Having the Soviets get there first is unlikely in the extreme, but that is one way to get a real push by the USA into space.
I am a liberal, but the show laid some liberal prospectives on very think. I rolled my eyes at several points. This could cause some folks to dismiss the show in its entirety.
I would be interested in giving it a try, but have no way of getting it onto my TV. I don’t have an Apple TV, my Samsung TV is from 2015 so does not have the Apple TV app and I have no Roku. The Apple TV app does not support Chromecast, so I guess the cheapest way of getting the content onto my TV would be a Fire Stick?