Summer is winding down but the fall lineup remains up in the air, so we bring you an episode of organized chaos.

We hear from "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher, who is president of SAG-AFTRA and recently talked about the state of the actors strike. We also hear from "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston.

After talking about finally watching the Netflix series "Dahmer," co-host Bruce Miller talks about all of the movies that are trickling out that might only be in theaters briefly before they head to streaming. His choices might not compete with "Barbie," but they are certainly movies you won't want to miss and will be under consideration when awards season heats up.

And co-host Terry Lipshetz talks about "Silo" on Apple TV+, which recently wrapped its first season. This ultimately opens a discussion about which streaming services are worth our time and navigating screen time selections with the kids.

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About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed and Screened and Entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz is senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with the legendary Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. Bruce, you're back. So you took a little week off. I mean, the listeners wouldn't know this because they would know that advance.

But yeah, yeah, you're right. Bob Barker Here I am. But yeah, and you know, I really got a chance to dig in to TV and see what's there, because right now, normally I would know all of the new shows that were coming out in the fall. I would have seen all of them. I would probably have talked with the people who were involved.

And this year is this big question mark. We don't know what we're getting. I don't know what kind of shows are out there, what kind of period we're going to be going through, how long the strike will last. It's very, very weird. And so what I've been doing is revisiting things. And one of the things I did do, I was scared to death of watching Dahmer when it first came out.

I really because I don't. Is that giving him too much credibility? Is it, you know, endorsing something that I don't want to be a part of? But I you know, it's nominated for a lot of Emmys. And so I thought, you know, I should watch it. I should see it. Well, I was so scared after the first two episodes.

I thought I got to watch something that's going to kind of calm me down a little bit. And so I found election election on Max. They're kind of pushing it now. Do you remember election was an Alexander Payne film about Tracy Blake. She was is this kind of rabid girl who was running for student council president in high school, played by Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick played the the adviser to the the student council.

And fascinating to see it again because, you know, they were really serious. Wasn't that big when she made this. And Matthew was kind of coming off his Ferris Bueller run and the movie was, you know, I hear it, but it's now prompted a sequel. There's going to be a sequel called Tracy Flick. What is it? Tracy Flick doesn't win or it doesn't always win or shouldn't win or I don't know.

It's based on a new book and they decided to go back and do it. And Reese is producing the thing. We'll see what happens with that. But it was fun to see that because it did cleanse the palette from Dahmer and it gave me a chance to kind of look forward to something that will be coming. Paramount Plus is is actually doing it.

I don't know how far they are in the process, but it is scheduled for the next year. What what was your overall thought on Dahmer? Because I know this was a little bit of an older one. It was on it was last year on Netflix. I watched it especially because of, you know, living in Wisconsin, even though it happened before I lived in Wisconsin.

It's still something that people talk about, you know, a lot out here. What were your thoughts? I would like to say it was creepy, but it reminds you can tell it was a Ryan Murphy product because like his American Horror Story and all those other kind of things, it has that edge that you got. Oh, my God. I think it's going to go over the edge, I think.

And it did. I thought some of those those murder scenes or just even opening the refrigerator was enough to send me reeling. But Evan Peters does a good job because you do see the kind of the the groundwork that's put into play that makes him kind of screwed up. And he plays it very kind of low key. And then you see what he does and it's like, whoa, I don't you know, this would not be made as anything but a streaming service thing.

I don't know that you I know that they've done Dahmer movies and stuff, but they've never done it this intensely. And then I looked up the story of him online, of course, you Google everything, right? Right. And you look and you see, well, how many did he kill? And then you realize I've seen two deaths and there are like 17.

I'm going to have a long haul with this. And this is really hard for me to watch. So, you know, it was fun to see Michael learn it in there as his grandmother. And, you know, there are good supporting performances, but it's tough. It's a tough slog. Yeah, it it was difficult to watch. I'm glad it didn't get as gory as it could have been.

I mean, I was I was that was the one thing that I really because I'm not a big gore. I don't like horror movies. I don't you know, that's not my thing. And, you know, but I do like a thriller. Like I like like Silence of the Lambs, which is the only movie I can think of that's really comparable to you know, that's obviously fiction, although based on some aspects of reality with this, you know, I didn't need to see him like dismembering everybody and in all that.

So I'm glad it didn't quite go down that road, but it was very difficult to watch. But it was also fascinating because the story I don't think the story's been told it's been told, but it's not like some stories. It just keeps on getting retold over and over again. I don't you know, this is the the deepest dive I think I've seen on Dahmer to date.

