#the whole point of a streaming service is so you DON'T have commercials

[ooc-miqojak]

So, we get Netflix free with our phone plan...and just got notified that the Netflix version we have access to will be downgraded... to Netflix with ads. Netflix... has ads now? This defeats the whole purpose of why @netflix was invented in the first place?!?? Who the hell would pay for that, when you can just watch TV with ads... on TV? Or pirate those same shows for free, with no ads.

Netflix... you were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy cable TV, not join them! You were to bring balance to television and streaming, not leave it in darkness!

Pictured below - actual picture of my disgust, and below that an image of Netflix's self-destructive habits finally catching up with them.

[eddiediazismyhusband]

It was an interview full of "right now" and "at this moment" from both Ryan and Tim. I'm genuinely wondering why the freak out from everyone? Interviews are always, ALWAYS, answered and arranged for the current episode/arc. People do know that right? No one, even the PR dorks that are Oliver and Ryan, are ever going to say "so yeah, Eddie is going to propose to his girlfriend but have a near death experience near the season finale that will change everything and he will shout his love for Buck." That interview is literally never going to happen. And honestly him proposing makes a ton of sense from a story standpoint. It's technically everything he claims he wants, so how does Eddie react when things still don't feel right? If the storyline is headed toward a relationship with Buck, and it genuinely does feel like that, Eddie seemingly getting everything he's ever wanted and still feeling off is the perfect introduction to that. I'm stupidly stunned every time by the unhinged break downs after every fucking interview.

To be fair, anxiety is a very real issue for a lot of people (me being one of them, it doesn’t take much to send me spiraling) and in fact i am a catastrophizer… i see something and immediately jump to the worst conclusions about it and only then do i sit back and put thought into it.

I don’t like to post when i’m catastrophizing because all it does is stirs even more panic and anxiety, but others find it easier to post their panic/spiraling so that hopefully others may he able to offer a different point of view to talk them down from their panic. mental health is one bicth of a human condition.

so while yes, it is definitely jarring to see people panicking, i try to remain gracious to those who are spiraling because i understand the panic that sets in and the urgency for someone to tell you that everything is okay.

as far as knowing the ins and outs of how television and pr works; unfortunately a lot of people are not educated on how things like this go because we live in an age where weekly episodic releases like this are becoming less and less common as binge culture has become the hot commodity, especially for streaming services. with that there comes a level of misunderstanding of how the industry works and has worked in the past, especially for a younger audience. so a lot of viewers are used to having the whole story handed to them all at once, rather than the intensive speculation and uncertainty that comes with network tv.

i myself having worked in film and theatre have firsthand experience with PR and the media and how to keep things under wraps (i am by NO WAY an insider, i have worked on student/college/indie films and have had zero involvement in the commercial film industry) and i STILL sometimes struggle from that initial shock of reading something that seemingly doesn’t bode well for what you want to see from a television show.

so all of that to say is i understand it can be jarring and at times even annoying to see the catastrophizing and spiraling, but it helps me to step back and take a breath to remind myself to give some grace to people who may not have as much of an understanding of how things like this work as i do.

thank you for the ask anon!! Apologies for the long reply, i just wanted to discuss this bc i have a lot of my own thoughts on it! 💕

[kataraslove]

I just really hope that the new ATLA movie will be interesting, bright and exciting, that it will pay tribute to all the characters, but especially to Katara. And there will be kataang in it: wonderful, respectful, supportive relationships. And a huge number of pro-Katara, pro-Aang and pro-kataang new fans will come to the fandom. I hope that the time will come when a respectful and competent and deeper gaze of the canon and canonical characters will dominate the fandom, and the toxic z/tara will remain in the minority (I have nothing against zutara as a ship but I am against lying about characters and hatred, and, unfortunately, I saw most of this in the z/tara fandom). Let the era of peace and kindness finally come for the fandom, as Zuko would say.

one can only hope for that, anon! after that leaked image of adult gaang came out, i saw antis do a complete 180 about their perceptions on kataang. so who knows? however, considering that it's been 15 years, i don't think perceptions on here - or in other places - are really going to change much from people who vehemently despise kataang. i think every interaction and scene between katara and aang, no matter how positive it is, will be spun to be made as if it's negative. i mean, we literally saw their reactions to a COOKBOOK that stated that aang liked to cook for katara. "wow, i can't believe you need a cookbook to confirm that aang does the bare minimum," or, my personal favourite, "katara has to literally baby aang by controlling how much sugar he eats!"

