The dudes review Paramount+'s streaming service.
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0:00
Let's wrap up with this, Lewis
0:03
Paramount Plus has announced they have nearly 40 million subscribers. Now, the reason this was surprising to me is because I didn't even know that, well, I didn't
0:15
know how long Paramount Plus has been around and I didn't know anyone was using it
0:19
It's like kind of like this obscure little service. And the only reason I signed up for is because they have been having tons of free trials
0:28
And unlike other services, even Apple, they just keep extending the trial
0:32
So you'll use the service. They had a three-month free trial, which I signed up for
0:37
And then I was like, yeah, there's not really a whole lot here that would keep me here
0:43
And so I canceled it. And they said, oh, wait, if you want, we'll give you another two months for $3
0:48
And I was like, oh, shoot. Like, it's definitely worth $3. And then I canceled that
0:52
And they said, oh, do you want another month for free? It's like they just keep giving it to me for free. They don't want you to go, yeah
0:57
Yeah, and when they say that they have added 6.8 million subscribers last quarter, I kind of
1:04
wonder how many people are these people are actually paying them for the service
1:10
Yeah. You're a part of the service, right? Because you're a part of the service, right? Because you've signed up, you've given them your credit card number, but you're not actually paying for anything yet
1:16
But I thought this was interesting because we have all of these streaming services now. We have
1:21
obviously Netflix. We have Apple TV Plus. Now we have Paramount Plus. And what I noticed is
1:27
Paramount Plus pulled all of their content from all the other services
1:32
I used to watch Star Trek the next generation, which is one of the best shows of all time. And it was on Netflix forever
1:37
And then all of a sudden, it wasn't. And they moved all of the Star Trek episodes
1:43
to Paramount Plus. So now if you want to watch Star Trek, you either have to buy it or you have to subscribe to Paramount Plus
1:48
They have the new Star Trek series. They actually have, the surprising thing is
1:53
the Paramount Plus app sucks. It needs to be completely rewritten, not a great experience at all
1:59
But they have a huge library. I had no idea. They've got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of movies and shows
2:06
I mean, you can just sit there and scroll through. My wife hates this. Whenever I go to a new streaming service
2:11
I will literally just sit there for like 30 minutes and scroll through their entire library just to see what they have
2:16
And Paramount has a lot of stuff. They also have a ton of older movies, like tons of westerns and stuff
2:22
So they have a pretty big library. Time, yeah. And they've got
2:26
they've got the new Halo series. They've got the new Picard series
2:30
which Lewis was saying was not great enough to keep him there. They've got Star Trek Discovery and as a huge Star Trek fan
2:36
I'm like, that's kind of appealing, like all the new Star Trek stuff, even though I haven't watched it because I heard it was awful
2:42
But it's interesting because we have all of these subscriptions now, right
2:47
And I know I was mentioning this to you earlier, Adam. It's like, what do you think about all this
2:51
We have Netflix now. If you want Netflix content, you got to go to Netflix. If you want AT&T content or Warner Brothers, I should say, you have to go to HBO
3:00
Now, oh, you want to watch Star Trek? Better go get a Paramount Plus subscription
3:06
And we have all these like individual silos now where they're all pulling their content off of all the other platforms
3:12
And now you have to purchase their platform if you want to watch it. Like are you subscribed to any of these services
3:17
What do you think about all this? Well, I'm subscribed to Apple Plus, right
3:21
But I don't use it for their actual, their exclusive content. I'm not into the shows
3:26
It's just they don't, they're not my personal, they're not pulling me in yet. But I purchase movies on Apple TV all the time
3:33
on my Apple subscription all the time. And I have Disney Plus for my kids
3:37
And I have Netflix. And I will occasionally subscribe to a random app temporarily
3:43
if there's a movie that I can only access in a certain place. But how do I feel about that at the beginning
3:51
I'm saying, they're going, oh, boy, here it comes. you know, it's now they're inflating the market with all of these different apps
4:00
There's pros and cons. I think that, yeah, it could get a little bit out of hand. They might have, it's just like you end up paying for 20 different services