I don't think it needed ten episodes. I'll be Oh, no, no, no. And I kept questioning why people didn't complain more. You like when they're in he's in this apartment, he's got all this crap and the smell is bad. You'd complain and I think somebody would do something. And then you see these instances where the cops are in the place and they kind of just bypass it, you know, It's like, Oh, yeah, we'll move on.

And I, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs. Plus, here's the other thing. Never go home with somebody that you don't know right now. I mean, if somebody says, come on over to my house and we'll have a drink or something. No, that is a big animal that you can put on anybody's door and do not do it right.

You know, I won't even sell something on Facebook. Marketplace and let somebody come in to buy like Nintendo. We're going to go to the parking lot of the QuikTrip and we will make a transaction there or somewhere holding a gun on you at all times. And I pass the merchandise to you, right? Yeah. Yeah. There is no way.

I mean, unless unless it's I've got like we sold our swing set for the kids on Facebook marketplace. Obviously somebody has got to come to the house and pick that thing up, but it's like I'm doing a deep dive on your face. I'm like, looking to make sure you seem halfway normal or more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm with you.

And I remember, too, when I watched that Dahmer with my wife. The thing that we kept on commenting over and over again is like, why is this thing ten episodes? Because on one hand, it just it was it was such it became a slog after a while, but we couldn't stop watching because we kind of wanted to know.

I mean, we know what happens, but you kind of wanted to know what happens, if that makes sense. So it's like we hit that point where we're just we're in it for the long haul, so I guess we're going to suck it up. But yeah, I wanted to see Niecy Nash because I like her and she's nominated for Best Supporting Actress and she's in right away at the beginning.

And then she disappears for a long period of time. And so I thought, well, there must be some big scene that she gets at some point that would have justified her getting nominated for best supporting actress. So I'm not done with it, but I always know now that I have to have something that's very light afterwards. And I have been looking at, you know, streaming is still putting crap out there.

There's still stuff out there. I think Amazon had red, white and royal blue. Have you seen this? It's about a ten, I think, the American president's son. And then like some spare in the British lineup become secret lovers. And of course this is a huge scandal and it's all it is. It's just a romance that you probably saw on Hallmark, except it's two guys and one is British and one is America.

That's that's about all it is. And they were getting a lot of attention. I mean, interesting. But I don't know that that's something that I would mark my time off to see. Yeah, well, it wasn't is as kind of controversial as they thought it would be. And there are a lot of ones like that that are now popping up.

You're going to see in the next month on Hulu. Theater camp and theater camp is this kind of mockumentary done by Ben Platt from Dear Evan Hansen and a bunch of his friends about going to summer camp for theater kids. And it looks darling from it's you know, it's previews, but who knows? And that's one of those things these films he's there are a slew of these films that maybe get a week in a market and then disappear because they can't stand up against the pressure of a Barbie or a Oppenheimer and Barbie.

Look at that. The money that Barbie is rolling in. She never made that much money when she was a doll. So now as a movie, she's she's just rake. And, you know, the sequel is probably already not being written by the writers who are on strike right now. But yeah. And so you you see these films that maybe will get a window, but if you are watching very carefully for them, you're not going to find them.

One that opened this last week was called Jules and Julie's. It stars Ben Kingsley as Ed and this is what I loved. He's 78 and he's like, seen as this real doddering old man. And I'm thinking, God, I'm closer to 78 than I am to, you know, 21. And he get an alien lands in his itty azalea bushes in the backyard, and he tries to tell people about it, and they just think he's just out of his mind and he doesn't know what he's doing and he needs to go to assisted living.

Well, it is an alien or there is an alien there and he communicates with him and two friends of hers also get to get it. Get in on the secret. Jane Curtin is one of the ones and it's a very, very clever film about aging and what kind of things people go through at a certain point in their lives.

It's very much in the tone of what Clint Eastwood has been doing lately. You know, it's his Gran Torino kind of concept where old people aren't kind of given their due for having an opinion or, you know, being feisty or whatever. It's just kind of, Oh, that's the effects of aging. Yeah. Was there an alien, you know, is it just all in his mind?

But it's a cute film that will it'll make its rounds and you'll see it somewhere on your schedule or maybe on a streaming thing. If you remember last year at the Oscars, there was this thing called to Leslie. Yeah, Yeah. Andrea Riseborough was nominated for best actress for that. And like everybody goes to where is this? How do I see this to Leslie?

