Streaming video suggestions for the TCM crowd
June 21, 2017 10:28 AM Subscribe
My grandparents are new to streaming services. They like things like Turner Classic Movies and WWII documentaries on PBS, with the occasional "serious" modern movie (think The Big Short). What content might they like from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime?
Foreign-language content is fine (even good!). They're not especially conservative, so sex or violence is ok as long as it's not gratuitous. They typically only watch movies, though I'm hoping to think of a TV show or two to introduce them to as well.
I'm kind of painting with a broad brush because their taste is really far out of my wheelhouse - I'd love to set them up with things similar to the stuff they already like but also add a few new things to the mix. That said, I'm not sure what that'd be...so I welcome all suggestions.
Foreign-language content is fine (even good!). They're not especially conservative, so sex or violence is ok as long as it's not gratuitous. They typically only watch movies, though I'm hoping to think of a TV show or two to introduce them to as well.
I'm kind of painting with a broad brush because their taste is really far out of my wheelhouse - I'd love to set them up with things similar to the stuff they already like but also add a few new things to the mix. That said, I'm not sure what that'd be...so I welcome all suggestions.
Have they/you looked into Filmstruck? It's TCM's streaming service and will likely have more interesting content for them than the other services combined.
posted by mcfighty at 10:51 AM on June 21, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by mcfighty at 10:51 AM on June 21, 2017 [9 favorites]
Just a word of advice that Filmstruck is not exaaaactly TCM's streaming service. It has a lot of TCM content, but skews towards more experimental and avant-garde fare. Although you can combine Filmstruck with Criterion Collection streaming, which is awesome, but isn't necessarily what your grandparents may be in to.
posted by kuanes at 10:59 AM on June 21, 2017
posted by kuanes at 10:59 AM on June 21, 2017
The Forsyte Saga
posted by beccaj at 10:59 AM on June 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by beccaj at 10:59 AM on June 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's been a while since I looked, but I seem to recall Amazon being far better for this than Netflix. They have tons of titles on Prime, and if the particular one you wanted wasn't available for free, it was usually available for purchase.
posted by backwards compatible at 11:00 AM on June 21, 2017
posted by backwards compatible at 11:00 AM on June 21, 2017
It sounds like their taste is similar to mine, and I'm always on the verge of giving up on Netflix because there are so few movies or shows I want to watch.
That said, I agree with both Foyle's War and Call the Midwife (though I found Foyle's War a lot less interesting in the last season, when it gets into the Cold War). If they're into mysteries, Father Brown is OK, but not great (after a while, it gets annoying that the local police always, always, always arrest the wrong person).
posted by FencingGal at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
That said, I agree with both Foyle's War and Call the Midwife (though I found Foyle's War a lot less interesting in the last season, when it gets into the Cold War). If they're into mysteries, Father Brown is OK, but not great (after a while, it gets annoying that the local police always, always, always arrest the wrong person).
posted by FencingGal at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
If they already have Amazon Prime they can also subscribe to the Acorn TV Channel for an extra $5 a month. If they want to spend that. I originally subscribed for Agatha Raisin and keep the subscription going because I like it. Good British content and they add new material regularly.
posted by rdnnyc at 12:35 PM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by rdnnyc at 12:35 PM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
JustWatch is a handy service for finding things you would like to watch. You can setup filters by the streaming service you use, the genre, the year(s) of release, and ratings.
For instance, here's a filter of movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime released between 1950 and 1970 with a rating of 6/10 or better.
posted by elmay at 12:57 PM on June 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
For instance, here's a filter of movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime released between 1950 and 1970 with a rating of 6/10 or better.
posted by elmay at 12:57 PM on June 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
I came to recommend Filmstruck as well, then saw mcfighty already had, so I didn't bother.
But I came back to add that I watch movies more than TV shows, too, and both Hulu and Netflix both have pretty dismal movie selections. I cancelled Hulu when the Criterion collection left, and I almost never even check Netflix anymore because it's so rare they have anything I want to see. (I live with other people who do watch TV shows, so I didn't cancel that.)
So of the three you mention, Amazon does seem to have a better selection of movies. However, Filmstruck has far and away the best selection of the major services, and it's where the Criterion Collection went when it left Hulu, so that's what I end up watching the most often. They don't have quite the same focus overall as TCM, which is far more old Hollywood focused, but they do have a whole lot of other classic films, including a lot from places other than Hollywood. And, of course, they have newer critically acclaimed movies as well, so there's sex and violence, but it's mostly not gratuitous. Anyway, they could try the free trial and see if they like it.
