If by “breakout hit” you mean a Game of Thrones-type show (which I found unwatchable), that’s a pretty high bar to measure success. Like others here I found TMS and The Servant to be the equal of any of the best streamer offerings. Considering it’s TV+ first season, I’ll be ready to pay when my freebie runs out. Lighten up, William.
Because I bought an Apple product during the Christmas season I have a one year Apple subscription. I can’t say I’ve viewed much in the last couple of weeks. The shows seem competent, but safe. They don’t want to offend anyone and potential controversy is avoided as much as possible. So good but not great writing and situations with themes that would feel at home in mid 60’s middle class tv.
I certainly wouldn’t say it doesn’t have a ”break out” hit. TMS has me and my wife addicted, so has Servant. I also watch every other show (and movie) that comes out. Even though some genres are not my habitual cup of tea, the quality I’ve seen so far have me putting some prejudices aside!
They don’t mention Servant enough on AppleInsider. My only complaint about it is the 30 min episode length and the week between episodes.
Lots of folk talking about TMS of all ages. My only complaint about that show is Bel Powley. Terrible actress. Terrible character.
I couldn’t make it through the first ep of See. I can’t buy into the concept. It’s just Jason Momoa in a typecast role.
I struggled getting through the first couple of episodes of both For All Mankind and See. By episode three, I was hooked on See. FAM, was even a slower burn. Once people started to die, that’s when the show clicked for me, but that was later in episodes 4 or 5 if I recall correctly. The FAM season finale was one of the most intense moments of television that I can recall in recent years. Absolutely incredible, emotionally charged, nerve-racking, and I loved every moment of it.
Apple need more quality content. In November of this year - all the free annual subscriptions will come up for renewal. If Apple doesnt act quick (M&A) - many wont renew.
Which isn’t much of an issue - They will just have to give away another free year. It’s nice they have that option (An option Disney and Netflix do not have).
Its frustrating to see Apple move so slowly on this.
Im sure they know what they are doing.
Why? Apple doesn’t depend on video service revenue, it’s an added bonus. They have more quality shows than Amazon did at launch for sure, so I don’t really see what’s frustrating about it.
Obviously your not a shareholder.
Being a shareholder doesn’t add weight to your words, because Apple hardware revenue is still boss, and services is growing. They’ve reached record heights and again there is nothing to be frustrated about.
If by “breakout hit” you mean a Game of Thrones-type show (which I found unwatchable), that’s a pretty high bar to measure success. Like others here I found TMS and The Servant to be the equal of any of the best streamer offerings. Considering it’s TV+ first season, I’ll be ready to pay when my freebie runs out. Lighten up, William.
Even Game of Thrones was still nerd-domain till session 3 or more. A lot of people binged watch 4 or 5 sessions to catch up as it gained popularity.
Morning show is good but not a hit, watched one episode of “see” and couldn’t, it’s bad. Oprah’s book club was boring. They need stronger content.
Morning Show is getting better and better after episode 3. I don't watch See and Oprah, but you should try Servant and Elephant Queen. For All Mankind is similar to Morning Show, as it is also a slowburn. They are excellent shows if you stick with them.
Look the shows are pretty good generally against other streamers. for my two cents,the two biggest of thr *current* problems I see are:
its barren. Not enough content yet. This is fine while it’s free. It will be not worth paying for more than a month at $4.99. So content is a priority. I am not sure they can build their own quick enough, so an acquisition might be needed.
To generalise, the shows seem a bit too heavily oriented to competing with publicly funded television. A broader range of interests, and/or otherwise a couple of specialist niches it does better than anyone else might help to generate loyalty.
FYI: House of Cards was a weak Americanized cover of a British TV show that aired years before for free on PBS. You can buy the original on iTunes or whatever Apple calls it these days. So much for groundbreaking - they did an Americanized retread.
Good movies and TV start with a story. If you do not have a good story the rest is just smoke and mirrors (Star Wars and the comic book movies that pollute today’s movie screens).
It is pretty easy to hire a competent production team, but getting quality content is hard. Getting a stable writers room and show runner that can keep it together for the life cycle of a series is also very hard. Lots if shows start out strong and then peter out as writers move on to other projects. If you take the time to look, the same short list of names wrote many of the best series anyone here can remember.
If Apple wants great content they need a stable of great writers and good stories to base the shows on. The rest is nowhere near as hard.
I certainly wouldn’t say it doesn’t have a ”break out” hit. TMS has me and my wife addicted, so has Servant. I also watch every other show (and movie) that comes out. Even though some genres are not my habitual cup of tea, the quality I’ve seen so far have me putting some prejudices aside!
They don’t mention Servant enough on AppleInsider. My only complaint about it is the 30 min episode length and the week between episodes.
Lots of folk talking about TMS of all ages. My only complaint about that show is Bel Powley. Terrible actress. Terrible character.
I couldn’t make it through the first ep of See. I can’t buy into the concept. It’s just Jason Momoa in a typecast role.
This. Of all the series we watch on ATV+, we look forward to Servant each week more than the others. Not sure how many episodes make up the season, but in my opinion, seasons are too short nowadays. Dickinson was too short. Wait another year for what? Another 8 episodes? I'll have lost interest by then.
8 episodes is basically a half season from a story standpoint — it tends to leave a lot of loose ends — See is a good example. My reaction to realizing (afterward) that I had just watched the season finale was “Wait, what? That’s it?”
I guess that’s why they’ve all (?) been automatically renewed for a second season. Going forward, they are useless as back catalog if they are unfinished — nobody in the future is going to binge-watch a show that has no ending.