4:07
But different studios kind of have their own brand of films very often
4:11
And I actually don mind the fact that I know if my kids go on Disney Plus they getting access to this certain type of content It already curated for them to a certain degree
4:24
and there's already a certain set quality to it. And Paramount have a selection of films
4:29
that might cater to a certain demographic, a certain age group, in which case, there's a much higher likelihood
4:35
that that demographic is going to appreciate that content, right? Yeah. And they don't have to do the whole Netflix thing
4:43
where you sit there, like you said, and scroll for half an hour looking to see, finally find something there
4:48
I guess we can watch that. Movie night on Netflix with my, every Friday night
4:52
my girlfriend makes her homemade pizza, which is amazing. Everybody loves Fridays for that
4:56
And then one of the kids gets to choose the movie for that night
5:00
And if it's Netflix, we're done dinner before they pick a movie. That's hilarious
5:04
Yeah. Same here. And this happens in a week, right? Nobody can settle on a bloody movie to watch
5:10
And that's, because it's kind of, it's kind of another. a pulperie of everything
5:16
which makes it a little bit watered down and hard to find anything good. And that's been the trend of Netflix
5:20
ever since its inception. It's just that you can spend forever looking for something to watch
5:24
where maybe with the Paramount app, maybe it's a little bit more exclusive
5:29
a little bit more curated. So I don't know. Well, it depends on what you're into, like you say, I mean, like, if you like Star Trek stuff
5:34
so I mean, I love pretty much all things Star Trek. And I, and next generation is like
5:40
some of the most beloved content that's out there to me. Although, as I was mentioning before, Apple just had a sale on the entire series of Next Generation
5:51
So I got it for $30, which is crazy because I don't know if you all have tried to buy next generation, like the entire series
5:57
You could get it on a DVD set. It's like $150. It's really expensive, right
6:02
So being able to watch it, especially because it was pulled from Netflix
6:06
And so now people are like, oh, they don't think it exists anymore, but they don't know that it's sitting on Paramount Plus
6:12
So I've been enjoying Paramount Plus for that reason. Funny enough, they have a lot of older content
6:17
Just like Disney Plus, like a lot of the stuff that I end up watching is like older stuff, even though they have some new shows, like all the Marvel stuff obviously and stuff that I like too
6:25
But like the value of the Disney catalog is like their massive back library
6:29
And that's one of the things I didn't realize about Paramount Plus that they have as well is they have tons and tons and tons of movies that I remember watching years ago
6:38
Like I really wanted to watch. oh gosh, interstellar, right? Yeah. And I couldn't find it anywhere
6:47
Paramount Plus has it. It must be a Paramount movie. I didn't realize that, right? And it's funny that you should talk about Netflix
6:52
about like the Infinite Scroll because that's exactly what happens to me. I feel like every time I go to watch something on Netflix
6:57
I spend my entire dinner just scrolling through, waiting to find something
7:02
and then I end up just leaving Netflix and going to watch HBO Max or something
7:06
which I think might be my favorite streaming service right now. Lewis, favorite streaming service right now
7:10
I can pick one man watch everything all the time yeah are you watching Apple TV plus the most now
7:16
I wouldn't say the most but uh they've definitely got some shows I'm watching these days
7:22
I mean just sort of watching Shining Girls which is their latest you know hit I mean
7:27
this is one of the things that uh it's kind of interesting about the whole Apple TV Plus thing
7:32
they've actually in the past you know six months or whatever they've actually had some hits
7:38
yeah like they're showing up up in the top 10 of all things streaming online
7:44
Show that just finished called Severance, which I'm just waiting for a good time to watch that
7:49
I mean, I've heard great things about that. I can't wait to watch it. That's been in the top 10 for the past month or whatever
7:59
Yeah. Or two months. I don't know. I'm not exactly sure of the time frame, but it's weird because, I mean
8:05
Apple TV Plus started out. It was just kind of a joke, right? It's free. Here's all this, you know, weird mishmash
8:10
stuff but what they've slowly been building out all these categories of of
8:14
entertainment and i mean yeah it's still nowhere near the back catalog of like a you know
