August 11, 2011
Time for another round of “what the heck is Netflix thinking?” This is the game show where we try to find the often incomprehensible links between movie suggestions that Netflix has for me. The prize is usually nothing more than a headache.
Let’s begin.
I certainly enjoyed Terror of Mechagodzilla, and Gojira is a logical suggestion. Problem is, this is “The Original Japanese Masterpiece” and only the recut American version of the film features Raymond Burr as reporter “Steve Martin.” He adds little to the movie but I always get a laugh when someone calls him “Steve Martin.” Halloween is stretching it a bit, but since they both fall, broadly speaking, in the horror genre I can see it. But The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? Other than Godzilla being both bad and ugly, and in later films turning good, I don’t see it. One is a Japanese Kaiju and the other is a Spaghetti Western. One stars a man in a rubber suit and one stars Clint Eastwood as The Man with No Name. Hmm. Both are genre pictures, both have famous characters in the lead. That’s it? They may as well have suggested Steamboat Willie with Mickey Mouse.
Gunsmoke because I watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Well, Gunsmoke is a western TV series, and Star Trek IV is based on a TV series that was pitched as “Wagon Train to the stars.” See how simple this is? And by “simple” I really mean “silly.”
I can see the link between The Twilight Zone and Back to the Future, but what do those have in common with Cheers? Broadly speaking, Cheers and Twilight Zone are both TV shows, but that would be like suggesting Sex and the City to a fan of Leave it to Beaver (if you could find one.) And Rocky? Rocky is set in Philadelphia, Cheers is set in Boston, both are historic East Coast cities. Why wouldn’t Rocky fans love Cheers? They have so much else in common, right? Right? But Back to the Future and Cheers? Bif Tannen is as dumb as Woody Boyd. Hey, that’s the best I can do.
So what’s the link between The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them!, Gunsmoke, and The Odd Couple? Before you scream “absolutely nothing,” notice they were all suggested because I enjoyed Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry and Gunsmoke I can see, and Harry himself, Clint Eastwood, had a bit part in the Creature sequel flick, Revenge of the Creature. As for Them, all I can say is that they shoot a lot guns at the ants. But The Odd Couple? The best I can do is that one of their poker buddies is a cop named Murray and Dirty Harry is a cop. And honestly, I’m feeling pretty good that I came up with anything, even something as tiny and meaningless as that.
Eventually I’ll be back with another round of “what the heck is Netflix thinking?” Hopefully by then I’ll have a printable answer for this:
For more Netflix oddness, check out
I’ve Been Netflixed!
They’ve Netflixed Me Again!
The Tepid Zombie: What Am Netflix Thinking?
Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride 
It’s like ” Six Degrees of Separation “. Strange, ephemeral connections ( Studio affiliation, director ( s ), producer ( s ) actors, actor’s celebrity relatives, past films that the actor or his friends & relatives have starred in, other esoteric factors like signs of the zodiac that the stars were born under. ).
It’s an IMPONDERABLE. 😉
LikeLike
What’s Imponderable to me about Netflix is why so many things are not streaming. For example, On a certain Columbo set, about a third of the episodees are not available. I don’t get it. they are all on the same set. Sometimes not even all the episodes on the same disc are available.
LikeLike
I’ve got the Pilot for the 1980’s remake of ” Buck Rogers In the 25th Century ” in streaming format. I find it hard to watch streaming videos online that are more than 15 – 30 minutes long, because there are too many other interruptions, & the computer can lock up ( Mine does ) if too much stuff gets in the buffer.
Hulu has some interesting documentary – style programs, etc., but you can only get some on Hulu Plus ( Like season 1,2 or 3 ( ? ) ” Warehouse 13 ” & ” Eureka “, earlier seasons of ” Sanctuary “, etc. ) I would love to get some eps. of Babylon 5 via Netflix.
LikeLike
haha i wonder about that too! i mean i did try to rate 100 movies and songs just to get my suggestions matched to my liking as much as possible but i still get lousy recommendations. but then again, sometimes i’m happy about their suggestions too so it’s all good. thanks for posting by the way, this was quite hilarious!
LikeLike
Thank you very much! And if you are interested I added links to the first three Netflix posts at the end of this one. When I did the first one I had only rated about a couple dozen films so you’d expect poor suugestions, but now that I’ve rated over 900 they’ve gotten better but I still get weird ones, like The Rockford Files because I rated Black Adder.
LikeLike
I think Netflix needs Amazon’s algorithms. Although I must admit that I loved both Godzilla and Good, Bad, Ugly, so maybe they are on to something at a subliminal sort of level?
LikeLike
I always go back to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercial where the guys crash into each other and one says “you got chocolate on my peanut buitter!” and the other says “you got peanut butter in my chocolate!” Sometimes Netflix is like “you got motor oil on my chocolate.” Individually great but make no sense together.
LikeLike
I’m not sure what to make of Netflix…
LikeLike