that being said, i'm not interested in changing the minds of people who genuinely believe kataang to be an abusive relationship. what i do want instead is for the adult gaang movie to provide a fandom environment in which kataang shippers are not afraid to admit that they ship kataang. for a whole week after the leaked image was released, there was a kataang renaissance that occurred on twitter, with viral kataang tweets and people coming out and admitting that they enjoyed kataang. much like the kataang renaissance that occurred after the legend of korra first aired (with canon confirmation that katara and aang had three children before bryke ripped that perfect family perception to shreds), i want that same thing to happen following the adult gaang movie, except in a much larger scale, with much more fandom content.

at the end of the day, though, what i really want is for katara to be done justice by this movie; for her to receive the recognition that she deserves after 15 long years of absolutely null. i do believe that she will receive justice in the form of good writing and canon recognition - the signs are all there - but at the same time, i am a little cautious just because it is bryke behind the wheels. those two, in their efforts to explore what they believe to be nuance, tend to leave out a whole bunch of details. simply put, they're not the best writers, and even worse, they've been horrible at receiving criticism in the past. so i hope those are attributes of theirs that have changed over the years, as they've matured and gained more industry experience. i think it has, just based on the things that i've heard from the two, and the fact that they're now part of a gigantic hollywood megacorporation and streaming service that is dependent on the success of avatar studios. speaking of which, you have no idea just how much paramount is riding on avatar studios to become a commercial success. the fate and future of avatar studios are absolutely reliant on this adult gaang movie becoming a huge commercial hit.

... which is my other area of concern. just what are bryke willing to do to ensure that the movie will be a huge hit? what plot points will they introduce? what will they do with the characters? i don't think that they're going to pander to fandom demands (have certain ships become romantic) because they said that they're not going to do that. at the same time, however, what exactly are they going to do? katara and aang aren't the most popular characters in the series, their romantic relationship is an area of contention and controversy among the fanbase; from a business standpoint, how exactly will avatar studios handle this? i don't want any cheap, convoluted, soap-opera. i also don't want a marvel movie in the form of avatar. i want fulfilling character arcs and dynamics and plot points that stay true to the themes of avatar the last airbender. as we've seen with the kyoshi novels, we know that the spirit of avatar can be replicated if the right creative voices are in the writing room, holding the pen.

i suppose that's something that bryke will have to deal with and figure out. no use losing sleep over things we know nothing about. just based on the things that i've seen and read, the contextual clues over the years, the new content from avatar studios, i think we can expect the best, especially as kataang shippers. however, i do approach this whole scenario with some (read: a lot of) caution.

but i absolutely agree with you here (and what you said about zutara shippers):

And a huge number of pro-Katara, pro-Aang and pro-kataang new fans will come to the fandom. I hope that the time will come when a respectful and competent and deeper gaze of the canon and canonical characters will dominate the fandom.

i long for a future in which katara fandom analysis isn't essentially, "she's horribly mistreated by the gaang as their resident Mother. that is, until zuko the liberator comes save her. this is why she would be a perfect firelady." if nothing else, please let the outcome of the movie allow for nuanced perspectives of katara's character.

[lol-jackles]

I enjoyed the first episode of Season 4 of Walker, it's no peak SPN but it's grown into itself. I'm not an avid watcher but it's easy TV and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

So my question is, what number of viewers need to be on live and +7 for it to stay on air and with what demographic?

The live figures and demographic seemed to be falling, but that is the same for all CW shows.

Are you still expecting an announcement of an extended series announcement?

FYI, there is a picture of Jensen in Vancouver having dinner with some of the cast of Watcher, so the rumour is yet another guest star gig is on the cards...