8:19
a tv studio like uh cbs that is on paramount or what you know a bc on disney but uh you know
8:28
they just keep adding they just keep adding and the thing that cool about it now is they i mean the thing that i really dislike the most about apple tv plus is the way they drip stuff out like old school TV One show one episode a week One episode a week
8:42
I've got to keep you there. Yeah, it's, I mean, I understand why they do it
8:48
I just don't like it. It's very hard. It's so easy to get sidetracked, right
8:52
Like in a week that goes by, like, oh, some other series that you start watching and then you watch all that
8:58
And next thing you know, you can't even remember what happened, which is a problem of mine anyway. Yeah
9:03
It's, they've got some good stuff. And by the way, you mentioned, you know, kids programming
9:08
They got a lot of kids programming. Really? I've never even checked. Yeah, me either
9:12
A lot of it. And they've got a bunch of nature documentaries and stuff
9:17
There's one show that I've mentioned to, you know, on the show before. It's called Tiny World
9:22
It's unbelievably great. That is like the most amazing stuff I've seen
9:29
And I mean, all those, anytime I watch a nature document. I'm kind of, you know, this is awesome
9:36
Me too. I'm addicted to. Yeah. Amazing. They got a new one coming out pretty soon called prehistoric planet that is about dinosaurs and
9:45
supposedly like people in, you know, writing, watching the trailers for cult of Mac and writing
9:51
about him and say, wow, this is really awesome and really, you know, yeah, it does look pretty cool
9:56
They're saying, a lot blows away like Jurassic Parks sort of dinosaurs
10:01
Graphics look kind of... I don't know if I saw the right trailer, but the graphics looked very dated to me
10:07
I don't know if I saw the right thing. The graphics look kind of like old school dinosaur graphics
10:11
Oh, really? I saw one. I mean, dinosaurs is like... Maybe ILM was busy for that..
10:17
During that season, yeah. But I don't know. I think that thing comes out like next month or something
10:25
but it's, you know, they're making all... They're trying to make a big splash with it
10:29
Yeah. Like a dinosaur week or something. something they're going to release it uh i think it's the first week of june um but yeah i i mean
10:37
honestly if you've already got apple tv plus subscription you know check it out it i i don't know i mean
10:44
i don't watch the kids stuff but i know they have a lot of kids shows and uh they've got you know
10:50
all the peanut specials and new peanut specials and uh peanuts jim henson stuff i'm like you know
10:57
i mean yeah i don't know the peanut stuff might be too i just feel like you
11:01
It's just so funny. It's like Tim Cook added in his, like the shows that he liked when he was a kid
11:06
Because like who watches peanuts? Like that, that show used to be really popular
11:10
but kids don't watch peanuts these days. It's way too slow, right
11:15
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it's literally been so long since. I mean, even peanuts was even kind of old school when I was a kid, right
11:22
And they're still trying to push it. But the one thing I went out with new ones too
11:26
They're coming out with new episodes of peanuts. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. I don't, I've got a cartoon background
11:31
Don't don't even talk about new versions of old shows. Like the new Looney Tunes, I watch that stuff and I get, I feel violent
11:40
I get violently angry. I go, this is such garbage, right? The new stuff is usually horrible
11:45
I prefer the old stuff a thousand percent. That's how I feel about Star Trek, honestly
11:49
It's like, we could do a whole episode just on that. Yeah, it's like, it's very difficult
11:54
You just have the ball rolling was. Sorry, it's just, it's very difficult to remake the magic
11:59
And when you have something that's truly special, The cast is right
12:03
The crew is right. The writers are good. And then you try to recreate that
12:07
It's very hard to do. So the one thing I wanted to mention before we wrap up here because we've been going for six and a half hours at this point is I mentioned ILM
12:15
industrial light and magic. I mean, talk about a cool business name, man. Like that's like one of the coolest ever
12:20
Based on the wall, by the way, where I am. What's that? Oh, they are? They're based in my hometown from Montreal
12:24
Oh, I didn't know that. I thought that they were based in San Francisco. They are now
12:29
That's Lucas film, I guess. here in Montreal. I did not know that
12:33
Wow. I mean, when you look at how prevalent they are even now
