Ode to the Netflix DVD rental queue

Back in the days of Blockbuster stores and home-video rentals, I used to keep a written list of movies I wanted to watch. It was better than trying to remember all the titles and walk through the store aisles looking for something of interest.
Then along came Netflix DVD rentals by mail. With the Netflix queue, I could add all the movies from my list, even ones that hadn’t been released yet. I no longer had to keep a physical list.
But with the video business moving to streaming services, I’m again having to keep a list of things I want to watch (actually I store them as bookmarks in a folder in my web browser). That’s because some movies and TV series are not being released on DVD any more. And Netflix streaming doesn’t have a save feature for videos not on their service.
There has never been a more confusing time to be a TV viewer looking for good shows to watch. Record numbers of TV series are being produced and there’s been an explosion of streaming video services with original content. Those online-only channels (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc.) are in addition to the traditional broadcast and cable networks.
There’s no one place to keep track of all the TV shows and movies I’d like to watch. For a while, the Netflix DVD rental queue offered the solution. But not anymore.
I have subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime online video services, so my Netflix streaming queue contains shows like “Stranger Things” and “The OA,” while my Amazon queue has “Man in the High Castle” and others.
I don’t have Hulu, but would like to watch “Difficult People” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” I also don’t have CBS All Access, but will want to watch “Star Trek: Discovery” when it premieres. Ideally those shows will be released on DVD so I can watch them through Netflix DVD. Otherwise, I might have to subscribe to those services for a month and binge watch.
I get my Showtime shows such as “Homeland” and likely the “Twin Peaks” revival via Netflix DVD, but they’re months late. The same goes for BBC America’s “Orphan Black.” I currently subscribe to HBO for “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld,” but I might cut that service to save money.
The lack of organization in online video is one of the big failed promises of digital content.
Some services have cropped up to try to solve the problem, including Can I Stream It?, JustWatch and InstantWatcher, but none provide the ideal solution of a unified viewing queue.

Defunct entertainment awards: The Flixies, Blockbuster Awards and more

NBC on Thursday is airing the first-ever People Magazine Awards. The two-hour special will spotlight the year in pop culture.
The award categories were not announced except for the one fan-voted award: Best People Magazine Cover of the Year.
Ratings likely will determine whether this becomes an annual awards show.
In May, NBC aired the “first annual” iHeart Radio Music Awards. The ratings were good enough for NBC and Clear Channel Media to agree to do the second annual show in 2015, the Hollywood Reporter said.
The entertainment industry loves to honor its own, so there’s never a shortage of awards shows.
But here’s a list of awards that are no longer given.

The Flixies

In February 2013, Netflix announced the Flixies, awards given to TV shows and movies on its streaming video service. The awards were in seven tongue-in-cheek categories including “Best Marathon TV Show,” “Best Tantrum Tamer” and “Best Commute Shrtnr.” (See articles by the Los Angeles Times, Hero Complex and AV Club.)
But after one go-round Netflix apparently gave up on the Flixies. The website is now blank.

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

Video rental store chain Blockbuster had its own awards, which were designed to celebrate audience favorites rather than critic’s darlings.
For example, Jennifer Love Hewitt won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for favorite actress in a horror film for “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” in 1999. (See UPI article.)
The Blockbuster awards ran for seven years and were broadcast on television from 1995 until 2001. (See Wikipedia entry.)
Now, like the rental chain itself, the Blockbuster awards are history.

CableACE Awards

The CableACE Awards were given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in U.S. cable television programming. They were created by the National Cable Television Association to serve as a cable television counterpart to the Primetime Emmy Awards, which before their 40th ceremony in 1988 did not recognize cable programming.
The CableACE Awards ended when cable programming began to dominate the Emmy Awards. (See Wikipedia article.)

Slammy Awards

The Slammy Awards were presented by the WWE to professional wrestlers and other noteworthy individuals within the organization, such as commentators and managers.
The awards were first handed out in 1986 and four more times over the next 10 years. After an 11-year hiatus, the Slammy Awards returned for seven consecutive years through 2014. (See Wikipedia entry.)
But the WWE isn’t holding the awards this year, according to Uproxx.
The Slammy Awards might be down for the count. But they could just as easily return.

American Television Awards

The American Television Awards was held only once, in 1993. It was an awards show recognizing the top performances and programs seen on American television from April 13, 1992, to April 12, 1993, as determined by a survey of television critics, columnists and journalists.
It was filmed on May 23, 1993, at the Barker Hanger at Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, Calif.
IMDb has a list of winners from that one and only show.

Vibe Awards

The Vibe Awards, produced by Vibe magazine, ran from 2003 through 2007. The R&B and hip-hop awards are best remembered for a stabbing incident and fight that broke out at the ceremony in 2004. (See Wikipedia entry and stories by MTV and Associated Press.)

