Tag: Disney Plus

Too Many Streams

Money hungry. That’s what they are. Money hungry.

I remember a time when we had Netflix and Hulu and that gave us pretty much every thing we needed to watch movies and TV shows. That’s not the case today. So many “parent companies” are pulling stuff off Netflix to add to their own streaming platform and quite frankly, it ticks me off.

All the NBC shows are now on Peacock, all Star Wars, Pixar and Disney is on Disney +, and so on and so forth. We’ll guess what? I’m not paying for all of them! We’re barely getting by with all of the inflation, gas prices, and life in general! I cannot afford $20 a month here and $15 a month there. The cable bill alone is high enough! To add more streaming services would put us in one big financial hole!

What really angers me is that there are things that I would LOVE to watch, but can’t because there is no way to justify paying for another streaming service. Paramount + has The Offer, a series about the making of the Godfather. I would love to see it. HBO Max has the new Christmas Story movie, which I hear is great! My list goes on and on. I just cannot in good conscience pay for something that I will only use to watch one or two shows.

The TV shows I would binge watch, well, many of them I have on DVD. I can pop them in whenever I want to. It seems to be more worth buying them outright at $40 and watching them for years that to pay $20 a month and maybe not even get the chance to watch them. And when you have them on DVD, you get the bonus features that don’t show up on streaming.

Actor Jack Palance once said, “The only two things you can really depend upon are gravity and greed.” The fact that there are almost as many streaming services as there are cable channels makes me sick. I’m sorry greedy streaming company – you aren’t getting my money every month.

I suppose I will hope that the one or two things I want to watch on their platform will end up on DVD soon …

Rant over.

I’m As Mad As Sally!

Earlier today it was reported that all of the Charlie Brown holiday specials will NOT be airing on broadcast TV this year! Instead, it will be moving to Apple TV (a pay service) for viewing. I’m not going to lie, I am sick of all of the various streaming options! I pay for cable and Netflix. Now there is Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon, and others! CBS and NBC also have their own “pay” services! This just proves it is all about money!

I’m 50 years old, but I have always made it a point to watch the Peanuts specials (and many others). Now, I’m going to be forced to pay to watch it? No, thanks! I’ll go out and buy the specials on DVD. Then I can watch them when I want to! I’ve done the same with many of my favorite TV shows. If you look at my movie shelf, I have my favorites (not all, but most) on DVD.

Growing up, I remember it being a yearly tradition to sit down and watch Charlie Brown’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials. What a shame that after 60 years on broadcast TV, the almighty dollar has ruined it for kids of this generation!

The Halloween special is just fun. There are some great moments in it. I always thought it was cool that Charlie Brown was actually invited to Violet’s Halloween party! Of course, the story revolves around Linus and his belief in the Halloween entity, the Great Pumpkin. He vows to see the Great Pumpkin and convinces Sally to join him in the pumpkin patch.

I love when the gang goes out trick or treating! One of the things I always laugh at is Lucy’s witch mask! It’s hideous!

When the kids yell trick or treat at one house, the home owner passes out treats and the kids meet at the sidewalk excited to share what each of them got. It is here that Charlie Brown says the funniest 4 words in the special (in my opinion) – “I got a rock!”

As Sally and Linus wait for the Great Pumpkin, the two mistake Snoopy for the Great Pumpkin. Sally realizes that she has missed all the fun of Halloween and at this point loses it! She lets loose on Linus with one hell of a rant:

I was robbed! I spent the whole night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, when I could’ve been out for tricks-or-treats! Halloween is over and I missed it! You blockhead! You kept me up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, and all that came was a beagle! I didn’t get a chance to go out for tricks-or-treats, and it was all your fault! I’ll sue! What a fool I was! I could’ve had candy, apples, and gum! And cookies and money and all sorts of things, but no! I had to listen to you. You blockhead. What a fool I was. Trick-or-treats come only once a year. And I miss it by sitting in a pumpkin patch with a blockhead. You owe me RESTITUTION!!

I guess I could easily go off on my own rant about the blockheads who made these classics unavailable to broadcast TV, but what good would it do? In the words of Charlie Brown….”good grief!”