12:37
across all of cinema and shows and stuff, they're so ubiquitous. And their work is so much better than I feel like anyone else's
12:47
I saw this documentary on Star Trek I think five the Final Frontier And the guy was talking about the special effects and how they weren great And he was like the reason they weren as great as they were in previous Star Trek is because ILM was working on a different project
13:04
So they couldn't get them to work on this specific movie. And it shows because the special effects are in as good
13:11
And when you see, when you see like CGI and stuff with ILM quality and then you see other CGI, you really notice a difference
13:20
and there's been a leap in advancement with like CGI. I don't know if you guys watched The Mandalorian
13:31
or you watched the Boba Fett shows on Disney Plus. I won't spoil anything here
13:37
But there were some CGI scenes that looked really bad in The Mandalorian
13:45
And they were cool because it was like a nostalgic moment, but they still didn't look great
13:48
and then in the book of Boba Fett, the news show, they had a similar scene
13:53
and it was like, it was like one of the most incredible CGI scenes I'd ever seen
13:57
And I looked into it, there was this guy on YouTube that was really adept at deep fake technology
14:04
So he would take pictures, movies, and recreate, uh, CGI based on the way those people looked in the past in films and pictures and stuff
14:15
And he was so good that there was a rumor that, industrial light and magic hired him
14:20
and turns out that's actually the case and I don't know what this guy did for them
14:25
but he there were some some reprisals some character reprisals in some of these shows
14:30
and the difference in quality was staggering like it looked like a real person was there
14:36
even though it was completely CGI like do you remember like when they when they showed like young scenes of Princess Leia
14:41
and like the old Star Wars movies and they kind of looked fake it was like that except it looked like her
14:46
it looked like the young version of her It was incredible. I kept churning my wife
14:50
I'm like, do you see how amazing this is? Like, this is the most, this is the
14:54
like the biggest leap in CGI investment that I have ever probably noticed in my lifetime
14:59
And it was all because this YouTuber was really adept at CGI using deep fake technology
15:04
which I don't know if you ever follow any like deep fake channels, but they use a machine
15:09
I was just watching something. You were, yeah. I mean, it's actually really scary what they're able to do now
15:13
because they can create videos that look so real, but they're completely fake
15:17
and they'll have like politicians and like famous people saying things that they didn't actually ever say
15:22
And it's all just deep fake technology. It's actually really, really spooky. But anyway
15:27
I think we should go ahead. That's the fact that using deep fake to recreate old
15:33
like bring back old classics, I would love to see them redo Tron with that
15:38
Because when I saw their, their updated CGI version of Flynn, because I grew up
15:43
Tron was a childhood movie for me. That was a monumental movie when I was a kid
15:47
I knew those characters well. And then you see Flynn's face and he goes
15:52
I love it to you, son. And I went, oh, God, no, why? I know so bad
15:56
It ruined a movie for me. And for that, every single time you'd see him on screen
16:00
it's in a guy, oh, man, really? It's so bad. It's just like, it's just like cutting pasting a plastic face
16:07
It looked like he had too much plastic surgery or something like that. It was perfect. I was just what you were talking about it
16:12
I was watching all the Bill Hater videos where he's doing impressions, Tom Cruise and
16:16
Yeah, yeah, I saw those. It blended in smoothly. Yeah. Wow. Yeah
16:22
That's so convincing. Yeah. I should send you some of this guy's videos, Adam, so you could check it out
16:27
As an artist, you might appreciate these. Oh, yeah. Because I mean, I mean, the artistry that has to go into this, except he's using, you know, machine learning to rebuild these scenes
16:36
Yeah. Using a computer generated face drawn from AI technology. It's like really, it's really amazing
16:43
And I think this is going to be the future. And Disney Plus, and I, I'll am. I mean, they're going to be
16:48
way ahead of everyone else now. I mean, they were already far ahead. But now, they're able to
16:52
recreate, like, the young faces of old actors and make them look like they're actually there acting
16:58
It's really incredible
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