(Kruiser’s Permanote Description: This column is intended to be a lighthearted, short-form way to frequently connect with our cherished VIP readers. Sometimes it will be serious. Sometimes it will be fun. Sometimes it will be a cornucopia of intellectual curiosities and fascinations. OK, maybe not so much the last one. Anyway, as this is a departure for me, I’m including this explanation at the top of each post for a while. Also, non-subscribers can see the first couple of paragraphs so I am in desperate need of filler until we get to the private stuff (subscribe here). Please remember that there is a standing invitation to ask me anything in the comments. Once a week, I’ll answer.)
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We talk about binge-watching and streaming and all sorts of in-home entertainment things these days. A plague will do that to people.
I do love the “conversations” I have with you, my VIP friends, about entertainment because I’ve found some fun new shows to queue up and some books to add to my “To Read” list. It’s like an expanded book club without the hassle of having to clean up around the house.
Or share any booze. Not that I wouldn’t, of course. It’s just nice to not have to worry about it.
I’ve been doing something that I’m sure everyone else has been doing a lot of this year: signing up for the one-week free trial of a streaming service, then watching it as if I were some sort of addict for seven days before canceling it.
Streaming services are popping up like newborn bunnies at a rabbit breeding ranch these days. The makes the free trial week thing an economical entertainment option for a while, especially while people are still working from home a lot.
At some point, the freebies will run out though, and people will have to choose. Not long ago, it was easy for consumers. There were Netflix, Amazon Prime, and the old cable premium options like HBO and Showtime. Most of those are available through Amazon. Then Disney Plus came along and that was understandable because it had all of the Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel Cinematic Universe stuff.
Now the streaming universe is splintering into too many options to count. We’ve got things like AMC Plus, Paramount Plus, NBC’s Peacock, and, for reasons I’ll never understand, Discovery Plus.
In what way is this sustainable? Nobody is going to cut the cable cord only to then spend twice as much money every month to subscribe to all of the channels that would enable them to watch what they used to get for the price of cable.
I’m starting to think that the plague was manufactured in Wuhan just to force us to stay home more and get so bored that we would mindlessly spend money on streaming channels we wouldn’t have even thought about otherwise. Two years ago, this wouldn’t have even applied to me. I didn’t really get big on the binge habit until I took over the Morning Briefing in August of 2019. Now I’m hooked on watching shows all night while I’m working on that.
This is what happens when you’re too busy to drink adult beverages after the sun goes down.
Off I go to see what’s on The Plumbing Channel Plus tonight.
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
