Since the streaming wars began, each service took on their own flavour.
HBO - generally decent, prestige television, but has less “content” than other services
Netflix - Quantity over Quality, you get gems sometimes, but also a lot of junk to sort through
Disney+ - A lot of good legacy content and very hit and miss with marvel/disney IPs, fans are willing to complain/ hate watch
So here’s the thing with Apple TV, I didn’t subscribe to it, I bought an apple product and got 3 months free, and the discourse is either love it or just silence. No one seems to ‘hate’ the shows.
The Good - Ted Lasso, Severance were the ones I really enjoyed, Ted Lasso felt genuine, especially with the British sensibilities and I will compare this to Shrinking later, Severance was good and hopefully doesn’t have the mystery box problems
The Mid - Shrinking is from Bill Lawrence who created one of my favourite shows Scrubs, but it’s just super boring, I finished Netflix’s Man on the Inside in a single sitting but couldnt continue Shrinking, compared to Ted Lasso, it also feels fake nice, fake chill.
The Ugly - Foundation is probably one of the worst written sci fi on television now. People hated on ST: Picard very vocally and for Foundation I only found a couple of youtube videos on how bad S1 is.
It’s bad in a way that is not really related to the books, but having the name makes it slightly worse. The writing is basically equivalent to one of the bad Doctor Who episodes but with 10x the budget. You get occasional bursts of brilliance which basically comes out of Asimov’s ideas. However, its extremely hard to point this out and TV fans will defend this, this is not the case with SW shows on Disney plus where people understand the difference between fan service and bad writing. It’s pretty hard to find an opinion on Apple TV shows that says “It’s OK, I didn’t like it” which happens so frequently on Netflix.
I’m not sure why thats the reason, just my observation and wondering if you guys have any opinions on this phenomenon
I was surprised to hear recently how poorly AppleTV+ is doing. I suspect it’s a branding issue more than a content issue with people possibly thinking you have to own an Apple device to watch.
For me AppleTV+ has the highest Hit to Miss ratio of all the services. Check out Silo, Slow Horses, and For All Mankind as some of my favorites you didn’t mention.
It pisses me off that I can download the app to watch on my fire stick (a reskinned android device) but not on my android phone. I even tried using the APK for the fire stick and it won’t fucking work. If they want to gain viewers, maybe don’t alienate 43% of the market.
I don’t really know anything about android; does this not work?:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.atve.androidtv.appletv&hl=en-US&pli=1
It does not. That’s just for tv boxes, won’t work on phones and tablets.
Huh - that is a pretty big hole.
It kinda blows my mind that Apple are talking about selling rights to shows to Amazon Prime because their service is performing poorly and yet they don’t even have an Android app…
Yep! Same thing I’ve been saying. You can use the mobile browser, but that’s a pain in the ass, trying to use the controls meant for laptops and desktops on a tiny screen, plus if you pause and to to something else for w minute it refreshes the page half the time. Very frustrating. I mean, I do, when there’s something I want to watch (Ted lasso, mainly), but yeah, PITA, and I don’t understand why they do it, when nearly half of all mobile users in the US are on Android. There’s no way it’s an oversight, it’s either a legal thing or a slight, like when Amazon wouldn’t allow YouTube apps
Silo and Slow Horses are amazing. I need to watch more of For All Mankind before I form a proper opinion on it, but it seems good.
Silo is fantastic, and runs quite true to the books, at least what I remember of them.
Apple seems to put out some pretty good sci-fi shows, which I like a lot.
I’ve been enjoying Foundation, but it’s been a really long time since I read the books, so I view it more as Game Of Thrones in future space, and don’t try to correlate things with the books at all.
The problem of a minimalism based image is that there isn’t any personality left to project. Apple got into streaming without a clue of what to do with it. It’s not their field. Media requires expression and spectacle. Apple’s minimalism, although it does express some things, it is not suited for high energy entertainment. So most of Apple’s original shows are very low energy and dozy.
They also have drilled the walled garden, the golden cage, the expensive exclusivity for almost three decades of alienating marketing as well. It means that people assume they aren’t allowed to even see what’s available on Apple streaming unless they are already part of the ecosystem. That and the whole Apple TV, Apple TV+ brand confusion. Then people assume, correctly, that they will have to buy an Apple device and then also pay for a subscription.
Coupled with the low energy of their brand image, it makes people uninterested in what they have to offer. They see it as not worth the expensive cost of entry. This puts Apple at an impasse. Where they have to sell minimalist, exclusivity and alienation in a business that only thrives financially with colorful, inclusive and creative expression.
