Apple TV+ is better than you think, says Emily VanDerWerff for Vox. “Apple TV+ became one of the streaming services I turned to most throughout the pandemic, as I found more and more good shows to watch,” VanDerWerff writes.
For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. This special offer is good for three months after the first activation of the eligible device.
Ted Lasso became the service’s first genuine success, first taking TV Twitter by storm and then rippling out through the larger sphere of people who like TV comedies. And both the Emily Dickinson dramedy Dickinson and the alternate history drama For All Mankind are among the best shows being made right now. Meanwhile, the service’s catalog of quality TV to kick back your heels and zone out to grows larger by the day. (My favorite show of this type: the “child detective” noir Home Before Dark, which has absolutely no clear audience but is weirdly compelling.)
The easiest explanation for why Apple TV+ is airing so many solid shows right now is that it’s making an intentionally limited number of them, mimicking the model of a network like HBO or FX and focusing on quality rather than quantity — in contrast to a service like Netflix, which tries to flood the zone with more and more stuff. Sure, not every one of Apple’s original series will be a roaring success, and some will still be awful. But this sort of curated approach leads to more consistently enjoyable shows…
Eventually, it will land a big hit show, a Stranger Things or a Bridgerton, a Handmaid’s Tale or a Boys, and it will go all-in on that success. (It’s also worth noting that the company makes and acquires movies, and is the distributor of the very good documentary Boys State and the tremendous animated film Wolfwalkers.)
…Making a smaller number of shows, based on fresher ideas, is a smart way to build a streaming service with an eye toward standing out in the long run, especially if those shows hail from creative voices who might bring new perspectives to the air… Time will tell if this approach proves more successful than simply larding up a streaming service with familiar titles and characters, but as a fan of fresh and original television, I’m rooting for it to work.
MacDailyNews Take: If you build it well, they will come.
Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac, select Samsung, LG, Sony and VIZIO smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial.
The Jon Stewart deal will propel Apple TV+ to the next level of loyalty. A year is only $49.99. $4.20 a month. It’s a steal of a deal.
Giving any of my money to a hack like stewart is a large reason not to subscribe. Apple has become to woke for anyone but coast dwellers.
John Stuart Leibowitz
Thank you for sharing that. Why? I don’t believe he controls the Jewish space lasers.
John Stewart is an as-
Nothing on Apple Tv that is worth $5/mo.
To woke. To sparse. To message oriented. Apple forgot the entertainment portion of their service.
If Apple made a TV show about grammar, it wouldn’t be too late for you to learn some.
Vox, aka Baghdad bob media, saying this is an indictment, not support. Laughable.
Ted Lasso, Morning Show, Defending Jacob, Tehran, Servant, Little Voice, Emily Dickinson, Central Park, Trying, Mythic Quest are all very commercial outings and extremely well done. It’s really F**king hard to make a solid TV Series or Mini-Series…trust me…I was in the business for thirty years. Mosquito Coast is cast well and look’s like another winner. As does Foundation. Bulk programming is very easy. Just throw a lot of stuff up against the wall and see what sticks or make movies that win awards that nobody watches…yes I’m talking to you Netflix. Or just look at the awful
programming on Prime Video…embarrassing considering the money they have spent to date. Apple TV+ is going to be a winner. Give it time and watch the shows above.
Disagree. The majority of those programs may be “well made” but they are leftist indoctrination crapfests and only cater to the woke. Apple has shown no desire to cater to any other audience with exceedingly rare exception.
I cancelled for that more than the dearth of content per se.
It must be so exhausting living in a constant state of closed-minded, pointless outrage.
I can see you are a master of “constant state of closed-minded, pointless outrage”… but not everything it is a nail, hammer.
So, “I know you are, but what am I?” is all you’ve got, then. Impressive work there, partner.
Low bar to impress you, so no more was needed.