It's nowhere. And it wasn't. It was in nowhere. And it's like these little films that crop up and then suddenly after it gets traction, somebody will sell it to a streaming service and then it pops up. And I have since seen two Leslie and it was good, and it should have gotten some kind of attention. But the the bigfoot's kind of stomp him out and you don't find him.

But there is a whole herd of them, a list of them that I went through and said, you know what? These are ones that maybe we need to look at before the end of the year. Okay. Well, that sounds like an interesting list because we are running out of things. I must say. We're running out of things to talk about, but we're in this interesting period right now because you mentioned, of course, that you would normally be out in L.A. previewing the fall season.

We have no idea what's what's even going on because of the strike. This writer's strike in this actors strike, it is it is looking like they're digging in for the long haul. I mean, just last week while you were gone, Fran Drescher, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, was talking about this being an inflection point. And, you know, they're waiting on a deal.

So I actually have a quick clip. We're going to play this really quick and we'll listen to her and then bring it back and we'll talk a little bit more about that and then dive into your list. Sounds good. Actors Union President Fran Drescher says there's been no negotiations with the movie and TV studios on a new contract as actors have been on strike for six weeks.

I marches are a letter with the latest SAG after a president. Fran Drescher says the union is getting the silent treatment from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios. Drescher says the contract dispute is at an inflection point. I don't think anybody that's in charge of the AMPTP quite understands that this is not like any past negotiation.

The actors demands include better pay and protections involving artificial intelligence. The studios have said their offer includes historic pay increases and an A.I. proposal that protects actors likenesses. And then, you know, that was last week. And then just right before we hopped on, I got another clip because the actors from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul gathered and they were talking about it.

So here's one more clip from Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. We realize that without organized labor, management will just keep stuffing their pockets and they don't. They don't and will not ever just go, You know what? I don't think this is being fair to those people. I'm going to pay them more. It's just not what they do. All right, Bruce, we had talked a few episodes ago about like, you know, where to put money down.

When is this thing ending? You were a little bit more optimistic. I was much more pessimistic saying that this could go on until later this year. And then the freak out moment would be once kind of the NFL season, college football season, you know, was kind of wrapping up. And then and then the networks or everybody needs something to air come January that's going to be the problem.

So, you know, what are you thinking right now? Are you hearing anything? I think there's you know, it could go whenever. It could go whenever. But they probably will ride it out because it isn't fair. It isn't fair that these people are getting next to nothing and these networks are making pretty big bucks off this stuff. So there are, you know, and the studios come on, if they make a big deal about Margot Robbie getting, what, $50 million for doing Barkley?

Well, she's a producer on the thing. She also is a blue chip star. And I hate when we see these clips of, you know, some famous person, like if Meryl Streep decided she was going to walk with the others. That isn't the instance at all. Meryl Streep and all those blue chip names should not be on the picket line because they don't have a beef with what's going on.

It's the guy who you maybe recognize his face, but you don't know his name that is getting jobbed in all of this. Right. And those are the people that I think those stories need to be told much more. And I would not doubt that the story about Margot getting 50 million is a studio generated story because they want to say, see, look, they're making big money.

Why aren't you know, come on, don't be crying to us. And I think the AIG thing could be a real problem. I've seen some things that have already been written that are not bad, you know, done by a computer because they've been able to input all this other stuff. But where did the other stuff come from that they're trying to duplicate or mimic or whatever that gives us this thing?

I would not doubt that in the future the computers are going to be doing all of our writing. I would not doubt that. But you've got to hold the line somewhere because are we eliminating humans entirely? Is that our goal? With every job? You know how it is where they say, well, we're going to we're going to outsource this and we're going to let computers do it.

Yeah, maybe sometimes you need that personal touch that comes from having a human in there. I don't know. But I find it really disturbing. And I'll turn on Entertainment Tonight on a regular basis. And it's like, Oh, today, look who showed up on the picket line. And, you know, I don't care. I don't care that the big names, because they'll come for an hour or whatever, eat a sandwich and act like they're part of the the normal people.

And what you're doing is not necessarily cheating them out of a job or money, but you are cheating all of those ancillary businesses that rely on this to drive their business. The drivers, the actors, caterers, the set builders, the electricians, I mean, all those kinds of jobs. It's a factory town. Hollywood is a factory town. And if you start cutting that and yet these ones are making just a statement, you know, come on.