I don’t often discuss shows that I’ve watched with others but when I do I always feel a little awkward bringing up Apple TV because it feels like that service is tied to their phone/computer business. Like it or not there is this Apple vs Android thing that some people get weird about and I’m always worried the conversation about something on Apple TV is going to be the segue someone is waiting for to start bashing Apple which isn’t really the conversation I’m trying to have so I just don’t go there.
So far I haven’t found much on there that has interested me though. I’ve enjoyed Silo a lot and I also enjoyed Dark Matter but otherwise there hasn’t been much that I’ve really gotten into.
How dare you use an apple product! I know you just said you don’t want to get into it, but I just can’t help myself from making my choice on the duopoly a linchpin of my personality, and now I’m going to be irrationally angry at you for choosing the only other option, even though you probably didn’t choose it, per se, but just went with what you needed to go with because of social factors or because of sales with your (again limited choice of) carriers!
Damn apple cultist /s
So, what you’re saying is that Apple’s alienating marketing is working.
I mean kind of? It definitely is effective in some spheres (blue vs green bubbles) but I don’t think that the Apple TV content is good enough to force anyone’s hand and if the division is enough to make me NOT talk about their content with others that seems self-defeating.
I don’t think there are outright BAD shows on the platform. Which is a nice change of pace from Netflix, especially.
On the topic of Ted Lasso, I actually am of the opposite opinion. I think by the third season, that show felt so forced I started to kind of dislike it. And now they want to raise its corpse from the dead for a season 4.
Shrinking, on the other hand, has moments where it feels a little fake, but overall everything feels better to me. This season that just started up has been good.
One show I couldn’t get into AT ALL was See. The premise was just dumb, and the writing wasn’t great. There’s a big battle of blind people on a foresty hill in the first episode where nothing would have gone the way it did. I don’t care how well you have adapted to not seeing, you aren’t battling on a hill blind, with blades and boulders falling down everywhere.
Severence - Brilliant in ways I can’t even express. Side stories were just as compelling as the main plot. A shot burnt into my mind of Christopher Walken and John Turturro standing an abysmally lit all white hallway with expressions of wonder is emblematic of the way this show manages to contrast opposing elements.
Ted Lasso - I tried to watch this twice. Neither my wife nor I could get hook. And she’s really a wonderful person.
Slow Horses - man… British shows need to add two to four more episodes to each season. I never got to know the characters really well. Despite this criticism, the act is all around good with Gary Oldman being brilliant, the story nuanced and layered, and just so many odd ball comedic moments I wouldn’t have expected. Alexander the Great, His name struck fear into hearts of men.
For All Mankind - I watched season 1 and wasn’t compelled enough to watch the next season. Felt a little too self important for my tastes.
Shrinking - it was okay. The main crisis felt a little forced, but the supporting characters were very interesting. The comedy worked, but it never felt really great.
Foundations - got through one episode and noped out. Not for me.
Silo - What can I say about Silo? I wanted to deeply love this show. And the mystery of it all was really good, but the themes about people and society left me confused and unsure of the greater point they were trying to make. I might watch season two, but not 100%.
Sunny - This is right up my alley. Quirky, funny, human. Too bad there won’t be season 2.
That’s what I’ve watched or tried watching. Apple TV reminds me of HBO before AT&T took them over.
I wonder if Apple TV makes some people think the streaming service is only available on Apple devices with how strongly tied their stuff is to their hardware? Could lead to people without Apple devices not considering it because of that.
The people who already love Apple aren’t going to complain about their TV, even if it’s meh, because they probably get it as part of Apple One along with the music and news and whatever else. The Apple haters aren’t going to shit talk the shows. They’ll either not watch them or they’ll shut up and enjoy them.
I haven’t read the books so my Foundation experience is exclusively from the show, which I really enjoy. Here are some I’m unhappy with.
Big Door Prize: Interesting premise, strung along and did NOT get enough from the S01 finale, and I refuse to watch the second season.
Changeling: GREAT vibes but the end of the season did not deliver, and people who read the book said the season showed most of the book but omitted the last bit. That made me pretty angry and I will not bother with another season.
Constellation: Interesting premise kind of ruined by a stretched-out plot, bad writing, and a poor performance from some of the cast. Could not be motivated to watch another season.
Invasion: I fucking hate this show. It’s written by people with teenage brain logic, it’s acted by people who are giving student film effort at best, but it’s shot beautifully, which, for Apple, always covers a multitude of sins.
What I love: Silo is so fun. I ended up reading all the books before the second season premiered. For all Mankind is entertaining if not a bit soapy. Alt history is interesting, although sometimes bittersweet when it comes to the subject of the space race. Monarch is also fun if you just want some Godzilla/monster action content. Also it has Anna Sawai, who killed it in Shōgun (FX).
Severance! Give that one a shot too. Season two is early next year.
I can see what you mean about Shrinking. But I’m actively trying to not be cynical about it. If that makes sense.
