Monica

Well that's disappointing

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 02:42:04 GMT

Me: Opens help chat with Netflix (there is no email option).
Chatbot: Title?
Me: Accessibility options for choosing shows

Chatbot: Sends links to irrelevant articles I already had to click past to get to the contact link.
Me: Clicks "chat with an agent".

(Opening handshake.)

Agent: Can you elaborate the issue that you are facing?

Me: When browsing shows, either on my TV or on your web site, you only show graphics for the shows. I don't see very well and the art is often hard to see, particularly if the show uses small or fancy fonts. Is there a way to see a text list? You used to have that for the web site (but not the TV) but that's been gone for a while. I do not want to have to hover over or navigate into each thing when browsing -- too many to do that. I'm looking for a way to scan a list of titles I can actually see.

Agent: The list is not available anymore

Me: Is there some accessibility setting I can change? It's really frustrating to not be able to navigate your offerings.

Agent: I understand, but there is no setting

Me: Thank you. I understand. How can I escalate my concern? I know that you cannot fix it but somebody at Netflix should be concerned about ADA/accessibility. How do I reach that person?

Agent: There is no one that can resolve it. I can pass on the suggestion and the feedback to our team. And they will look into it.

I suspect I know how that will go. I have the impression that all the streaming services are anti-accessible like this, though I've only done cursory browsing. They probably all think it's ok because everybody else does it. Netflix has had this problem for a while; I don't often use the service because of that, and every time I go to watch something I am reminded of how hostile it is. (In case you're wondering, my Netflix subscription comes bundled with something else; otherwise I probably would have dropped it by now because of this.)

comments

Apple TV?

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 03:07:59 GMT

My new Mac came with three months of Apple TV, which I started recently. I thought their model was: pay $X/month and stream what you like (like Netflix). It appears, though, that it's "watch some stuff for free but pay to rent or buy other stuff". For example, I watched the first episode of Picard, and then it wanted me to buy subsequent ones (which I didn't do).

What can I watch on Apple TV for free (not counting the monthly fee) that I might like? Their interface does not make it easy to answer this question; I don't see a way to search by genre, for example, or to filter for only free shows. The pictogram tiles, shown a few at a time without accompanying text descriptions, are frustrating to navigate. (Netflix drank that kool-aid too, but at least they have something you can click on to get more information without changing to another page. Apple TV does not.) Apple and Netflix assume that (a) I can read the titles in their sometimes fancy fonts with sometimes poor-contrast colors or small sizes right from the (small) art, and (b) that even if I could, the name alone would be meaningful. I'm afraid I need at least brief text descriptions; just art is not helpful.

If you know of specific shows or movies that you think I might like, please let me know. And if you know a way to find the no-additional-fees content, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks.

comments

The Orville: Lasting Impressions

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 02:27:23 GMT

Ho, hum. Did we need a second "love in the simulator" episode this season? On the other hand, watching a crew that's never seen cigarettes respond to them was amusing, in a kind of horrifying way.

I realize that every episode can't be grand arc stuff, but I'm hoping we'll see consequences from the last few episodes ripple through coming episodes, and I'm not confident we're going to get that. They've already missed one big opportunity there.

When this show is good it's very good, but there have been several "meh" episodes this season, as with the first season. I haven't been paying enough attention to know if there's a connection to writers of individual episodes.

comments

The Orville: Identity

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 04:58:33 GMT

Ok, that was a nice finish to the two-part episode. We got good character moments, Yafet got to be a real crew member instead of comic relief, they laid groundwork for interesting interspecies developments, and that was one hell of a space battle. For that I can forgive a decision from the admiral that seems very un-admiral-like. (And I do wonder why the Kaylons let Bortus live.)

I hope there are repercussions at several levels. They can't reset any of this, please.

comments

DVR options?

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 04:42:26 GMT

The TiVo that I bought (used) 4.5 years ago is showing signs of malaise -- probably the hard drive (again) but it's hard to tell. This is my second TiVo and I'm not exactly enchanted by their subscription model -- required if you want program data, which is pretty essential for programming recordings, but when they say "lifetime subscription" they mean lifetime of the box. If I watched a lot of TV that might be worth the cost, but it's hard to justify for the amount I watch. And their monthly subscription is a non-starter; that's just a way to pay them even more money for the relatively small amount I watch. I'm also not enchanted by the tendency of their technical-support people to respond to every problem with "you should buy a new TiVo".

I'm looking for an alternative and appealing to my DW brain trust for suggestions.

Some specifics: ( Read more... )

comments

The Orville: Primal Urges (no spoilers)

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 18:40:18 GMT

All of the humans in The Orville seem to have a shared fascination with late-20th-century American pop culture, which is pretty lame for a show set in the 25th century. I mean, do you and your coworkers all share an interest in one specific historical period several centuries ago? Unlikely.