I don't know why why those studios need so much money for their executives? I've never believed that that's a good way of doing business, because when you see that somebody is getting a $400 million paycheck for the year, really, is that where they make that kind of decision? A $400 million one? There should be caps on those things.

But, you know, now I'm saying it's only political and I don't mean. Yeah, it is. I read a story, a few weeks ago even where they were actually talking about that point, because, you know, somebody brought up like where are all the stars while everyone else's, the rank and file are marching. But but that's the point, too, is that it gets a little bit touchy because the percentage of people that are making tons and tons of money is very small compared to the rank and file, which is really it has the most to lose out of this.

Right. And then as you mentioned with like a lot of these folks, they're producers on shows now. They're also executives. They're not necessarily running a studio, but it's hard, you know. Sure, they're a member of the Actors Guild and maybe they're a member of the Writers Guild, but if they're a producer or also doing directing work, they're in their hands are in too many parts, and it's probably best that they just stay on the sideline and let things work because it's at some point you got to recuse yourself.

And I think that's what happens. We've had, you know, now for me, the impact is the actors are not doing interviews. They're not going to be talking about a project that's coming up. And I get that. I see the the impact it has on me. But some actors who are producers will do an interview. Now, is that really are you playing the game or what?

You know, which hat is a better hat or a bigger hat? And which one should you be wearing at any given time? Well, hopefully things will wrap up soon because we need we want it. We need our content. Yeah, we need something. We need something.

I know you've got a list here of okay, I've got a list of films that are out there that I have seen some and not seen others. Okay. Golda Which is the Golda meir story? Oh, yeah. Is one that will I think it's starting now in theaters and it's could be another shot for her to win another Oscar.

It's set in just a limited period of time. The 19 days of the Yom Kippur War and how she kind of negotiated all that, what she did, what her thought process was. And it's a great a great character piece, because I do not think of Golda meir when I think of Helen Mirren. They are not alike at all.

But I think that she captures the essence and she brings to life a character that, you know, did we forget her? Do we still think about her? I don't know. But that's one that's out there. That's that's hanging fire. Blue Gene, have you heard of Blue Jean? No, no. This set in the in the 1980s in in England.

And it's about a gym teacher who has this secret kind of private life where she's a lesbian and she doesn't dare come out because she's in Margaret Thatcher. England. And what does this mean for her career? You know, these are things that it seems so long ago and yet these issues come up. And it's a fascinating look at the times.

They really get the costumes right. They get the period right. You see things you think, Yeah, I remember that. I remember the eighties like that. And there's people that maybe you don't you don't recognize, but they've been in a lot of British TV series and things. There's one called The Lesson, and this stars Richard E Grant. You remember him from Oh, man, he's been in so many things.

He was nominated for an Oscar for the Thing with Melissa McCarthy, where she was a writer. I wish I could tell you right off the top of my head. But he. And this he plays another author. Okay. But he, Audie kind of rich author who, you know, is I mean, he's in the driver's seat. He's not a rank and file guy.

And they hire he and his wife hire a tutor for their son. And the tutor sees how this family dynamic is all shaking down Darryl McCormick, who is in. Good luck to you, Leo. Grand. You remember that from with Emma Thompson. He played the guy who was her kind of sex therapist. Okay. Yeah, he was the he was the prostitute.

He plays the tutor in this one. Julie Delpy, if you remember her from all those things with Ethan Hawke, she plays the wife and it's a fascinating look at a family situation. Challengers. Challengers is a film that's set in the tennis world, and it's about three tennis players, you know, and it's who's up, who's down, who's wherever. Zendaya plays a champion, I think like Serena, Venus, one of those kind of, you know, big superstars.

And then Josh O'Connor from the crown, he played Chas, Prince Charles. Okay. He's one of the tennis players. And Mike Feist, who was in West Side Story and has been in Broadway on Dear Evan Hansen. Those are the three. And there just like who is with whom at what time Now it's done by the guy who did call me by your name and it it has the potential to be very dirty.

I'm just throwing that out. It could be a very, very scary next goal wins. Taika Waititi The guy behind Jojo Rabbit and a lot of those, you know what we do in the shadows. A very kind of fun South. I think he's New Zealand. I don't want to say he's Australia, I think he's New Zealand director who focuses on a football coach or a soccer coach played by Michael Fassbinder.