With over 50% of total (legal) TV viewers in U.S are now online and catch-up services, Live TV viewers are only a small chunk of what advertisers use. Live TV viewings do matter, but the networks also look at how a show does in DVR (up to 35 days post-airing usually) and on streaming. Part of the reason why CW created the CW app was so they could get better user data, and optimize their content based on that (similar to the OG Netflix model), so it would make sense if they put less weight on Live TV viewership, as the OG CW had already done.  If one person watches twice on CW app then they would be counted as two content starts.   And if one person watched the full 40 min duration twice then they would have contributed 80 minutes of viewing to the show.  But if you want to a reach of unique non-duplicated viewers for a certain show, they’d be counted once.   There are a lot of different metrics but multiple viewings factor into plenty of them.  Same for actual true for linear tv - if you watch something on a dvr more than once they are all counted. It’d be cool if these streaming numbers were released, but unfortunately that’s a much less transparent process than Live TV, so non-industry people still base their ratings knowledge off of that.

The Nielsen ratings are still used and still matters and it helps that there’s industry transparency. Linear tv still sells mostly on C3 (commercial viewing live + 3 days). But networks will track digital viewing within the US.  There's a lot of metrics to measure “success” on digital platforms beyond viewership - how many new subscribers it brought in, if they stayed to watch other things, how long they spend on the platform, etc

Of course CW app doesn't have subscribers but downloads. On Valentines Day CW app officially crossed 100 million downloads across all platforms and was #1 in the Apple App Store for 3 consecutive years during fall premieres.

The rule of thumb is if an app has 10 million downloads, on average 30% of downloads are active.  So CW app has 100 million downloads, 30% are active, and a total of 30 million active users.  With ads, it's easy money for the network.

For context.  

Peacock = 31 million subscribers 

Paramount = 37 million subscribers

Max = 98 million subscribers

Disney = 111 million subscribers

Netflix = 260 million subscribers 

Of the Big 5's subscribers, we don't know the percentage of active watchers.  But streaming services actually prefer that you don't watch because that costs bandwidth.  Just like gyms make their money from memberships where most members don't go to the gym regularly.

At this point no, I don't expect series extension announcement. The whole industry is going, as they say in business downsizing, restructuring.

I said in another post, never say never to the idea of Jensen scoring a guest star gig on Tracker.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I don't watch a lot of US tv shows. Not because I think they are "bad", but more because they barely hold any appeal to me.

The last few I tried were like : let's start with a pointless sex scene, because dang, regular american boy loves that! Also, let's not pay anyone to do the light. Better if it's too dark to see anything at all 60% of the time, wow we're so gritty.

That said, I happened to stumble on Night Sky. And the reason I got interested was that for once, our two heroes were old people (and it's sci-fi, which I have always loved). And as the heroes, the tone of the first episode was very much slower, calmer and yet super interesting.

It had zero useless sex scenes the whole way, the plot unraveled at a pretty slow but good rhythm, the acting was good. Lovely.

and then.

and then, the number one reson why I've been mostly staying as far from US shows as humanly possible.

The reason why I absolutely despise 99% of all american TV shows.

They can't ever write a freaking ending, and you never know if a show is going to be "renewed" or not.

I've been watching so much shows from other countries where the show is clearly bought to last a set number of episodes, so there is always an ending. Good, bad, I don't even care, as long as it's there.

Now I'm left with no ending, more questions than answers, and the absolute certainty that this was my last ever foray into "made for the US" series.

What are your thoughts about that format? You obviously watch older movies, so I'm not sure if you are into shows at all. I'm curious.

Pfff, I watch sort of everything anon. And definitely tv series.

I wasn't sure how to answer your questions because there is a lot to unpack and honestly? In order to get an encompassing answer, I'd have to write a thesis. But I'll keep it short.

In terms of American shows not getting an ending and in turn, becoming a frustrating viewing experience, I'd say that it has more to do with current production practices and the industry at large, rather than the shows being American. The US has produced most of the greatest tv since its invention and we have experienced the golden age of television for the first couple of decades of the 21st century.

I'd say that the problem is represented by the streaming services and the run of the mill and cancelled shows are a product of that culture. Binge watching, too many projects getting a green light leading to a lot of trash as well, focusing too much on algorithm and quick social media response lead to abrupt cancellation. And sometimes they do it for tax purposes as well. It's the same in the film industry.

Getting out an entire season to streaming immediately hurts the people behind it. With cable tv, writers had a more long-term job, each season had more episodes, the episode was written specifically to fit in commercials as well. Direct to streaming changed that for the worst, hence the writers strike. There's a lot more to be said on this and you can watch this as well, it will help

Poor lighting has indeed been another criticism which I can understand. It's because they're shooting on digital and somehow it gives this illusion that it's more "realistic"? It's not, it's just lazy and it's a shame. Lighting in cinematography is an art and there's plenty of examples out there.