Family Television Awards

The Family Television Awards ran from 1999 to 2007. The show honored family-friendly TV programming. It was produced by Dick Clark Productions.
The 9th annual Family Television Awards, which aired on Dec. 27, 2007, was apparently the last one.
Here’s a photo of now disgraced actor (and accused pedophile) Stephen Collins accepting an award at the 5th annual Family Television Awards in 2005. (See Zimbio article.)

Digital culture timeline: Major events in the transition to pure digital media

The other day I wrote about mourning the loss of cultural businesses – those selling music, movies, books and video games.
Here’s a timeline of major events in the transition of entertainment from a retail business to an online activity.

Music

October 1982: First music album on Compact Disc (CD) released.

June 1999: Online music file-sharing service Napster launched.

July 2001: Napster shut down by court order for copyright violations.

October 2001: Apple debuts the iPod portable music player.

April 2003: Apple opens the iTunes store for legal music downloads.

December 2006: Last Tower Records store in U.S. closes after bankruptcy liquidation. At its peak, the chain had nearly 200 stores in 21 states.

March 2009: Virgin Megastores announces plan to close all of its U.S. record stores.

News articles:

The Graying of the Record Store (New York Times; July 16, 2006)

A Broken Record Store: Industry Icon Tower Is Bankrupt and on the Block (Washington Post; Aug. 23, 2006)

For Tower Records, End of Disc (Washington Post; Dec. 11, 2006)

Record stores closing in U.S. at record rates (Associated Press; March 30, 2008)

Retailing Era Closes With Music Megastore (New York Times; June 14, 2009)

Rough Trade and the future of the record store (Wired; May 27, 2010)

‘I Need That Record!’ Film Explores Plight of Indie Record Stores (AOL; July 27, 2010)

Movies

October 1977: VHS videocassette tapes introduced. VHS became the dominant home video format in the mid-1980s after a protracted format war with Betamax.

October 1985: Movie rental chain Blockbuster opens its first store, located in Dallas.

March 1997: DVD optical disc format introduced to U.S. market. It would become the most popular movie rental format in June 2003, surpassing VHS tapes.

December 1999: Netflix debuts its subscription DVD-by-mail service. The company now has 15 million subscribers nationwide.

May 2004: Redbox installs its first 12 machines, at McDonald’s restaurants in Denver, after two years of testing. Redbox now has 23,000 kiosk locations nationwide. It rents movies for $1 a night.

January 2007: Netflix debuts its online streaming video service, but only to PCs initially. It started streaming to TVs, first with the Roku set-top box, in May 2008.

March 2008: Online streaming video service Hulu is launched. Hulu is owned by the parent companies of ABC, NBC and Fox.

May 2010: Video rental store chain Movie Gallery announces that it will close all of its stores. At its peak, the chain had 4,700 stores in North America.

News articles:

Video rental stores fading to black (The Boston Globe; Feb. 23, 2010)

Hollywood Video Closes Doors (Wall Street Journal; May 3, 2010)

It’s A Wrap: Movie Gallery To Close All U.S. Locations (PaidContent.org; May 4, 2010)

A Timeline: The Blockbuster Life Cycle (Forbes.com; May 18, 2010)

Analyst: Blockbuster’s Last Gasp to Occur in 2011 (Gizmodo; July 11, 2010)

Blockbuster Hangs On For Dear Life (TheStreet.com; July 29, 2010)

Video games

1978: Space Invaders arcade game debuts, ushering in the start of the golden age of arcade video games. It’s soon followed by Asteroids, Pac Man, Donkey Kong and others.

1985: Nintendo’s NES console along with breakout hit game “Super Mario Bros.” fuels the home video game market.

1995: Software retailer Babbage’s begins a series of mergers and acquisitions that lead to the creation of GameStop, the largest specialty retailer of video game software. Its acquisitions include Software Etc. (1995), Funcoland (2000) and Electronics Boutique (2005).

2002: Microsoft launches its Xbox Live service for online multiplayer gaming. An updated version of the service for the Xbox 360 console, launched in November 2005, added game and video downloads.

News articles:

As Blockbuster Falls, Is GameStop Also Doomed? (Seeking Alpha; March 18, 2010)

New GameStop CEO’s Half-Baked Plan to Avoid Blockbuster’s Fate (BNet; July 22, 2010)

GameStop Is Bulking Up to Battle New Rivals (Bloomberg BusinessWeek; July 22, 2010)

A Game-Changer for GameStop? (The Motley Fool: July 30, 2010)

Books

November 2007: Amazon.com debuts its Kindle e-book reader. The first-generation product cost $399.

April 2010: Apple starts selling its iPad media tablet. The entry level model costs $499.

July 2010: Amazon.com unveils its third-generation Kindle, which starts at $139.

News articles:

Borders Seeks e-Book Strategy (Seeking Alpha; May 9, 2010)

Barnes & Noble Planning Big Push to Increase Nook Sales (New York Times; July 29, 2010)

Kindle to Go 'Mass Market' (Wall Street Journal; July 28, 2010)

Photos (from top): Gerosa Records in Brookfield, Conn.; Blockbuster Video store; Space Invaders arcade game and screenshot; and Amazon.com’s third-generation Kindle e-book reader.