Fassbinder MM hmm. Who has to try and turn a Samoan teen into winners. Now, this is very Ted Lasso in it. Yeah, but I think it could be very, very funny and it could be one of those kind of breakout things. Again, these are all these little kind of pocket films that will show up but not be in theaters as long as Barbie is.

So look for them. Because I think and if nothing else, within a month after that, more than likely they'll turn up on streaming services. Yeah, it could be what we're watching for the next two or three months, Right? Well, and these are also those films, too, that when the Oscar nominations come out, we get by, you know, we'll know the big ones.

But then all of a sudden we're looking at each other and being like, wait, goal while you need it is like 200 people to put your name first. They could be there now. They know that they know what to do. So yeah, and it's funny because I've seen a number of them. They'll, they'll send them to me and then they'll say, See what you think.

And if you can write something, it'd be great. And it's fascinating because a lot of, a lot of times they're better than most of the things that you're seeing. Mm hmm. Yeah. I love a good small time film. You know, sometimes it's sometimes those are the the best ones because it's it's under the radar. It catches you by surprise.

You have no expectations. And it's just kind of fun to see. And we're getting some of the new series are coming back The morning show on Apple is right back with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Another one that I did watch was The Changeling, and it's based on a novel by Victor Lovell or Victor LAVALLE, depending on how you pronounce it, who also does the narration for the film.

And it's so bizarre because it goes back in time and forward in time and back way back in time. I mean, in the first episode, you must be in about six different time periods and it shows how maybe there was some kind of I don't know, black magic that was going on and it affected different generations. And what they what it turned out to be for these kids that are in today's world.

Yeah. Fascinating. Lakeith Stanfield is in it and a good acting exercise. But I think it has far too much to try and unpack right away. Okay, We're coming up in in September. We're coming up also around that period where my three month free trial of Apple TV Plus is about to expire and I'm not. So we just watched Sidel go, which it was okay.

And I know it's gotten some decent traction on like rotten tomatoes from critics and fans. It started out I thought it started out a little bit slow. It's your typical the story on that one is it's it's a you know, a post-apocalyptic kind of sci fi world. There's 10,000 people living underground in a silo and they are governed by the pact.

And the pact is, you know, just their kind of their constitution, their law and order. But the society is broken down to you have this it branch that runs the computer systems and keeps things chugging along. That's run by Tim Robbins. You have a judicial branch which kind of enforce this some of the pact and, you know, make sure everybody is law abiding and common stars is one of the leaders of judicial who kind of, you know, runs a crew that it's almost like a military group.

There's also the sheriff's office, which is more of a police type of thing, which is the main character, Julia Nichols. She she works like down below where where keeps the engines running, but kind of gets pushed into this situation where she's the next sheriff, because one of the things that happens is if you say you want to go outside the silo, it's irrevocable and you have to go out to clean off the little camera that shows the desolate world that has become And the it this isn't really much of a spoiler because it sets up the entire series.

But the wife of the current sheriff goes outside to clean and then a year later, the sheriff himself goes outside to clean, but kind of picks Juliet Nickels to become the next sheriff. And, you know, so it's there is this mystery as to like whether what you see on that screen is actually what it's true to be. But then it's also in like a lot of these stories.

Is Tim Robbins a good guy or is he a bad guy? Is common a good guy, or is he a bad guy or are they just put in such unusual circumstances that there's really no good or bad? Everybody is just kind of trying. They're trying to act within the best interests of the society that they're running. So it's it's not a bad series.

I thought that the first few episodes were a little bit of a slog. It definitely picks up once you get through about three or four, it's ten episodes. A few familiar faces, obviously. As I said, Tim Robbins is in it, Carmen is in it. Ian Glen, He played for a moment on Game of Thrones. He plays the father of Sheriff Nichols, Julia Nichols, who's played by Rebecca Ferguson, and then one other person who's in it that a lot of folks have probably seen lately, Harriet Walter.

She plays this woman who lives all the way at the bottom of society. But she was in succession as the mother of the three Roy siblings, younger Roy siblings. So it's a good one if you need something to watch, you know, we've been kind of like bouncing through things and slamming through things. So that and then of course, I've been now watching Asoka, which is back on, just made its debut, the latest Star Wars series.

So do you find, though, that Apple has a lot of dark shows? They do, yeah. Yeah. It's like some executive must have had some midlife crisis or something and then is trying to explain all of it through these because they I honestly besides Ted Lasso and maybe the after party maybe the after party I'm hard pressed to think of comedies that they really embrace.

