Back in the day when Netflix was the major player in the streaming world, it was easy to justify paying for a single subscription that always felt like a bargain thanks to the sheer amount of content at my fingertips. Back then, Netflix acted as more of a supplemental addition to cable instead of an outright replacement.
Netflix isn’t worth it anymore
If you want your money’s worth, you have to pay up, making Netflix an even harder sell.
Save a lot of money and unsubscribe
Take it month to month
Let me use Netflix’s Cobra Kai as an example. Netflix decided to split the final season up into three parts. Instead of watching a series of five episodes three separate times, I decided to hold off completely a wait until it’s all available to watch. Sometimes, that has negative connotations, especially with Netflix being so hasty to pull the trigger on cancelations. There’s no reason to be concerned about this scenario since it’s the final season of the show. Admittedly, that situation doesn’t typically happen with Netflix, but the stars are aligned here, and it’s letting me save a great deal of money.
I skipped the best Max deal of the year and I hope you did too
Max had a good Black Friday deal, but it wasn’t enough for me.
There are some downsides to it all
You never know how permanent something is
Something streaming seemingly promised at the beginning was a place for you to always watch your favorite shows and movies. You figured if something was made by Netflix, Disney, or HBO, it’d find its permanent home on that service. Fast-forward to now, and it’s obvious that was the wrong assessment to make.
Shows like Willow, Close Enough, andInfinity Trainwere all pulled from their respective services, and the only way to watch some of them is through nefarious means. It’s bizarre to think of something that was paid for and distributed could be removed from a service completely, but that’s the reality we’re in. It’s also a clear downside of the method I’m using, because there’s no telling when something will have the rug pulled out from under it. I remember when the announcement that Close Enough was canceled and was being removed hit because I scrambled to finish watching the series before I couldn’t anymore. I’m not a big fan of binging, so it was annoying to have to watch something that way, but as a huge fan of the Regular Show, I had to do it.
Take a break from it all with YouTube TV’s newest 24/7 channel
YouTube TV has added a 24/7 Zen channel to its streaming service that lets you enjoy a moment of peace and calm.
I’m investing more in physical media
More bargain hunting
Something I also realized over the years is that chasing your favorite shows and movies doesn’t have to be expensive as it is. Instead, you may buy a physical copy of something and keep it in your library forever. While not everything gets a physical release, a good chunk of things do, and that includes just about any theatrical release. TV shows are tougher to track down as a Netflix show is typically reserved for the service, but there are some exceptions, like The Haunting of Hill House and Stranger Things, at least the earlier seasons.
You might be shocked to know how affordable some movies and shows are, especially if you go to thrift stores. DVDs in particular are dirt cheap, and if you’re okay with the lower quality of them, you can find a lot to pick up for a low price. Blu-rays are typically more expensive, but you can still come away with a good haul from a thrift store. If you factor in stores like Gruv, a storefront that offers a beefy 20% off coupon for first-time buyers, then you can get a lot of value.
What I’ve noticed is buying physical often has a higher upfront cost, especially buying new releases, but it’s worth it in the long run if you’re a collector and what you’re buying is something you plan to watch time and time again. I have to mention that it’s a rabbit hole, however. Finding out about the boutique shops like Criterion, Arrow, and Shout! can quickly become a money sink. For me, it’s all part of the fun, and I’d rather support physical media than a streaming service that mighttake away my contentwhenever they please.
Disney is releasing its first VHS in 17 years and I have questions
Sometimes, a retro format release makes sense. Being able to purchase Star-Lord’s Awesome Mix on an actual cassette tape was undeniably cool in 2017. But sometimes it doesn’t. Case in point: The VHS release of this past summer’s Alien: Romulus.
20th Century Studios has announced that it will be releasing the film on limited edition VHS on December 3, complete with full screen 4x3 aspect ratio. For reference, the last VHS release by parent company Disney was Cars in 2007, nearly 20 years ago.
With VHS players almost impossible to find outside of eBay and repairs for existing units becoming harder and harder to comission, we have to wonder, who, exactly is this VHS release for. It is doubtful that these novelty items will ever be played on an actual VHS tape player, and its not like the VHS format plays significantly into the history of the Alien franchise. So why do it?
How do you feel about this strange physical release? Would you like to see more VHS releases? Or are you just as
