Really pleased to see this today:

Eh, **** netflix. I can't ****ing stand how their roku/xbox/ps4 apps all auto-play every movie when I'm just trying to read the description and decide whether to add it to my queue. Cancelled subscription, they can go to hell.

There are some valid reason to dislike some of Netflix's practices. I haven't noticed that problem so much anymore though. Or it's just way too easy to dismiss it now.

You can't turn it off. You can't make it stop. I was forced to browse netflix on mute because of how loud a bunch of the intros are.

Anyway, Amazon also screwed up their instant video app, now it's dog slow to do anything; navigation, search, starting a video, even exiting a video (which you must do "the right way" in order to have it save your place). Hulu is still great but they announced a while ago that they're bringing "a whole new experience" so I'm preparing myself for another ****ty "upgrade" that introduces animations, fades, drop shadows, fancy graphics, etc., but that sacrifices usability and user experience. Software developers/designers suck ass.

React

I can't stand this. Cool effects are for movies. Last thing I want on any of my devices is for the basic OS to lag because some cock thought it looked cooler for a bar to be translucent, or for things to be animated or fade.

This. Literally any button press seems to stop it for me.

Arrested Development will be back for a fifth season (to be aired in 2018), which is one of the best news I've heard this year.

Other than that (mainly old shows getting revivals et al), I haven't really watched any new TV since 2009.

That's a show I always heard good things about but never watched.

Lately it's been in the news that ABC cancelled Last Man Standing despite better ratings than other shows it kept. Looks like they're basically just explaining it away when, really, they're just trying hard to be NBC. I feel bad because Last Man Standing was about the only show we might watch as a family but I never watched it on ABC. We watched the first five seasons on Netfilx and it wasn't until they cancelled it that I realized the sixth is on Hulu. I just liked it because it was family friendly and poked fun at both sides of the political aisle.

I had no idea this Dark Crystal thing was coming. I remember when The Dark Crystal was the best fantasy thing you were ever going to get. That and a hobbit cartoon maybe. I'm happy to see it come back.

How do you mean "stop it?" On Roku (at least a few months ago when I tried the free trial again), pressing back exits the screen so I lose the description I'm trying to read. Pressing OK pretends like you did nothing (description is still gone, show is still playing). Pressing play/pause causes the show to pause but the description doesn't show back up. The only buttons left are home (exit netflix), fast forward, rewind. It never occurred to me to try ff/rw to make the show stop and the description show back up. But since you say it works I'll try it next time a show comes out on netflix I just can't miss (I'll sign up for a month maybe).

I don't use Roku too much for Netflix anymore but I'll look at it. I know I haven't noticed it too much on Amazon Fire TV lately but any direction on the remote seemed to stop or silence it.

You're right, Brian, that's how it works now on both Roku and Amazon. I did figure out how to get it to pause though. The easiest way for TV shows is to just go into Episodes and More but you can just click Play and then pause the video and then click back to clear the OSD and one more time to get back to the description.

I remember not liking this feature but I could have sworn it was reduced. Who knows? It seems like they update this stuff daily sometimes.

QFT

Did you watch True Detective? I ****ing love true detective. Someone who hates it please **** all over it. You should watch it though. First season at least.

EDIT:I just realized asking if you watched is stupid, but I meant to ask if you have heard of it.

To be honest, though, there isn't really any reason to select a show if you're not going to watch it as the description shows on the main screen. It is annoying, though.

More annoying is how completely they have screwed up their rating system. I liked it better when I could give a rating based on 5 stars. The problem with that was because, I presume, they just displayed the average rating instead of displaying an average rating of viewers like me (or whoever) for a particular show. Apparently one of their shows was getting hammered so they "improved" their rating system to a simple thumbs up or down. Now I did think it was cool when I noticed they were showing things as x% match but if your algorithm seriously predicts Bill Nye's show as a 98% match for me, it's broken.

Bill Nye's new show is 100% not for anyone.

So here's what I heard.

Basically, ratings turned out to be a good predictor for whether someone liked a show (or claimed to like it), but it was an extremely poor predictor for whether a person would actually watch it. A lot of people were doing stuff like, they wanted to look smart, so they'd five star every documentary, but then they'd never actually watch documentaries. Netflix was recommending stuff that people weren't actually watching.