The one with Harrison Ford or that was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's shrinking with Harrison Ford and Jason Segel. Yeah that's that one was good. My wife and I just we watch it right before Silo and really enjoyed it and kind of looking forward already this season to there's a few like that Yeah like these midlife crisis kind of concepts and I would like Snoopy I think is the only thing that's on there that is not really kind of dark underneath, right.

Yeah. For all mankind. I don't know. I love Vermont for all mankind. There's the space to alternate history space show. But again, you're getting into a world they'll go to another world to, I think, try and make commentary about our world today. Right? Yeah. It's very sci fi driven. Yeah, a lot of sci fi. I don't know that I would see that as apples.

Best calling card. Yeah, I'm. I'm like, really on the fence here because even with the morning show, I watch season one, I watched about half of season two and then kind of got sidetracked and then ended up canceling Apple TV Plus. So now I've got the decision is like, all right, am I going to go back and watch the next five episodes?

And then I'll stick around and watch the third season? Or do or am I at the point now where do I just let the subscription run out? I cancel it, I wait six months or a year, get a new Mac, then. Yeah. And then just kind of like crush through that because I just feel like with Apple TV Plus it just does not have the programing yet.

Still still like Hulu or Netflix, which those are those I can't cancel. There's just too much stuff that comes on them constantly. I think Apple put a lot of money in a few projects and it's big money. You know, it's this is not just anything but I, I don't know if I were to choose that that would be one of the first ones I would pick for my my extra channels.

It's a good one too. You know, you get your, your whatever, a 30 day, 90 day freeze every time you buy an iPhone. So it's really that's what it's you get your free you get your free phone. Well, not a free phone. You pay for your phone. You get a little Apple TV plus on top of it. I mean, it's not expensive.

It's it's like, what, six bucks a month? So it's it's one where if you let it go for a few months and you don't really watch it, you don't necessarily feel guilty about it. It's not like like Netflix is creeped up or HBO. Well, now it's Max. They've creeped up in the price where it's, you know, 16, 17 bucks a month.

And you start to notice that one if you're not watching Apple TV Plus is still low enough where you're kind of like, wow, it's a $6. I'll get it. It's like that gym membership that, you know, that I never catch. You know, it's like, I guess 12. What about Disney Plus then? Are you sold on that one or is that on?

Yeah, no. Well, that's with the kids and I've got the bundle. So it's like I don't I have Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN plus bundled together which, which maybe if I was only doing one of them I would think twice like, all right, well maybe I'll drop this. But the bundle is it's pretty cheap so I'm not paying a whole lot for all three.

So what what is the determiner then, for you to choose a a service, a streaming service? Is it a certain program that gets you in? Is it the price, Is it you know, the potential it has or where does this all land? Because how would you choose you in this day? You can't have it all. I'm sorry. No, you can't have it.

I'm I. Yeah, I don't know. It's a good I think right now because of the kids I'm fine having Disney plus semi permanently You'll like it too because you get all that Star Wars stuff and you get all the Star Wars stuff. Right. But it's also, you know, when they like ESPN. Plus I get that bundled in. I don't remember the last time I turned it on, but because I get the Hulu and the Disney Plus packaged in there, I occasionally will put on ESPN plus, but not enough for me to I wouldn't I would definitely never subscribe to that one separately.

You know, it's fascinating because you hear people complain about cable when cable keeps raising its prices and stuff, and I can't afford this. This is terrible. And yet they'll add on all these streaming services. And so what gives? And maybe that's the way it just all has to be. All is all a card. Yeah. Just things as you go along and maybe you just have a buy in for X number of weeks or months Yeah, I think at some point and I think it'll, it'll come a little bit more as the kids get older and we're, we're less attached to certain things.

But I feel like I'm getting really close to the point where I don't have anything against Apple TV Plus because I do think it has some good programs. It's just not enough for me to commit 12 months out of the year. And I think we're getting to that point where I need one like $6 a month option. So I maybe going to do Apple TV Plus this month and then maybe next month I do peacock and then maybe the month after that I do Paramount Plus, is it hard to go there?

Gym? Is it hard to get out of the that's that's where unlike cable, because cable's a nightmare like cable. You're on the phone for 45 minutes because I did it a year ago when I finally cut the cord. Right. And it just it takes forever. And it's it's a pain in the butt. But with all of these streaming services, you just log in online.

