Millions by mail order

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Count the fiancee and I among the approximately 10 million people that use the online-mail delivery service Netflix to provided us with DVDs for our viewing pleasure.

Because of our work schedules, Amber and I don’t get to spend that much time together simply watching television. When we do, it can lead to conflict. She gets sick of watching sports, especially on football weekends when the college and professional ranks can be on the screen for a combined 20 hours or so. From my perspective, I’d rather watch paint dry, or even the Chicago Cubs play baseball, than Grey’s Anatomy or Oprah.

Our middle ground is the cinema. We’re not the biggest movie buffs on the planet, but we do enjoy taking in a flick together. The problem, again, is our contrasting tastes. It is rather difficult to find a title we’re both really interested in seeing. I prefer comedies and action thrillers, and Amber goes for so-called chick flicks as well as scary movies.

Especially given that we’re both so choosy, we don’t often have easy access to something we’re both interested in. Our basic cable, when it’s actually working properly, offers none of the premium channels like HBO and Showtime that feature movies around the clock. Sure, we have stations like TBS that traditionally offer a reasonable menu of films, but they’re too busy lately hawking their not-so-Very Funny comedy to be counted on for something worth watching.

When there’s nothing on the tube, most people have the option of popping in one of their own DVDs, Blu-ray Discs or VHS tapes. The same applies to Amber and I, except our DVD collection is more underwhelming than the Cubs lineup. It’s so paltry that, upon moving into a new house that’s about a block away from my place, my brother Greg came over planning to borrow a DVD since his satellite dish wasn’t installed yet, and he instead declined when he saw what I had to offer.

We’d relied on traditional movie stores more heavily than most, but those businesses have always had trouble staying afloat in Seneca. The Casey’s General Store in town started renting out DVDs, which was nice for the month or so that it took for us to run through all the ones we had any desire to view.

Then along came Redbox, which is to movies what an automated teller machine is to cash. Put in $1 — that’s right, one stinkin’ dollar — and the Redbox spits out a DVD that’s yours for the night. It got even better when Redbox, which at first had locations only in Morris that were accessible to us, came to Seneca.

But before long, we ran into another problem with selection. The number of DVDs in a Redbox, or at least the one located in our backyard, is rather limited. When you factor in that many of the choice titles are rented pretty early each day, you’re picking between Paul Blart: Mall Cop and the 14th sequel to Butterfly Effect if you don’t plan ahead.

Amber and I don’t plan, which is why we’re turning to Netflix as the latest potential place to fill our entertainment void. Its premise is simple: we send them money and they send us movies on a monthly basis from their collection of 100,000 titles. Even Amber and I should find plenty to agree on from that base ... for at least a couple of months.

Mark Johnson is a sports writer for the Morris Daily Herald. He can be reached at (815) 942-3221 x 2027 or by e-mail at mjohnson@morrisdailyherald.com

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