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Compared to the others apple isn’t exactly spending the big bucks. Netflix adds more in a month than apple will all year. This is still very much a hobby. One in which no one but apple has any clue of how success is measured. It’s lunacy to compare it with anything else given the unknowns.
It's lunacy they decided to do Apple TV+ in the first place....
 
Agreed, I am in your same boat. I'd love to cancel Netflix, but I always find myself on it. I finish Midnight Mass and tell myself "this is the last one", then I go to Squid Game... and next is You S3, which will then be followed by Cobra Kai S4 and Stranger Things S4. And many documentaries fill the holes...
Midnight Mass was bonkers! In a good way!
 
For me, Apple TV+ is synonymous with dull slow paced series with emotionless acting. I really wanted to make it through “See”, but found myself doing other things while watching it, eventually not knowing what happened and reluctantly giving up during season 2. “Foundation” looks amazing, but again, the slow pacing and all the characters seemingly medicated makes it another hard-to-watch show on Apple+ . I think Apple is wanting to go the highbrow Masterpiece Theater route, but that is not a draw for the mass audience they’re seeking.
It’s a shame you don’t like/watch Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. Some of the best acting I’ve ever seen have been in those two shows. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was under rated in her performance on The Morning Show last year. As was Mark Duplass. Billy Crudup got a lot of the attention because his character is pretty flashy. But I found the real substance of the story delivered by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
 
With its nanny, run-of-the-mill, politically correct content who is surprised by this. The only reason there is content at all is because Apple is spending the big bucks.
Couldn't Disney+ be described the same way?

Apple lacks an angle here at all. They can't be Family Friendly - that's Disney's angle already. They can't be explosive and adult - that's HBO. In the past, Apple's angle was "It just works" - Apple has really trashed that reputation under Tim Cook's leadership, but even if Apple still had that going for them, it wouldn't be much - Disney and Netflix already have a reputation of high quality services that just work. Maybe Apple could compete with HBO for that... their merging/rebranding services was a bit of a disaster, but I think people have forgiven HBO for that rough period and we've moved on.

It's not like Razr vs iPhone or Walkman vs iPod or OS X vs 95/98/XP/Vista/8 where Apple could claim that they had a far more refined product that "just worked".
 
I don't know why people see things so black and white.

Apple TV+ isn't worth $50 a year. But it sure provides good value for $5 once or twice a year. Or alternatively, it sweetens the deal for Apple One.

It doesn't need to be either a flop or take the crown.
It can be okay and still provide value and competition to the TV landscape. The world would be poorer without it.
 
It’s a shame you don’t like/watch Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. Some of the best acting I’ve ever seen have been in those two shows. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was under rated in her performance on The Morning Show last year. As was Mark Duplass. Billy Crudup got a lot of the attention because his character is pretty flashy. But I found the real substance of the story delivered by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
I really like TMS, and I agree on body Crudup and Mbatha-Raw. Duplass is great too. As far as acting, I think that ironically Aniston is what lowers the bar. She’s ok at most.
 
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With its nanny, run-of-the-mill, politically correct content who is surprised by this. The only reason there is content at all is because Apple is spending the big bucks.

Me, I want explosive, edgy content that challenges the status quo.
Largely I agree with you, but there are exceptions. Greyhound for example was a great film. Unfortunately no one I tell about it can watch it, since they either don't have Apple devices or don't subscribe to TV+.
 
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With its nanny, run-of-the-mill, politically correct content who is surprised by this. The only reason there is content at all is because Apple is spending the big bucks.

Me, I want explosive, edgy content that challenges the status quo.
I can’t think of anything more explosive, edgy and challenging of the status quo than the way Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character made me, a woman, finally see and understand exactly how and why adult women presumably with their own agency fell victim to the likes of Matt Lauer. In my own struggles with sexism and harassment in the work place and in healthcare I was still missing a key perspective that The Morning Show provided to help me understand how and why these things happen. And how and why good average men like Chip fail to see and recognize it at first along with everyone else.

The status quo IS what those who go about decrying “politically correct” are defending.

And there’s been nothing “Nanny” in Servant or Ted Lasso.
 
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They can't be explosive and adult - that's HBO
The used to be. As you said, the brand has being severely watered down. People will still use it, but it's certainly no longer the premium brand it once was. I think people have come to see it as another Netflix me-too.

And I think it's clear what Apple's trying to position itself as. They want to take the spot HBO once had in people's mind that's now vacant. And I mean, that's really the only thing they can go for if they're not licensing a library.
 
I am hard pressed to think of a single bad show on here. In fact, I've started watching stuff that I normally would pass by, in an effort to broaden my horizons, and it's all at least decent.

Sure, some of it is a bit hipster, but I'd rather have a smaller service with original stuff that is interesting and quirky than the garbage dump of "entertainment" that is Netflix.
 