Lastly, the "useless sex scenes". I wonder what constitutes as useless for you though? The existence of a sex scene is not just for some "regular american boy". It's part of a lot of people's lives and being depicted in fiction is to be expected. There's nothing wrong with watching it, for everyone. Would it have a point only if it advances the plot? Could it not be another means of characterization? Of setting a mood? A commentary? Perhaps a glimpse into a life? There's plenty of reasons, even if it appears "pointless". It's unfortunate to see this trend nowadays, but at least it creates debates from people on all sides. I'd actually say that the lack of eroticism and the abundance of sexless characters in a lot of mainstream cinema/tv is creating a false, artificial image of a world that gets boring really fast and certainly a fictional Hollywood subpar to everything that came before.

[rebeccakeyte]

Final Project Evaluation

My final project is a full length, eight track album, released under my artist brand 'Bex Kite'. The album is titled 'Monochrome' and has been released publicly onto my BandCamp page, shared amongst my social media accounts, and will be released onto Spotify and other major streaming platforms on June 11th. This is due to Spotify needing a little longer to process new releases, and to encourage my audience to support myself and other smaller artists more directly, as most of BandCamp profits go to the actual artist, where as streaming services don't pay very much at all.

I have gone into detail about some of the production techniques used for some tracks on the album, which you can watch bellow, but I'm going to evaluate the finished product here on my blog now! And be sure to check out my other blog posts, as it documents the whole journey of creating this project!

The original vision was to dabble with found sound samples, and horror inspired samples, however this quickly evolved into want to evolve upon my established sound as "Bex Kite", with several singles and a 4 year old EP already under my belt. In comparison, this body of works feels more cohesive, mature, self-aware and industry standard. "Monochrome" delivers eight guitar driven tracks inspired by grief, loss, heartbreak, and generational trauma. Despite the murky themes, I'd say that it's textually stunning to be honest, I'm so proud of how much my production has improved while creating this project! I think the guitar, bass and synth performance and production is a real strong point along with my songwriting, however I'd like to improve my vocal and drum production as I'm not 100% happy with it here. I've come a long way regardless!

Track by track breakdown:

1. Broccoli

'Broccoli' was the driving point of me deciding I wanted to improve my production skills and create a full length, self produced project. I've worked with freelance producers in the past on singles; Haydn Connolly with my 2023 single 'Reflections', and DEYA with my 2021 single 'Human Glitch'.

Broccoli was not originally intended to be a part of this project, as I had created it in the summer of 2023 for fun and ended up releasing it as a single. However, it proved popular with my social media audience, and I was even approached by film students to make a music video.

I didn't want the musical style of Broccoli to dictate my final university project, however it ended up fitting with the dreamy indie rock vibe anyway and paired nicely with the track 'Valid', so i decided to include the single. Plus commercially, I think it was a great ideas to promote the project with an existing single that my audience is familiar with, particularly as it's one of the more 'pop music' moments of the album.

Click here for a lyric breakdown.

2. Valid

'Valid' was one of the later additions to the album - an old demo I had found late into this project from around 2020. However, after playing around with the production that I know now, I managed to turn it into a fun, indie-pop, Clairo inspired song, with juxtaposing lyrics all about a traumatic incident from my teens, and the resulting impact it's had on my estranged relationship with my much older sister. The lyrics explore betrayal and the parallels between our lives, I'm living in her old childhood bedroom and she has no idea of the pain she's put me through.

It also introduces a recurring theme in the album which is colours and gem stones, I mention the crystal "obsidian" in verse 2, which is believed to reppelle negative energy and ground you, and the crystal 'malachite' is the title of another song on the project.

It also uses 'Pandora's Box' from Greek mythology as a metaphor, which is on brand as I'm often referencing literature and folklore in my lyrics, and even have another Greek mythology reference in an older song called 'Achilles Heart'. I am self aware of my brand!

Click here for lyrics.

