To preface, we’ve been Netflix subscribers since the DVD days. I am not one to share our Netflix password either.

Daring Fireball recently posted an article about Netflix shares dropping 25% in Q1 of 2022. He believes this is because of the quality of Netflix’s original content. I agree with Gruber on his assessment.

There’s not a lot of compelling original content from Netflix. The originals feel like a sea of garbage with the occasional gem. We’ve tried a lot of them, but have only enjoyed a few.

We have enjoyed House of Cards, The Crown, and The Queen’s Gambit. I’m slowly making my way through Arcane and have been meaning to watch The Witcher. But these aren’t must watches for me. If needed, we could subscribe for a month or two and binge the shows and then go back to ignoring Netflix.

Netflix has original games now? Why?

Pricing on Netflix has gotten out of hand. It’s the most expensive service we have, and one of the least compelling. We pay $15.49/month for the Standard plan. I don’t think we’re getting $15/month of value from Netflix. Right now, we’re only watching Seinfeld and Grey’s Anatomy (my daughter does). Every week or two, I’ll watch another episode of Arcane, but I usually forget that Arcane exists.

There is a cheaper Basic plan. We haven’t dropped down to the cheaper plan because of High Definition (HD). The Basic plan doesn’t allow HD streaming and that’s been a dealbreaker for us for a while.

I think Netflix has to take a step back and reevaluate their original content. Stop making so much of it and concentrate on making really great content. Oh, and they should revisit the pricing.

The issue isn’t password sharing, its quality original content and pricing.

When I’m looking for something to watch, I’ll turn to Disney+, HBO Max or Apple TV+. If I get down to looking for something on Netflix, it means I’m desperate.

A few weeks ago, we were looking for a new show to watch. We heard a lot of recommendations for Yellowstone.

We watched it, binged it really. All 4 seasons.

The show was fine. Just fine. I can’t say that it was excellent, or terrible. The show fell somewhere in the middle for me.

Yellowstone felt like a cross between Succession and Sons of Anarchy. We’ve only seen one season of Succession, but are planning on continuing with it. But we did watch 6 (SIX!) seasons of Sons of Anarchy before giving up (I did not like this show). Yellowstone felt like some weird crossover of these two shows.

For me, the main saving grace of this show is Kevin Costner and Jefferson White (as Jimmy). Most of the characters I either don’t like or am indifferent on. But I do like both Kevin Costner and Jefferson White’s characters.

Yellowstone is returning for a 5th season. We’ll watch it, but it’s not one of my favorite shows.

I recently finished watching Will Smith’s “The Best Shape of My Life” 6-part docuseries on YouTube.

It was really good.

I went into the show thinking that it would all be about how Will Smith went from a COVID body back to the usual shape we’re used to seeing him in in his films.

It wasn’t.

The docuseries wasn’t just about Will trying to lose weight and get back into shape. It was also about him writing his memoir and diving into his past.

I learned a lot about Will Smith. I’ve only really known about him from movies, music and TV shows. I have a lot of respect for him putting all of this (this meaning the weight gain/loss, history, personal stuff) out there for anyone to see. I don’t think I could do that.

I really enjoyed this series.

I’ve consumed quite a bit of content in 2021. Here are some of my favorites. Not all of these were released in 2021, but it’s when I enjoyed them. So I’m going to count them. And since I’m making up the rules here, I’ll allow it.

Books

In 2021, I read 43 books. I liked most of the books that I’ve read. I couldn’t put down either of the following books.

Favorite

My favorite book that I read this year was Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I really like his books and this was no exception. It’s a great Sci-Fi novel.

Runner Up

It was hard to chose a runner up. It was really close between any of The Expanse novels that I’ve read. But I think my runner up is Press Reset by Jason Schreier. It’s a great look into the video game industry when things don’t quite go as planned.

Movies

I don’t watch as many movies as I used to. I really enjoy watching movies, but I am alone on this in my house. So I try to sneak movies in here and there. Sometimes it’ll take me a week to watch a movie. I was able to talk some family members into watching these two movies though.

Favorite

Dune was such a good movie. I only watched it once, but can’t wait to watch it again. The movie also has an amazing soundtrack, which I have listened to multiple times (including The Dune Sketchbook).

Runner up

No Time to Die is a great ending to the Daniel Craig Bond movies. The Daniel Craig Bond movies are the only Bond movies I’ve seen, but I’ve enjoyed all of them. This one was no different.

TV Shows

We watch more TV Shows than movies. But we end up watching older shows like The Office, Seinfeld, Friends, etc.

Favorite

Wandavision was a bit of a slow start. Once things got going, they didn’t slow down until the end. I spent a lot of time reading the Wandavision subreddit theorizing about what might happen next.

Runner up

Ted Lasso (Season 2) was a family favorite. I think we watched the entire season over a weekend. We’re all looking froward to season 3.

Video Games

Along with movies, I don’t play as many video games as I used to. And I’ve actually gotten pretty bad at them. But I did play a few video games this past year.

Favorite

I both played and finished Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I have a thing for Star Wars content. This was probably the best Star Wars game I’ve played in a while. I hope they make a sequel to this game. I had a lot of fun playing though it.

Runner up

Metroid Dread. I have a special love/hate relationship with this game. It’s an amazing game. But I am terrible at it. I died hundreds of times. I persisted and made it to the end boss.

I really enjoyed how Metroid Dread made me better at the game the more I tried (and died). I never finished the game though. I got to the final boss, got frustrated, took some time off and have probably forgotten everything I’ve learned while playing.

2022

2022 is just hours away. I have a backlog of content. I hope to make another list like this next year.