With its nanny, run-of-the-mill, politically correct content who is surprised by this. The only reason there is content at all is because Apple is spending the big bucks.

Me, I want explosive, edgy content that challenges the status quo.
I’m not really sure how any of it is politically correct or run of the mill. It’s arguably some of the most original content in entertainment. I’d liken it to the content HBO Max puts out like Big Little Lies or Westworld. Ironically, your comment on wanting edgy explosive content sounds like Die Hard 4 & 5 or the next avengers movie (unless I am reading the wrong. Maybe you mean more like Django? Or Hateful 8?)

I haven’t watched everything on Apple TV+ yet but for $5 a month, I suggest everyone get it.
 
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With its nanny, run-of-the-mill, politically correct content who is surprised by this. The only reason there is content at all is because Apple is spending the big bucks.

Me, I want explosive, edgy content that challenges the status quo.
Umm Apple TV is not as tame as you think. Even Ted Lasso has sex scenes and plenty of F bombs all the time.

See has gritty combat and killing and the queen is giving “service “ to her nephew in a recent episode, that episode ended with that.

That Areobics show had group sex, lots of drug use, porn industry topics and some weird mutual self pleasure stuff in a mall???

No it’s not soft porn like Game of Thrones but it’s not Bambi either.
 
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I can’t think of anything more explosive, edgy and challenging of the status quo than the way Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character made me, a woman, finally see and understand exactly how and why adult women presumably with their own agency fell victim to the likes of Matt Lauer. In my own struggles with sexism and harassment in the work place and in healthcare I was still missing a key perspective that The Morning Show provided to help me understand how and why these things happen. And how and why good average men like Chip fail to see and recognize it at first along with everyone else.
(I wanted to separate the serious part from my stupid joke, hence the double quote).

I have to agree with you. I am a fairly conservative man as you probably know, and I am certainly one that disagree with calling every single thing harassment (in my previous place I had a lady claiming that she was sexually harassed and insulted because a part-timer kid asked her if she changed her hairstyle. Spoiler alert: she did change it). But, the show has helped me in understanding some complexities I didn't think of, some problems related to balance of power, and other stuff including not paying attention to some signals and some behaviors. It also prompted some good conversations with my wife and a couple of friends.
 
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Ironically, I think this comes down to a marketing issue. Apple TV+ is available everywhere, but I think most people think they need an Apple TV or Apple products to get it. Or they are not aware of the price.
 
I enjoyed Apple TV+ films like Palmer, and series' like Home, but ultimately cancelled after they released a show called Foundation. It's pure bait and switch, with the story differing so much from the original works of Asimov that it would be more accurate to give it some other title.

Reminds me of a piece I read recently about the feud between Weinstein and Jackson during the making of Lord of the Rings. Weinstein, who was proud of never having read LotR, wanted one of the hobbits to die (for drama) and Saruman to be more Star Wars-ish. Luckily Weinstein didn't get to sully LotR, but it appears someone who didn't read Foundation got to write the script. Either way, the responsibility lies with Apple TV+.
 
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I enjoyed Apple TV+ films like Palmer, and series' like Home, but ultimately cancelled after they released a show called Foundation. It's pure bait and switch, with the story differing so much from the original works of Asimov that it would be more accurate to give it some other title.

Reminds me of a piece I read recently about the feud between Weinstein and Jackson during the making of Lord of the Rings. Weinstein, who was proud of never having read LotR, wanted one of the hobbits to die (for drama) and Saruman to be more Star Wars-ish. Luckily Weinstein didn't get to sully LotR, but it appears someone who didn't read Foundation got to write the script. Either way, the responsibility lies with Apple TV+.
In all fairness, translating Foundation to film is at the limits of the impossible.
 
I, for one, am really considering my Netflix subscription. Too much stuff and the quality is suffering. Documentaries are rushed, tv series are mostly done on a tight budget, and it shows. I have a daughter. Disney is interesting but very much an entertainment service, I mean that National Geographic content always brushes the surface but rarely goes beyond it. Disney content is interesting but mostly because of the back catalogue.

apple? Apple surprised me. There isn’t much content, my daughter LOVES snoopy so I have to keep the subscription just because of her. So sometimes I just check it out because it is there. And I discovered many shows and movies I wouldn’t otherwise have watched. What I mean is that, compared to Netflix, the scarcity “forces” you to discover stuff or at least gives you time to do it, and much of it is really good.
Besides, being a smoker, I have a hard time canceling a service (be it Netflix, Disney or Apple) that costs a pack of cigarettes or two (depending on the service). I smoke less, and keep all of them around.
Netflix however, is becoming too bloated, Disney still lives too much of their back catalogue and are even more shy than Apple with regards to social documentaries. Apple is a good balance. In the future, in my opinion, Apple will have built an interesting back catalogue.
 
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