Because I bought an Apple product during the Christmas season I have a one year Apple subscription. I can’t say I’ve viewed much in the last couple of weeks. The shows seem competent, but safe. They don’t want to offend anyone and potential controversy is avoided as much as possible. So good but not great writing and situations with themes that would feel at home in mid 60’s middle class tv.
I don't believe you've watched much, if any, of See, The Morning Show, For All Mankind, or Dickinson if you believe they are trying to avoid "offense" or that these shows would have been on TV in the 1960s. There is plenty of "TV-MA" content that is far from "safe." I think you're just parroting hypothetical complaints that were made before we actually saw these shows.
Probably obviously, I've skipped almost all the previous comments.
A breakout hit and a good program aren't necessarily the same thing, especially with the latter being very subject. The Mandalorian is a bigger hit, a breakout hit, compared to The Morning show, For All Mankind, and Truth Be Told, but not as good of a show (I did say it's subjective). I like the former ok, but don't really see what all the fuss is about. Other than the sets and scenery (some say footage is 'borrowed' from films) there are better shows on OTA TV.
Who know's if Apple will come up with something of a breakout hit and if so, what type of show it'll be. I don't know where the line is drawn for 'breakout'. Some people would call Downton Abbey a breakout. I wouldn't be one of them.
I'm in for the long haul. I didn't expect anything out of the park, but I like what I see so far. I bought the iPhone on day one, and knew it was a breakout hit, even though it took another two-three years before most everybody knew it. That's good enough for me.
Do you think Apple would green light a show like Breaking Bad?
After watching the series See, I don't see why not. It makes Breaking Bad look tame, in my opinion.
Yes - they would. But in Apple’s Version
Walter White would be played by Oprah Winfrey Jessie Pinkmen would be played by Jennifer Aniston.
Absurd nonsense. I’m going to assume you haven’t seen See and the R-rated content within. There is nothing “Apple” about it. They don’t pen the scripts, they just buy the shows they think people will like to watch from production companies. This is no different than any other network.
People seem to enjoy making things more complicated than they are.
A part that the article doesn’t touch and to me is the biggest issue of Apple TV is the actual app experience. It’s confusing as hell - horrible even.
We use the AppleTV app on a Samsung TV and the experience is pretty much the same as the app on the actual Apple TV device.
So my wife opens up Apple TV to watch a movie. What she doesn’t understand - and I totally get looking at the UI and UX - is that Apple TV’s menu partially aggregates content from other providers and partially exposes content on its ‘own’ platform. For that content it both lists AppleTV+ content and content that I have bought on iTunes in the past that gets a lot of ‘attention’ on the main menu,
So her first few attempts to play something fails: Succession fails because it’s HBO and we don’t get that in the Netherlands (but are still connected to the US store because we immigrated back to the Netherlands. I don’t want to switch stores because last time that happened I lost most of my content and Apple was very reluctant on helping us switch). She tries to play content from another provider and I warn her that is just 1 free episode and she’ll need a subscription for the other shows. She asks me why that restriction is there since “she is in Apple TV already”. A third attempt with other content provider being exposed within AppleTV fails because we aren’t subscribed to it. Then she gets confused why my iTunes purchase library shows up and she doesn’t see the difference between that and Apple original content.
She finally scrolls through the AppleTV+ content and she notes how little there is. I explain that’s because the platform is so new.
She didn’t see the top menu choices where you can filter each content nor she gets the differences.
Now compare this to Netflix and Disney+. Once you are in, all content is part of Netflix. Select and play. Much easier menu system, content is always accessible.
AppleTV+ is a UI/UX mess because it wants to be too much, similar to Amazon Prime (even they do a better job of differentiation content visually). If they don’t fix this, they’ll confuse the hell out of people and they’ll close the app for the easier alternatives.
Sounds like your wife might have to spend the few minutes needed to learn how to use it.
It’s year one. Not even a full year. How long has the other streaming services been making originals before their big hits? Disney is an exception because “Star Wars”.
Comments
Explain otherwise.
So much for groundbreaking - they did an Americanized retread.
Good movies and TV start with a story. If you do not have a good story the rest is just smoke and mirrors (Star Wars and the comic book movies that pollute today’s movie screens).
It is pretty easy to hire a competent production team, but getting quality content is hard. Getting a stable writers room and show runner that can keep it together for the life cycle of a series is also very hard. Lots if shows start out strong and then peter out as writers move on to other projects. If you take the time to look, the same short list of names wrote many of the best series anyone here can remember.
If Apple wants great content they need a stable of great writers and good stories to base the shows on. The rest is nowhere near as hard.
I guess that’s why they’ve all (?) been automatically renewed for a second season. Going forward, they are useless as back catalog if they are unfinished — nobody in the future is going to binge-watch a show that has no ending.
A breakout hit and a good program aren't necessarily the same thing, especially with the latter being very subject. The Mandalorian is a bigger hit, a breakout hit, compared to The Morning show, For All Mankind, and Truth Be Told, but not as good of a show (I did say it's subjective). I like the former ok, but don't really see what all the fuss is about. Other than the sets and scenery (some say footage is 'borrowed' from films) there are better shows on OTA TV.
Who know's if Apple will come up with something of a breakout hit and if so, what type of show it'll be. I don't know where the line is drawn for 'breakout'. Some people would call Downton Abbey a breakout. I wouldn't be one of them.
I'm in for the long haul. I didn't expect anything out of the park, but I like what I see so far. I bought the iPhone on day one, and knew it was a breakout hit, even though it took another two-three years before most everybody knew it. That's good enough for me.