You know, you got to make sure you get it at the right time because you don't get a refund of $3.18 because you only used it. Right. You know, 42% of of it for the month. So you got to jump before the month is up. Correct. So you like I go to my Google calendar, I put in a reminder like this is the day I got to go cancel Apple TV.

Plus, I'll do it. You know, it'll it'll take me through the end of the month and I'll still have like three more days to watch it because I do it a few days in advance. And then the first of the month I'll subscribe to something else. And as long as you can commit to doing that, you can, you can manage them and you can opt in and out and it's pretty darn easy.

And that's that's the advantage they have over cable, to be honest. It's not even it's almost the point where it's not the cost anymore. Because once although I'm saving a lot of money by not subscribing, I have YouTube TV for my my right were over the year. I figured it out one time like by by dumping the cable.

I'm saving like 100 and something dollars a month. Which can I ask, how much do you spend in a month on services? And you have to factor in the costs for Internet. So between Internet, YouTube, TV and then the other streaming, it's somewhere between 160 and 200 a month. That's not too bad. No, not too bad. I was well over 200 well before I was.

Yeah. And I thought, this is silly. I don't watch all these channels. And I it's just a matter of I, I'm too lazy to go and cancel things. Yeah. And when cable dropped my email and I no longer had email through my cable system, I thought, well, this is, this is the wakeup call I needed. And so then I would like you.

I went to YouTube TV and I was very impressed with that. I find it kind of strange when you're watching a show where it kind of goes to your moment of Zen, where it's they're covering up an ad that isn't going to be shown on your thing. Right. But I'm fine with that. Yeah. And I do like I, I am now looking more for old content.

I really want to see old content. Not because I am nostalgic because that's not me, but I want to see how good it was back then compared to what we have now, what the quality is, you know, and some of the writing was good, but a lot of the production was not as good. You know, you'll see an office or a living room or whatever, and it barely has furniture in it.

And today everything is so overly designed and and done that I think it's made for these very high def TVs where you can look at every little aspect and realize that that ashtray is there for a purpose. You know? So it's fascinating, but I do think I spend too much money on it. But then that's my life. I mean, it's obviously for you as somebody who's who needs to be on top of things, having a little bit more than than somebody is fine.

You know. But yeah, it's tough. Like, you know, when you're just trying to get through with your household and figure out, okay, you know, the wife watches this, the kids watch this, I watch this, what do we need? And, you know, honestly, I have I have not noticed missing very much since ditching traditional cable. There's a few things there's a few things here and there that I can't watch anymore.

But honestly, it doesn't make much of a difference to me how how vigilant are you with your children? Do you say you only get one hour of television time at night? Do you really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. And I grew up turning the TV on in the morning with the test pattern and turning off at night. When the test pattern came back on, that was how much TV I watched as a child.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. No, the kids are. They're pretty good with it. I mean. Well, it's getting a little bit tougher now as they've gotten older. And there's other things like, okay, we're not watching TV, but I'm going to play my video game system and or, you know, so we try to limit the screen time. You know, we try to insist that they're reading X number, you know, 30 minutes a day of reading as opposed to something else.

Do you think you are the exception and not the rule? Yeah, I'm watching a lot more than they are, that's for sure. Yeah, but, but, but it for them. Yeah. No, I mean, but we know we've, we talk, I mean some we know some parents they let their kids watch anything. There's another family that we know that they're pretty similar to us with how much TV they let their kids watch.

And so it's just it's you know, there's no right or wrong here. You know, every every family has to make their own decisions. We just choose to limit it. And kids don't have TVs in their bedrooms. It's it's we have a TV in the living room. We have a TV in the family room. I have a TV in our bedroom.

But we're we're trying to limit it so you know, it. It's weird because I don't a do you look at it at the ratings of anything before you like? Oh, yeah. You do. Okay. I do think that because television doesn't really have those standards anymore, or at least it's not as policed below as it was, that it's impossible now to say that kids are being influenced by books or whatever when it's a free for all on television.

Yeah, you can say that. You know, all my kids are going into whatever because they've watched too much television or what. There's not enough policing on television itself to to kind of guide you through that. And I remember the times when there was family hour, the first hour, the broadcast night was family television. It should not have been anything that had any adult content.

And I think parents were safe then just saying, oh, you can watch until 8:00 and then we're not watching TV. That's not the case now, because 7:00 shows can be very R-rated with us. We rely a little bit with like a common sense media where we will go to that website. It's I think it's pretty good. It'll give you some information of like, you know, kids say it's 12 plus, parents say it's ten plus, we say it's 12 plus.