3. Radio

'Radio' is a mostly guitar orientated instrumental track, that transitions smoothly into track 4, 'Too Close'. I really wanted to include at least one instrumental interlude to make the album feel more like an album. A lot of my favourite albums that have inspired this project have something like this, particularly concept albums such as 'Preachers Daughter' by Ethel Cain and 'Punisher' by Phoebe Bridgers.' I'm also a big fan of songs that fade and transition into eachother, so I challenged myself to create that and I did! Furthermore, I wanted to do an instrumental to show off my guitar playing!

4. Too Close (originally named Skylines)

I wrote and recorded an acoustic demo years ago of 'Too Close', all about a crush I had on a friend that is also a tattoo artist of mine. Lyrically, it plays around with the idea of how both people and tattoos can have an incredibly permanent impact on your life. Short but sweet, I recorded it in one day along with 'Radio', as I found I was running hugely behind my original project schedule due to being too much of a perfectionist on the longer tracks such as 'Malachite' and 'Grey'!

Poor time management and over-perfectionism are definitely big weaknesses of mine, and it shows on this project in my opinion. Some of the tracks to me, particularly 'Too Close' and 'White Bridge' feel very rushed and have glaring mistakes to me, regardless of whether a casual listener will pick up on them. I plan to adapt and remedy this for my future projects, and I'm glad I've become aware of it while making this.

It has a very 'lofi' vibe to the track, which stylistically fits my DIY, bedroom indie brand that my audience know and enjoy, however I do wish I had spread my time more evenly over every song. For example, while recording the vocals for 'Too Close' I accidentally left my fan on, and I was too tired and stressed with my deadline to re-do them!

I managed to remedy the fan noise largely with surgical EQ (a technique my occasional co-producer Olivia taught me while making 'Broccoli'), but I can still hear the poor quality in the vocal mix and it's really frustrating! I like the bass tone though.

Lyrics.

5. Malachite (originally named 'Chemical')

This track is a huge, progressively climatic, soft rock ballad, structurally inspired by 'Iris' by The Goo Goo Dolls and 'I Know The End' by Phoebe Bridgers. Lyrically, it deals with the sickness and death of my childhood cat Freddie (who is on the album cover in tribute). He passed away while I was writing the music. 'Malachite' is a green gemstone that symbolising healing and projection, and I mention Freddie's 'crystal green' eyes in the lyrics.

The first few lines are once again inspired by literature: 'Paint the petals slow over my bones,' was inspired by the novel i was reading at the time; 'The Vegetarian' by Han Kang, particularly a scene in the second act from the perspective of the vile, misoginistic, self absorbed artist who creates an art film where he paints flowers all over his sister-in-law's naked body and then sexually assaults her. I'm not really sure why this section of the book stuck with me, probably something to do with creativity and the way in which men 'consume' women. It doesn't really have anything to do with the song itself, I just like to take inspiration from external media. And then 'small, fragile skull' was inspired by a Carol Anne Duffy poem.

I am super proud of this track, particularly my vocal harmonies, the drums (played by my friend Elliot) and the overall production! It might be my favourite song I've produced so far, and working with Elliot and Olivia on tracks has taught me that I want to do more collaborative projects in the future rather than burdening myself with doing absolutely everything!

Click here for lyrics.

6. White Bridge

Texturally, White Bridge is inspired by dark, synth-rock bands that I love such as PVRIS and Nine Inch Nails. Lyrically, it's about religious trauma, internalised homophobia, and my Dad's extremely religious side of the family that have disowned me because I'm a lesbian. It's probably the darkest track on the album, however once again I feel like the production is rushed and there's some timing mistakes. On the plus side, I really enjoy the synths and guitars that I wrote with Olivia.

7. 'Black And Blue'

I have a huge blogpost, video and lyrical breakdown of this track that I will link bellow, please take a look!

Blogpost

Lyrics

8. Grey

I wrote Grey when I was a teenage but have only just reimagined and recorded it! Is also one of my favourite tracks on the album, I'm really proud of the build-up, guitar tones and drums! I feel like my drum mixing has improved a lot. I wanted to end the album on a high note, I feel like the track is super cinematic and the harmonies really bring it all together. It already seems to be a fan favourite, as I've already had really positive feedback on it from my Instagram followers!

You can read more about 'Grey' here

Final Thoughts:

This project has successfully allowed me to independently devlop my production skills, tell a story, engage with my audience and further establish my identity as an independent, DIY artist. It has inspired me to collaborate more in my future musical endeavours.

