Peacock TV

From time to time I go over my viewing habits and look at what apps I actually use. Part of the reason for that is that on my  Roku device, I have 47 apps installed. I don't use 47 apps with any regularity at all. I doubt there are a dozen that I use more than once a week. Heck, once a month, if that often.

Why do I have these apps installed? Just in case. Costs nothing to have them, and many of them cost nothing to use. I like free.

But, looking over my apps, I see that I have Peacock TV near the top of my Roku menu. I'm not really sure why it's so high on the list, since I don't use it that much.

So, why don't I use Peacock TV? Is it that I don't like the service? No, that's not it. I think the service is a good bargain at $5. But, I still don't use it.

I'm not paying for Peacock TV, so I'm not losing any money by having the app or the subscription. I'm an Xfinity Internet customer, and have an Xfinity Flex box (in the box) which give me access to Peacock TV. Only, as I said, I don't really watch Peacock TV. But why not?

Peacock TV has live TV channels, as well as lots of on-demand content from Universal. And Universal has a long history of making popular movies, so why am I not watching them?

Well, let's look at the first 10 "Featured Films" that showed up recently in the Peacock TV app.

• Field of Dreams
• The Lincoln Lawyer
• Brokeback Mountain
• Harry Potter Collection
• Fries! The Movie
• The Boss Baby: Family Business
• The Croods
• The Goonies
• Apollo 13
• Marshall

I've seen three of these movies. I own two of those three, and can watch either any time I want. So, the other seven? Only one is of any interest. The rest? Meh. Don't care.

Now, maybe I would enjoy some of those other six movies -- actually more, since I've not seen nor care to see the Harry Potter films -- but right now, I've no intention of watching a movie I'm not interested in watching.

The "Latest Episodes" of the TV Shows section showed a bunch of late night TV (no interest), game shows (no interest), soap operas (no interest), and a couple of things I've never heard of (no idea).

I did watch Debris, but I watched it on Hulu. I watched War of the Worlds on Peacock, since I've liked that story for some time. I liked the book, the 1938 radio drama, the 1953 film, and some of the 1988 TV series. So, I decided to watch the 2019 British three-part series on Peacock. I didn't like the experience.

Here's what I didn't like. When I highlight a TV show and am considering watching it, Peacock starts a bit of autoplay. I hate autoplay, and there is no way to turn it off. So, the bad user experience.

Then, after an episode plays, it autoplays the next episode. I don't want that, either, and there's no way to disable it. Again, a bad user experience.

When I go to watch TV, I don't want a bad user experience. And Peacock TV gives me that. So, I don't watch Peacock TV. And, I probably want, unless it's something I really really really want to watch and there's no other way to watch it.

Peacock TV won't become a regular part of my Streaming Life as long as they present me with an experience I don't like.