Until last night's episode I didn't realize it ran deeper. (Maybe it was a subtle clue!) Their ideas about computer security also run to the late 20th century. shudder

Sheesh. First I wanted to yell at the officer who did the moral equivalent of plugging in a USB device of unknown origin labelled "free porn!". Then I really wanted to yell at the ship's IT department for what came next.

Kids, don't learn security practices from those guys. Just don't.

(So far the new season is at "eh, wait and see". It's nice to see followup on that one controversy from season one and I realize that all episodes can't be "Majority Rule"- or "Mad Idolatry"-quality, but I was hoping for a stronger start.)

I've avoided spoilers in this post, but if you're on your own for comments.

comments

Between (Netflix)

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 02:27:51 GMT

Over the last few days I watched the Netflix show Between, which ran for two (six-episode) seasons. (It was a collaboration between them and some other studio.) When looking for some stuff about it online I came across several "where is season 3?" threads -- apparently they never formally cancelled it but the last episode came out in 2016.

I, on the other hand, am fully satisfied with the ending, and while there's definitely more story that they could tell, I think another season would feel like a bolt-on taking things in a different direction, kind of like that terrible telepath plotline that filled half of Babylon 5's fifth season. I'm glad they seem to have decided to leave well enough alone here.

Between is set in the fictional town of Pretty Lake (um, ok); they don't say where, but it feels like the midwest. (I thought Ohio because we see Mennonites, but a government official is Minister so-and-so, so maybe Canada?) A plague strikes, killing all the adults (and making me immediately think of Jeremiah), and the government quarantines them. The show takes place in the weeks that follow. Some of the characters start out rather two-dimensional, but we see growth, especially in the second season. There's the spoiled rich kid who sees himself as the natural person to lead the town now, and the smart kid who tries to figure out what's really going on (and learns he has a special connection), and the farm kid who turns out to be a paladin to the detriment of his younger sister, and the druggie and the brother who tries to protect him, and the gangs, and the pregnant teen with the sanctimonious sister, and the guy who's locked in prison when the outbreak hits. And there is the infrequently-glimpsed government that isn't playing straight, which plot develops more in the second season.

There's a saying, I can't remember where from, that civilization is seven meals away from breaking down into chaos. That's very evident here; we have a quarantined town that has only the food they had on hand, and the conflicts between the "I've got mine (and will defend it violently)" folks and the "we need to help everybody" folks (and the "we need to break out of here" folks). This town is full of teenagers, so we get the angst that goes with that too.

I found that I very much needed to suspend disbelief on the plague itself; without spoiling things, let me just say that so far as I know, biology doesn't work that way. No, really, some of this does not stand up to even minimal scrutiny. If you watch the show you just have to roll with that.

It's a decent show, not a great show; the characters take some time to settle in and the acting isn't great. For me that broader plot scenario laid an interesting-enough foundation, and there good strong moments and arcs within the larger show. It's about a 9-hour investment to watch the whole series, which I found worth it.

comments

The Orville

Mon, 25 Dec 2017 05:36:34 GMT

I know I'm behind the times here. I missed the start of The Orville, but heard good things about it and have been streaming the season to catch up to where my DVR starts. I'm about six episodes in.

How are the The Orville people not getting sued by the Star Trek people? I can't tell where on the line between clone and homage it is.

I find it refreshing that we don't always get the pat human-centric happily-ever-after ending. ~~Starfleet~~ The Union doesn't get to impose its morals and values on the rest of the universe all the time ("About a Girl") -- but sometimes they intervene in other societies and it turns out to be the right thing to do ("If the Stars Should Appear").

There's quite a bit of humor, some of it "adult", and some of which works. I'd prefer to see fewer current cultural references in a show set 400 years in the future. So far the humor is mostly staying at the right level for what's trying to be an SF adventure show, but it's a risk. Please let's avoid too much slapstick and frat-house "humor".

The jury is still out on some of the tropes. The not-a-Klingon second officer from a planet whose main industry is weapons and whose people value machismo? Check. Android science officer who's smarter than everyone else put together but is challenged to learn human culture? Check. Captain who's all too susceptible to a pretty face? Check. (But he couldn't make his marriage work. But we might see another shot at that yet.)

With some other things, it's too early to tell. The female security officer who's barely more than a hundred pounds dripping wet, but super-strong, seems a little too cardboard so far; I want to see less "but she's a girl" and more competence. And the male couple worked better for me before I learned that they're basically an all-male race, so they aren't actually showing a gay couple being perfectly normal after all.

The same person created the show, writes a lot of the episodes, and stars in it, and that could throw an ensemble show out of whack. The captain is not the most interesting character on that ship, and I want to see some of the others get some development. So far at least one is being played entirely for laughs (Yafet), and the show would be stronger if they didn't do that.

But I'm still wondering what's going on with whoever owns Star Trek these days.

comments