The plan for the future is to promote the album with a super special, recorded live session with my session band on the 15th of May, release it onto Spotify on June 11th, play as many upcoming shows in the summer as possible (I'm playing Jazz Fest on Saturday so I'll for sure plug it there!). But most importantly, I have since been writing and jamming more than ever with Elliot and Olivia, and later this year we've planned to form a three piece indie rock project called Static Moon, where I'll be providing bass guitar and lead vocals!

I also hope that this body of work encourages more clients to hire me for freelance production and composition, which I have been dabbling in this year and I believe I could earn a living off of potentially.

I wish I had put a bit more thought into promoting the release, although my singular promotional video resulted in great engagement and came across very authentic as intended. I am tired of over the top, constant, repetitive promotion on social media, as an independent creator I find it draining and humiliating to take part it. Luckily, I use Instagram a lot anyway to post a lot of genuine, down to earth content and humour on my story, so my engagement is high as a result of that, so that is something I plan to keep up, but not force..

After the live sessions, I would love to make more music videos for tracks, this is definitely a future endeavour I would love to achieve!

Overall, I am proud of my final project. I think it's a solid, dream-pop album with distinctive guitar tones, deeply personal songs that people can relate to, and an equal amount of both dramatic elements and authentic DIY, lofi, bedroomy, producer girl type vibes!

[femme-gremlin-energy]

Okay, we've proposed it might be a barnacle... 1 point for barnacle

On the one hand: yes, they are right that Siobhan is specifically here to look at anomalies. On the other hand, not so fucking brave now are you?

Look I don't know a ton about being on the ocean, but the long glowing tentacles attached do not seem to suggest barnacle so maybe we should not hack at the unknown creature that secretes a boat-eating substance with a knife.

She told them it was more like cnidarian and they were like "its a squid!" and then made all their decisions based on squidness which seems realistic for a fishing crew, particularly this one, to be fair but also makes me cranky. However I will allow 1 point for squid and 1 point for jellyfish

Okay, a guy got his hand stuck in the winch. Not good.

PLEASE STOP IGNORING OBVIOUS BIOHAZARDS I AM BEGGING YOU ALL

wait, wait, there are some clear goopy little sacs. They remind me of jellyfish eggs. 2 total points for jelly fish

Sidebar the streaming service I am using has commercials and aside from the fact that I have not seen an OG style commercial in forever the NFL is doing an anti-bullying campaign. Has anyone told them that its usually the footballers doing the bullying??

Okay, back to the show. It seems like sailors are like toddlers: if they are quiet, something bad is happening.

Oh no, the other boat guys are dead. One of them is missing his eyes.

"they must have gone mad" wow thank you Sherlock for that brilliant and helpful insight.

I'm not really sure I'm down to call this whole boat murder just like contagious mass hysteria. Ignoring the foreshadowing I can see as part of the audience perhaps, just maybe, it might be related to that whole 2 hours of sleep thing which can result in psychosis

sure...yeah...the eyes are gone cause the birds...not like you were below deck or anything with no signs of birds around.

Part 3 will be coming. Also, just to be clear, I am enjoying this movie so far, people are just stupid and that is unfortunately accurate to real life.

Thoughts on Sea Fever

Love the opening of "what if I just...didn't do my thesis research??" honestly such a mood.

I don't like how they're treating my girl Siobhan (?).

I've enjoyed the foreshadowing with the Irish folklore re: bioluminescent sea tendrils and then the whales ominously gtfoing

Dear fishing crew: her name is Siobhan, not Cassandra. Reel it in.

Omid is the only one with some sense around here.

HOLY FUCK IF THE SUBSTANCE IS DISSOLVING YOUR BOAT MAYBE DON'T JAB YOUR FINGER IN IT to be continued...

[gayedmundo]

I feel like people don’t realize how much of a risk making Buddie canon would be for 9-1-1 or the reasons why it’s completely understandable to be nervous about whether or not it will be canon. Yes, the show has gay characters. Hen, Karen, Michael, David, Josh, all of the LGBT characters over on Lone Star, they’re all fantastic characters and I’m glad that the writers were willing to have them in the show. But you can’t say that Buddie can easily happen just because these characters exist. There’s a difference between introducing gay characters upfront and making main characters gay seasons into your show.  Most shows have gay characters nowadays! Homophobes have had to tolerate it on some level and get used to it. But LGBT characters are almost always immediately labelled as being LGBT within their first season. Because then these straight viewers can know who they are and accept that they’re a part of the show whether they like it or not right away. Yet if they’ve connected to Buck and Eddie, these seemingly straight men, for seasons and care for them and then suddenly THEY’RE GAY TOO?????? That’s a threat. 