I get a lot of well meaning people recommend TV shows to me, and I'll gamely watch a bit sometimes, but it's really rare I find something I actually enjoy. Not that you shouldn't recommend anything, of course, but just don't be too persistent if they're not into it.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:09 PM on June 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
But I came back to add that I watch movies more than TV shows, too, and both Hulu and Netflix both have pretty dismal movie selections. I cancelled Hulu when the Criterion collection left, and I almost never even check Netflix anymore because it's so rare they have anything I want to see. (I live with other people who do watch TV shows, so I didn't cancel that.)
So of the three you mention, Amazon does seem to have a better selection of movies. However, Filmstruck has far and away the best selection of the major services, and it's where the Criterion Collection went when it left Hulu, so that's what I end up watching the most often. They don't have quite the same focus overall as TCM, which is far more old Hollywood focused, but they do have a whole lot of other classic films, including a lot from places other than Hollywood. And, of course, they have newer critically acclaimed movies as well, so there's sex and violence, but it's mostly not gratuitous. Anyway, they could try the free trial and see if they like it.
I get a lot of well meaning people recommend TV shows to me, and I'll gamely watch a bit sometimes, but it's really rare I find something I actually enjoy. Not that you shouldn't recommend anything, of course, but just don't be too persistent if they're not into it.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:09 PM on June 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
PBS has an app (for free! though there is some premium content) and they may be able to stream it to their TV (I can, with Chromecast). So if they want access to moar PBS, that's an option as well! I watch a ton of documentaries on there.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:21 PM on June 21, 2017
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:21 PM on June 21, 2017
Response by poster: Turns out they've seen more TV than I realized! They're already fans of both Foyle's War and Call the Midwife...so I'm sure any other shows in that vein would be awesome. I'll set them up with the PBS app for sure.
And I totally sympathize with the concerns about recommending shows, but they did ask that I set them up with some queued-up stuff (they're comfortable enough with the setup to watch things that they've already identified, but they get a little overwhelmed by all the different discovery/recommendation engines, so personal recommendations are welcome).
posted by R a c h e l at 3:25 PM on June 21, 2017
And I totally sympathize with the concerns about recommending shows, but they did ask that I set them up with some queued-up stuff (they're comfortable enough with the setup to watch things that they've already identified, but they get a little overwhelmed by all the different discovery/recommendation engines, so personal recommendations are welcome).
posted by R a c h e l at 3:25 PM on June 21, 2017
Warner Brothers also has a pretty cheap streaming service called Warner Archives. They don't change up the content on there as much as I'd like but it has lots of old movies in helpful categories like Noir and Pre Code. They also have a slightly WTF selection of tv shows--like Alice spinoff "Flo"!
posted by Smearcase at 4:08 PM on June 21, 2017
posted by Smearcase at 4:08 PM on June 21, 2017
We have the same tastes and we have been doing a WWII theme for a couple years. We enjoyed the docu-series The World at War narrated by Laurence Olivier. We really enjoyed A French Village - about when Nazis invade a village in France. Actually we watched it when they ran it on PBS. We have one PBS channel that runs shows from the MHZ channel. French Village was one but they also have foreign series - mostly Scandinavian and mostly crime dramas (I just looked this up and it is called Nordic Noir). We love them. It gets us out of the US/UK rut and challenges my language skills - and you really need that as you get older. Anyway, the MHZ channel is an add-on to Amazon Video. I think it is about $11.
Some shows we enjoyed are The Eagle, Unit One, Inspector and the Sea, Johan Falk, The Legacy, and an Austrian show Inspector Rex about a German Shepard police dog.
posted by cda at 7:04 AM on June 22, 2017
Some shows we enjoyed are The Eagle, Unit One, Inspector and the Sea, Johan Falk, The Legacy, and an Austrian show Inspector Rex about a German Shepard police dog.
posted by cda at 7:04 AM on June 22, 2017
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Have they ever watched the British series "Foyle's War"? Also on Netflix at the moment. It's a period piece set in Hastings, England, during WWII, following a police detective on the British home front. Seems well-suited for the Venn overlap of PBS + WWII. And that might lead them to some of the other British period-piece dramas, if they haven't seen them already--I personally enjoy The Bletchley Circle and Call the Midwife, for instance. But again, those have already been popular in the US via PBS, so possibly they've already seen them?
posted by theatro at 10:45 AM on June 21, 2017 [6 favorites]