You know, it'll give you that kind of information and it'll also explain, like why the show? So this one has a little bit too much sex talk or this one talks about, sure, you know, alcohol or drugs or cigarets and it gives you some decent information. But you know what you mention, too, with you know, that our block of like these shows should be safe.

Were they? Because I've gone back and seen, you know, like some some shows like we haven't let our kids watch Seinfeld and I mean, like Seinfeld was of like, well, that's that's not that's not adult time. But it is they're talking about sex and yeah, I worked it out tonight on NBC on Thursdays and come on that isn't appropriate for 12 year olds.

That's not happy days. No, it's not. So you know, I know, like, you kind of think about it nostalgically and all that, but there's stuff today that if we had the shows that I grew up with today, we would not let the kids watch the ones that I was allowed to watch. Definitely not. Yeah, it's it's funny how in its day, something like Cinemax, you'd got all the dirty one.

Cinemax. Yeah right. We knew right away. Yeah. That was the dirty one. And so if you were subscribing to that, good, like you're getting everything and everything, that's the bad one. But today it's everywhere. Yeah. I don't know that you can even, you know, there are some of those high end cable networks now though. I mean high end in terms of channel numbers where they've bleeped it or they've done, you know, they've done somehow, But it's still the concept, you know, there are dirty movies on those channels, too.

They just haven't said two or three words out loud. Yeah, I think it's interesting it with HBO in particular, because I remember as a kid, like as a teenager, not not not as like an eight or nine year old, but as a teenager. If you stayed up just late enough on a Saturday night, you would catch something like their real sex show, right, where it would be, things like that, where it's very adult content.

There was nudity and all that. And if you go to HBO now, they've really gone and scrubbed those things like you can't find real sex or what was the other one? It was like taxicab confessions. Oh, yeah. You know, they're kind of dirty, kind of raunchy. And I think HBO and I think that's part of the reason why they they rebranded HBO.

Max is just Max, because they're trying to get away from that concept of HBO being very adult. Like it wasn't it was never quite Cinemax, you know, Cinemax because it never got there. But HBO, you knew that if you stayed up past 10:00 or 11:00 at night, you were going to see some stuff. So if you're, you know, a teenage boy like 15, 16 or whatever, and your parents didn't know you're staying up late to watch something until two in the morning.

It was it was an interesting time to watch HBO. What was that? Bunny Ranch one where? Yeah, right. They went on to the one night at Las Vegas somewhere and then they would go out there and they'd be a bunch of prostitutes basically locking up. And then they pick one of them and and they show the encounter. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't think HBO does any of that kind of programing anymore. And I think and I think they've largely eliminated it from the archives. So you can't like if even if you subscribe to you know, where they have pretty much all their programing ever on like Macs. Now I don't think you can watch any of those because they've tried to really, you know, nothing more than R-rated.

And we're going to we're going to tamp it down. So, yeah, it's fascinating how those things shift. And you look at something now on like The Bachelor, right? They're going in directions that I'd be really careful about letting my kids see. Yep. And I, I again, I'm not that person. I'm not one who's uptight about any of that stuff.

But I do think that maybe there's a time for innocence and they need to have that, that I don't have to know something about this. And I think those kind of shows which are showing at 7:00 at night in my territory are a little too much right away after dinner. Yeah, absolutely. Well, how about this? We'll we'll kind of wrap up the show.

Now, if you heard it, I got on a tangent. I did it. It's a digital picture missing. And then it went on to this. But no films on those streaming services. Absolutely. So. Well, how about we do this too? And we'll just open it up. And if we happen to get some feedback, we'll talk about it on the next episode.

But you know, if you're a parent, you're listening to the show, give us some thoughts. Reach out and send us an email to [email protected]. There will be a link in this episode, show notes as well. And just shoot a short line like, you know, where you watch the streaming gear, traditional cable. How often are you with the kids when it comes to what they're watching, things like that.

And well, you know, we can pick up the discussion in the future. So I'm good. I'm that sounds great. That sounds like fun because I want to allow I mean, I, I watch everything. So there is no there is no barrier for me. But I do want to know if people do have those barriers and how they determine what they are.

Perfect. All right. Well, on that note, we will let things go and we will be back again next week with another episode of Stream The Screen. Have a great one.

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