Unfortunately 9-1-1 is a big cash cow. I mean ,theres a reason why FOX and Disney were negotiating the finances until the very last minute and it's because they both get a LOT of money out of that show. It’s one of the most popular shows across all of network television right now and while yeah, online, Buddie shippers are the biggest presence and it can easily feel like that’s the whole audience because of that, the most common and most reliable viewers for network television nowadays are the older audience members. The ones that just turn on TV and see whats on rather than having to mess with signing up for all the streaming services that exist now. The ones who watch FOX news and see commercials for a firefighter show and decide to check it out. They don't go online to live tweet during the episodes but they are tuning in regularly and yeah. Making Buddie canon is a huge risk for that audience. 

At this point, that audience has never even considered the possibility that Buck and Eddie might be interested in guys or each other. If the writers ever plan to actually do this, they would have to flash some blindingly obvious signs in those people’s faces well before they get together to prepare them for what’s coming and get them used to the idea. So when people act like it should happen right away or like neither of them would need a coming out arc before it happens, I don’t think they’re really considering what that large silent audience is seeing in this show right now. It is so far from what we see.  I really, really hope that the writers do plan on taking the risk one day. They’ve clearly never shut down the possibility entirely, and I do think that it’s possible, but I also think that they would probably wait until they know they’re on their last season to take a risk like that. I just think that people need to look at this with nuance and some realistic expectations because way too many people in this fandom seem like they think that people even considering the possibility that they might not make them canon makes someone stupid. 

[itsclydebitches]

You mentioned piracy in a recent post and I'm curious. How do you feel about pirating things you simply don't have access to? For a very long time the anime Evangelion was not available anywhere new. Your options as a American were to either buy expensive used DVD's or pirate it. Even Crunchyroll didn't have it. Eventually a Japanese (no subtitles) blu0ray release was made, but it was costly. Finally Netflix got the rights to host it. Before that though could you fault anyone for pirating it?

Overall I’m solidly pro-pirating media because every interaction with a text comes down to the same question: Can I buy it or not? If you can buy it then you give money to the artists who rightfully deserve it and that’s fantastic. However, if you can’t buy it and abstain from engaging with the media at all you’re potentially losing more than just your own enjoyment. What does that mean? It means that: 

Maybe I wasn’t able to pay to see the first film, but pirating the first got me interested in the series so now, two years later, I’m paying to see the second when I have more funds. 

Maybe I wasn’t able to pay for the monthly streaming service hosting this TV show, but now that I’ve pirated it I’m buying related merch. 

Maybe I wasn’t able to buy this book, but I downloaded it, told all my friends about it, wrote a positive review, and potentially set the stage for other copies to be sold. 

You are, in short, functioning like a fandom: you created a thing, I love the thing, I’m going to ‘pay’ you for that thing in ways other than cash and credit. 

Pirating isn’t quite the same thing as walking into a store and snatching a book off the shelf. In that scenario you’re harming the author’s potential (or expected) revenue as well as the very real costs that the store put into buying that book in the first place. When you pirate you’re only cutting into those potential profits--profits that still wouldn’t exist if you’d said, “Well I can’t pay for it so I won’t watch/read it at all.” Now, I want to emphasize that none of the above examples are a justifiable replacement for funds. There’s a reason artists on tumblr rightfully say, “No. You’re paying me for my commission. ‘Exposure’ isn’t a valid form of payment.” What I am saying is that there’s a massive difference among a) not being able to pay for a show created by a major corporation so you gain nothing and give nothing back, b) pirating that major show and giving back in the ways that you can, and c) trying to “pirate” art off of a 21yo college student who’s just looking to buy groceries. Yes, every artist deserves to be paid for their work regardless of whether they’ve sold two copies or two million, but---while a lovely and worthwhile sentiment--that doesn’t acknowledge that a lot of people just can’t. That money isn’t going to end up in the artist’s pocket regardless. 

