This was supposed to be relaxing but

I tuned into netflix for a quiet weekend of dog sitting

Ready to dive into something new

And there was something wrong with my feed

It should show programs like Love is Blind and 90 Day Fake Marriage Bachelor proposals

Or whatever those stupid scripted 100% made up “reality” shows are

Where pretty almost naked people get drunk and profess undying love to each other

Not because I watch them, though I have let them roll in the background while sitting on my phone doom scrolling or reading in Kindle

But because my EX loves those shows, and keeps Netflix at her house

So she binges them, which tells Netflix this is the “type” of show we like

Even if I had never seen The Bachelor until I watched it with her

Or The Bachelorette or Bachelor in Paradise or Bachelorette in Paradise or Surviving the Bachelor or The Great Bachelorete Race

Again, whatever they are called, she gives ‘em a try

So the home screen should show more like them

Except…

It didn’t

It was full of Korean stuff and Indian stuff, all dubbed, and all 100% stuff neither of us would watch

But at the top of the screen was…

Games

Which is of course, the first thing anyone thinks when they log into Netflix

Now I’m not a gamer

I don’t play video games and I’ve said that before

I’ve got too many other things to do

I blame it on the way I was raised, which was with zero gaming consoles, and getting locked out of the house any time the sun was shining

But I did fall in love with movies

And when Netflix started out delivering DVD’s through the mail to knock Blockbuster off the blocks

I was all in

And when Netflix decided to stream movies and become a theater in the house

I was all in again

But over the past several years, as the company has expanded globally they are doing two things

About five years ago, they were making quality shows that were ground breaking and interesting and great to watch

Think Stranger Things

But then new management came in, found out it was cheaper to buy from Korea (as it always is)

AND add a thousand new shows a month for the cost of one American production

AND add new Netflix subs from around the world

But…

Except for the occasional TRAIN TO BUSAN or PARASITE type hit, most of the foreign flix are retreads of American stories, which were borrowed from England and Shakespeare

Who stole them from the Greeks, who got them from tales carried from travelers and passed down and around word of mouth

Probably from the Far East

And now Netflix has completed the circular nature of storytelling

I don’t want to watch it

I can’t wait until AI is advanced enough to let me build my own feed in any of the apps

Because I thumbs down the Korean soaps, and the Bollywood stuff I’ll never watch

Trying to convince Netflix to show me all the 80’s and 90’s movies I can rewatch without having to dig into the search bar feature and type i one letter at a time

It’s called an interest algorithm and it’s supposed to be based on things you like

Except it’s really just Netflix and Facebook and Instagram showing you stuff like throwing sh… stuff at a feed wall hoping something sticks

They literally want you to watch and engage more, and then actively work to make you shut down the app and go elsewhere

It seems counter productive and counter to success

But whoever happens to be at the top of the streamer now thinks it’s a good idea

Because they announced today that they’re looking to add live channels since viewership is down almost 40%

Youtube TV did this- it started as the 20 most popular channels people watched along with the big 4 on local stations and was $19.99 a month

Then they added 900 channels nobody wanted or watches, all owned by the same companies, and raised prices up to $80 now

Youtube TV is just Cable TV

And Netflix wants to become Cable TV

And five years from now, they’ll wonder why people aren’t watching their bad shows and bad choices

Maybe they’ll make a reality show about breaking up with your TV

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