The "match" percentage now is more like the probability that you'd watch it. Not whether you'd like it.

Yeah, I've heard of it, but I don't really watch cop shows.

... unless they're like A Touch of Cloth which actually is a post-2009 TV series I've watched all the way through. Crikey.

Well it's definitely not a comedy but it's also a cosmic horror (at least season one) loosely based on Chambers/Lovecraft stuff.

Now that I'm at a keyboard and not on a phone I'll respond and try to be more clear.

What you just described is exactly what Netflix told me to do. When I would go to the website, back when, you know, you actually kind of had to visit it, Netflix would tell you to rate everything you could in order to better predict what you would like. So say I like March of the Penguins and I would like to watch more of those sorts of documentaries I would rate them high so that Netflix is more likely to suggest it to me.

The thing is I guess they were just showing the raw average rating of shows rather than how people that rated shows the way I do would rate it. Fixing that little bit would have been better than what they did. But what you says makes sense. I imagine Bill Nye's show has a high probability of being watch because of name recognition and people wanting to see if it's as bad as they've heard. I won't view it. I may down vote it. I just don't want it further skewing my suggestions.

Netflix just kind of sucks now, though. I really don't find myself watching it too much until a Marvel show or House of Cards or one of their other originals comes on.

Better Call Saul, anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoUJvAQg7KI

F'n Twin Peaks season 3.

I usually expect disappointment from cool stuff that's being revived years later. (Bands that get back together after years, the new Star Wars titles, etc.), however! I am not disappoint.

It somehow manages to be both refreshing and somewhat familiar at the same time. Lynch is pushing things further.

Though if you're not familiar with Twin Peaks the whole thing will fly completely over your head.

I started watching it on Netflix with the intention of catching up before the current season started but I failed. Liked what I watched though.

Legion is set to expire this week on Hulu. I like the first episode. Might try to get seven more in in the next few days.

Better Call Saul is worth going back to.

I really admire it for its pacing. The show creators are so confident that it's good, that they're willing to let scenes drag on, because they're certain viewers will be entertained by them. No one else on TV right now has the guts to do that.

Ehh.

I mean, I like Better Call Saul but it's so glacial and it feels a lot like them just taking a victory lap after Breaking Bad.

I wish there was a TV series about bird lawyers, titled Better Call Fowl.

Half way there.

Sorry, don't know how to play this video :(
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HL3MxAH-kDI

I really don't think it's a coincidence that that video had only been viewed 18 times before being posted here.

So, I finished the first eight episodes of Legion today. Brilliant. Reminds me a lot of Hannibal. I really can't tell if it's leaving Hulu or not but worth a watch.

Has anyone seen the Castlevania animation mini-series on Netflix that came out earlier this month?

Written by Warren Ellis. It was badass, looking forward to Season 2!

I liked it better than American Gods on the whole, though the latter was more than decent.

Not a good comparison probably, but hey.

And yeah, Legion was great! They sort of stalled there in the middle I felt, but they really picked up the ball by the end, it was one of the most psychedelic shows I'd ever seen.

I don't know. Is it really good? I read 'Gun Machine' by Warren Ellis, and it was such a ****ing piece of **** that I basically get mad every time I see his name attached to something. Obviously a novel is more likely to aggravate, potentially, than comics or animation or something where its quality isn't all up to him.

FIVE DAYS MORTY [/SIZE][/COLOR][/U][/I][/B]

Well, I'm a fan of his comics. Transmetropolitan, Orbital, Frequency, I'd read quite a bit of what he'd written and enjoyed it tremendously. I tried reading some of his prose as well, wasn't too impressed to say the least, but yes, I've enjoyed Castlevania quite a bit. Besides, each episode is only about 20 minutes long so it's not a big commitment.

There's nothing really super special or new in that animated series, it's just very polished overall (I think).

Cool, cool. I've never read any of his comics, but I've seen them praised. Maybe that's his strength.

Oh yes, absolutely. He's a very, very talented comic book writer. Transmetrpolitan was great, and arguably one of his most famous works. Its spiritual precursor, Lazarus Churchyard, was extremely memorable as well. And Desolation Jones, too. As far as comic book writing goes, he's right up there with Garth Ennis IMHO.

/agree

Dude, spoilers.

If people haven't gotten to Season 5 after three years they're beyond help