Jake Buckler is a moron and doesn’t know how Netflix works

My “friend” Jake Buckler wants you to think that Netflix is the “king of original content.” His weekly Saturday lovefest tells you why Netflix’s studio in New Mexico is a good thing. He wants you to think that its “privileged position” in film production is a good thing. Only one problem:

Netflix’s film selection is full of garbage and so is Buckler.

I recently read an article at the Boy Genius Report that claims that in the last four years, there’s been a 30% drop in the number of top-rated movies on Netflix. What’s replaced it? Netflix isn’t spending as much money to bring classic films to people and instead they are stuffing the pipeline with tons of incredibly cheesy original films. I mean, take a look for yourself. They push their “Netflix originals” pretty hard.

Back when Netflix started streaming, there really weren’t a lot of other services out there. Hulu was tied to the desktop and most of today’s other streaming companies didn’t exist. There was that one brief shining moment (Hey Buckler, what movie is that line from? Is it on Netflix?) when for absolutely no cost over your disc subscription you could get an absolute ton of classic films through Netflix. Today it’s hard to even find anything other than reruns of 80s TV, remakes of those reruns, and some of the most pitiable cinema this side of Sharknado.

And let me further say, I’m not interested in “waiting Netflix out.” They might be the best film studio in the world in 2025 but that doesn’t do me any good today. Today I have no choice but to subscribe to FilmStruck just so I can watch well-made cinema. That’s another $11 a month out of my pocket just so I can see the movies Netflix used to offer.

Netflix doesn’t want to be all that, it just wants to charge all that.

Netflix’s prices are top-tier, that’s for sure. Only HBO NOW has the gall to charge so much. OK, so CBS All Access is pretty high up there too but their value proposition is so bad I don’t even know why we’re having this discussion.

Netflix’s decision to focus on original programming opened the door for every other streaming content provider and yes, I’m a little bitter about that. I didn’t expect Netflix streaming to be free but with so many different streaming companies, it’s easy to spend just as much on streaming as you spend on traditional pay-TV, just so you can get the “one show” that each service offers.  Netflix made that happen.

And another thing, Autoplay sucks.

It isn’t enough that Netflix has to take up the top half of the screen with a commercial for some movie I don’t care about starring some millennial with a haircut that costs more than I make in a week. Lately, that top area has turned into an autoplaying video. Sometimes it’s a key scene in a movie, or part of a trailer. Just as often, it’s some royalty free music with a parade of scenes that make no sense. I’m guessing some unpaid intern gets to do these for free after he’s done watching all those TV shows to know where the “Skip Intro” button needs to go.

I’m not the only person who really hates Autoplay videos. Check out this article from a much more well-read blog. Autoplay videos distract me from looking at what I want and they just make me move through Netflix faster because I know that if I dawdle, that video is going to start playing.

Who said internet companies are nimble?

It took about 9 months for Netflix to put “categories” back in the app after I complained about it. They still don’t have an option to launch the app directly if you only have one profile. I’m only one person! How many profiles do they want me to have? Are they just begging me to share my Netflix password with someone else?

Sorry Buckler, but Netflix is the worst they’ve ever been. I’ll give you that they have half a dozen good shows but that’s a pretty low bar to set.

 

 

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.