SVOD Showcase UPDATES

More Streaming Video Showcases are in the works, but let me make a few brief remarks about already published installments:

ACORN TV: Can you believe that despite my glowing review and strong letter grade, this service decided to shank me by announcing 'Drop the Dead Donkey" is leaving at the end of the month? I don't think I'm going to get to all 65 episodes in time.

SIGH. At least it's letting us know, but still, the series was added December of 2014, so that's not even a full year on the service. Hopefully it will return someday soon, but this is another example of how streaming video, with its arrivals and departures, is in some ways more stressful than conventional television.

CRACKLE: Decider.com ran an article explaining "Why we shouldn't be sleeping on Crackle."  Decider does some good work, but this reads like an ad. I see no mention of how clunky the site navigation is or how maddening the auto-play is on Roku. Maybe those aren't problems anymore, I thought, and I should take a look to see if I should revise my scathing grade of F.

When I launched Crackle on Roku, I at least got a warning that something was going to auto-play. However, it was just that, a warning, because I couldn't actually prevent it from playing. Then I tried to look at what was available while the show was playing, and it was difficult, but I thought I had accessed "My Crackle." Something wasn't working, so I relaunched the channel, and this time it crashed Roku.

I tried again on my Blu-Ray, and I didn't get the auto-play, and I didn't get a crash, but my grades are based on Roku performance. Besides, navigating on the Blu-Ray was slow and unwieldy. As an example, if you are trying to find a specific episode of a TV series, you have to scroll down from the very first in a sloooow vertical slog until you get to the one you want. This is also the only way I was able to confirm that only the first 3 seasons of "Larry Sanders" were up at the moment.

Besides, some of the new content Decider touted--"Party of Five," "Dawson's Creek,"--doesn't interest me. I'd rather have two series that Crackle removed--"Sanford and Son" and "Good Times." All in all, no need to change my review or even to go back here very often.