14 predictions for 2010

With 2009 over and 2010 beginning, lots of folks have come out with predictions for the New Year.
Here are some of the more interesting predictions:

1. Microsoft buys AOL. (James Altucher, a managing partner of Formula Capital, on the Wall Street Journal blogs)


2. Microsoft pushes out Steve Ballmer. (Newsweek)


3. Facebook goes public. (Newsweek and ReadWriteWeb)


4. Other possible IPOs in 2010: LinkedIn, Tesla Motors and ZipCar. (Minyanville)


5. Palm is acquired, mostly likely by Microsoft or Research In Motion. (Computerworld)


6. Carol Bartz is ousted as Yahoo’s CEO by the end of 2010. (Computerworld)


7. Google faces an antitrust suit. (Newsweek)


8. Apple unveils a tablet computer. (Newsweek)


9. Magazine and newspaper publishing bounce back as consumers rediscover paid subscriptions for e-books and tablet computers. (BusinessWeek)


10. Google partners with a large PC manufacturer in Asia to launch an inexpensive netbook powered by Chrome OS in the U.S. (ReadWriteWeb)


11. Apple announces an iTunes web service, thanks to its Lala acquisition. (ReadWriteWeb)


12. Brands that will disappear in 2010: Newsweek, Motorola, Palm, Borders and Blockbuster. (24/7 Wall St.)


13. Magazines that will die in 2010: Entertainment Weekly, Ebony and Jet. (Paul Armstrong of TheMediaIsDying, writing in Folio)


14. Celebrities who will die in 2010: Dick Clark, Larry King and Courtney Love. (Holy Taco) 

Blockbuster’s set-top box a loser

The Motley Fool recently rated Blockbuster the worst stock for 2009. Based on Blockbuster's first attempt at a set-top box for delivering movies from the Internet to the TV, I’d say they may be on to something.
Fool writer Rich Smith predicted Jan. 28 that Blockbuster “is going to zero” this year. He said Blockbuster is drowning in debt and is being beaten by rival Netflix at every turn.
Blockbuster certainly hasn’t kept up with Netflix in the market for digital delivery of movies to consumers.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to try out Blockbuster’s first set-top box, which is made by 2Wire. I already own the Netflix Player by Roku, so it was easy to do a side-by-side comparison.
Blockbuster trotted out the 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player in late November, six months after Netflix debuted its first set-top box, the Roku digital video player.
They both stream movies from the Internet to the TV, but have very different business models. Both devices cost $99. But content on the Blockbuster box is pay-per-view, while content from Netflix comes at no extra charge when subscribing to its DVDs-by-mail service.
Blockbuster charges $3.99 for most online movies, but some are available for $1.99. For a limited time, the Blockbuster 2Wire box is free when subscribers rent 25 movies in advance for $99.
Sounds like a good deal, if the service has a lot of new releases and the box works without a hitch. In my experience, the Blockbuster box failed on both counts.
Installation was as easy as the Netflix box. I linked both to my wireless router.
My issues with the Blockbuster OnDemand service began with the opening screen. Looking for the hot new releases, I clicked the remote over to “Featured” films. The first movies I saw were ones I’d never heard of: “Blindsight,” “Cyborg Soldier,” “Ghouls,” “I Do,” and “Miss Conception”
I searched through other categories, including “New Releases,” “Top Rentals” and “Just Added,” and found very few new releases. I was shocked. I thought this was going to be like an online video store, packed with new releases.
Eventually, I stumbled on new releases by looking in the “All Rentals” category. It listed 1,644 titles, of which 61 were labeled “new.”
They included “Get Smart,” “Ghost Town,” “Hancock,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “Iron Man,” “Nights in Rodanthe,” “Pineapple Express” and “Snow Angels.”
Navigating through the Blockbuster OnDemand service is a chore. The menus are ugly and feature tiny box-shot images of the movies.
The Netflix box only presents you with movies you’ve preselected from your computer. It makes for a much cleaner interface.
I clicked through a couple hundred movies on the Blockbuster box and eventually got the “blue screen of death.” The device locked up and gave me an on-screen message of “Your Blockbuster OnDemand service is starting.” After a time, the system rebooted on its own. But it was very frustrating.
Later I chose my first movie to watch – “The House Bunny” starring Anna Faris. Everything was going fine until 40-some minutes into the movie when the picture locked up and the soundtrack continued. I tried skipping ahead and backing up, but I either got a still frame with sound or video and no sound. Eventually I gave up for the night.
The next day, I tried to start fresh. I experienced the same problem at the same point in the movie.
After a first-time experience like that, most consumers would do what I did – pack up the box and return it.
By contrast, my experience with the Netflix Roku box has been flawless.
After the Blockbuster box failed to show “The House Bunny” on a second try, I gave up and switched to the Netflix box. There I selected the Oscar-nominated documentary “Man On Wire.” Great movie. No technical problems either.