Sorry, this has nothing whatsoever to do with cards or hobbies!
There are so many options!
We have had Netflix for, sheesh, close to 15-years now. In fact, we may just be some of the only subscribers who also have the dvd plan. The kids watch Netflix more than me and my wife combined, so it is, I suppose, a wise monthly subscription. It's not important that my oldest son watches the same three or four shows from start to finish, over and over again; what is important is that Netflix gets used.
I had resisted branching out beyond Netflix. My watchlist kept growing and I wasn't watching much of it. Things dropped off and I had no idea until I decided to catch up. Then it was on some other streaming service.
So we got Disney+ a little over a year ago. It was a 3-month free promo (I think) through Verizon. It has Star Wars content, it has Marvel content. Easy choice there. I added tons of items to my list. I even watched a few things (didn't care much for Mandalorian, sorry!). Promo time came and went and we started getting charged via Verizon. Meh, fine, it gets watched enough by the rest of the household, I guess.
Then came Apple+. It was another 3-month promo, but directly through Apple. My wife wanted to watch the Jennifer Aniston morning news show. I wanted to watch Ted Lasso. My wife got through hers in a week or so. By the time I finished Ted Lasso, season two was in full swing. As timing works out, the 3-month promo ended in the early part of season two, so I just went month-to-month. I did, at least, cancel that service when Lasso ended. Apple really doesn't have much content. But they have a ton of money, so it's probably only a matter of time.
Next up was HBO Max, which we have had for a few months now. I paid for a full year upfront since it was pretty cheap (some discounted rate, though I couldn't tell you what it cost). I went through and added several movies and shows and have barely watched any of them so far.
So today my wife changes up our Verizon plan and got a new phone. We now have Disney+ for "free" (double quotes because, let's face it, you're still paying for it!). So no change there. But we also have Hulu now. What do I do? Go through their hubs and add a ton of shows to my watchlist. How much will I actually watch? Time will tell.
In addition to all of this, we have Dish Network. We have been a Dish customer for probably 20-years. We can watch live local channels without waiting 24- or 48-hours, or for the network to make an agreement with one service and months later, yet another. We have a DVR that is <checks real quick...> 43% full. Most of that is made up if movies recorded over the years when we had free preview weekends or something like that. In addition, we have a ton of timers to record shows. I prefer to wait for a full season now to binge (which I blame on Netflix) whereas my wife watches her shows whever she can.
Remember when I mentioned we still have the dvd plan on Netflix? It is due, in no small part, to a handful of shows I like from Showtime. I just can't bring myself to get yet another subscription when I can just rip them from dvd and binge them on my own schedule. For example, I get Billions from the dvd plan because I just don't want to have Showtime+ or whatever their service is called.
Where am I going with all this?
With the DVR, all the on-demand content, all the various watchlists, it is probably mathematically impossible for me to watch all the content I am even vaguely interested in. Yet I still add new things all the time. And yet, as I type this up, I sit here watching a Halloween episode of Modern Family on syndication that I am sure I have seen no less than five times over the years.
There are too many options. You subscribe and just pay without noticing. I have never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones. It's full run was one of the things that tipped the scale toward getting HBO Max. In the last few months since we have had it have I even watched the first episode yet? Nope! Have I gotten past the third episode of the odd Jeff Goldblum show on Disney+? Nope. It is quirky and right up my alley. I enjoy what I have seen so far, but it's just there, so no rush, right?
But when I decide to binge something now do I go with the rest of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix, start Terriers on Hulu since I heard great things, or do I finally take the plunge into the dense world on Thrones?
No idea, there is just so much to watch!
Edit: Crap! I completely forgot that we have Amazon Prime, too!