Ignoring for a moment the fact that a good chunk of us are Millennials/Gen Z and can’t pay for shit anyway, other reasons you might be inclined to pirate include: 

You literally do not have access to this. At all. I’m a grad student out in Ohio. There is no way I can pay/take the time to go to NYC and see Hamilton play. I can, however, download a recording of the show and then buy the soundtrack. 

Similarly, costs are not always just the cost of the media itself. My closest movie theater is a small, non-profit place that doesn’t always play the latest blockbusters. The closest AMC where I could see those blockbusters? That’s an Uber drive away. I can’t afford that on top of a $10+ ticket. 

As we’re seeing now, most people can’t afford to pay a monthly fee for multiple different streaming services. The content isn’t all in one place? We’re only going to pay for a portion of the content then. Just buy cable? Distributors need to acknowledge that we’re moving away from that format too. Most people don’t want media laden with commercials anymore, or media that requires equally expensive, specialized tech to play it on. “Specialized” here meaning it only exists for entertainment. I need my laptop to do my job. Being able to watch stuff on it is a bonus, but I’d need to pay for a laptop whether it could play films and TV or not. Actual televisions though? They only exist as a form of recreation. They’re a pure luxury. 

A common rebuttal here is, “Just buy the DVD.” Except, as said, I don’t own a TV. And Mac took out their DVD player in order to produce another expense by forcing people to buy it separately. Which I haven’t done yet. So not only are DVDs functionally useless to me at the moment, but it’s the same issue as above: the overall price is far more than the cost of the media alone. 

Sometimes---as you point out, anon---the material is simply not available in your country. It might never be available. Maybe it will be, but that’s years from now...and telling someone to wait years to see the thing all their friends are currently invested in is not the most compelling argument. 

Also yes, sometimes media stops being produced and the price skyrockets. I’ve had books I desperately wanted but they were well over $100 used for an otherwise cheap paperback. (Funds that, notably, also wouldn’t be going to that original author, editor, cover designer, etc.) 

People have always had a complex and murky definition of what amount of profit is “enough” for an author. And we need to acknowledge that. Because if we all collectively believed that every individual really had to pay for their own access than we would never lend books to friends. We wouldn’t sell used. Or allow music on Youtube. Or have libraries. No one would ever share their Netflix login. We would be far more concerned with eliminating ALL forms of “free” access if we were truly that concerned with a 1:1 transaction. Whether people want to admit it or not, there’s a middle ground between “making sure an author is fairly compensated for their work” and “making sure that people have access to the media at all.” 

It all comes down to how you’re defining that fair compensation and yes, I do think it makes a difference who the author is and what sort of compensation you’re offering. I buy all my books because pirating those tends to do more damage than pirating TV. Complicating that, I have a Netflix account and watch One Day At a Time there because they need ratings a whole lot more than Breaking Bad does. However, I pirate John Oliver because I can’t afford an HBO account on top of a Netflix account. 

Which brings us to, “Then you shouldn’t watch John Oliver at all. That’s a privilege, not a right, and if you can’t pay for it then you don’t get it.” But here’s the thing: media is important. We do need it. We need stories, almost as much as we need food, water, and shelter. It’s easy to say, “You can’t pay for the Popular New Thing so you don’t get to engage with it” and a lot harder to convince people that they should accept that situation when they’ve found access to it another way. 

You know all that research proving that when given a basic income most people still choose to work? Same principles apply. When people have access to money they will spend it on entertainment. Always. I buy books. I go out to the movies. I buy music on iTunes. I go see plays when I can. But the “when I can” portion is a complex and, for many people, rather rare scenario. I guarantee you, it’s not a dystopian future of, “If we accept piracy then no one will ever buy anything ever!” because most people want to pay artists. They want to support films like Captain Marvel. They want to buy a hardcopy book to put on their shelf. They want another copy of that film to gift to a friend. But there are times when they simply can’t do that... so what are we left with? The issue is much less a moral one than a practical one. It comes down to that original question: Can I pay for it? Most people don’t go, “I can pay for it but am choosing not to because I’m a horrible, greedy person.” They go, “I can’t pay for it so you’re not getting my money regardless. The only question now is whether I’ll lose the enjoyment of your art and you’ll lose anything that I might have given back---even if what I have to offer doesn’t mean as much to you as money.”