Tweeting Is For The Birds or the end of American culture. P. T. Barnum would be so proud! Cable TV UPDATE****

UPDATE: ***** See below
    Nope. Not about politics. Not going there, not in this forum. Let's just talk pure entertainment value.
    In this time of twittering, snap chatting, facebooking, iPhoneitis and, allowing for the difficulties of getting or maintaining someone's attention while their fingers fly autonomically across keyboards streaming a flow of banalities invisibly over and throughout the web, we can all agree that for better or for worse we are all connected.
    Some of those connections are by design. We agree and encourage the link between family, friends and the services we need in order to live and contribute to society. Some connections are forced upon us by the government for the purpose of taxation and or census. Then there are the other connections that lure us by promising  24-7 entertainment with and without regard for social redeeming value.
    I am not just talking about home shopping or televangelists reaching into your home with fingers clutching. I'm talking about THE CABLE itself!
    Cable is no longer just a way to have access to hundreds of TV channels (most of which no one has the time or interest to watch) and pay services like HBO, etc. that spoon out recent movies at a pace ensuring you will only see a small portion of the films produced each year for a price on top of the cost of having that wired box you most likely don't own but pay as if you owe a loan shark.
    Some months ago I cut the cable. Yes I did the unthinkable and cut the cable. I went to streaming everything. Am I sorry...not really. Do I watch less TV? That's a different story but no I watch more. But what am I watching? I haven't seen a US network show in probably 5 months. Don't miss it. Not one bit.
    Why? Formula. Our fare is delivered in a certain way after passing through the hands of tight assed censors, nervous advertisers and kiss ass executives resulting is banal two dimensional characters and the same message over and over.  BORING.
    Netflix actually got me started wandering and wondering what else was out there. They offered brilliant shows from the other side of the pond.Dark (Germany), Casa de Papel (House of Paper) and Mar de Plastico (Ocean of Plastic) both from Spain were real eye openers. Incredible scripts, great performances and production values rivaling and possibly exceeding anything we so proudly hail as our standard.

The truth be known it really started with Hulu and The Bridge (Sweden). I was absolutely gobsmacked with the series and the lead actress who has become one of my all time favorites. I wanted more of what made this series so good. Later I discovered I had stumbled upon a genre known as Scandinavian noir. Well Katy Bar The Door! I went looking for more. I found it. The Danes and the Swedes and the Finns and the Germans and the Swiss and the French and the Italians and on and on have their take on the genre and so there is a WHOLE world of entertainment out there if you are willing to do a few things....

1. Be willing to read subtitles
2. Some casual nudity. Europeans have a relaxed attitude about nudity. Not exploitative. Possibly romantic.
3. Have the time and patience since one story might take the entire series to complete.
4. Series rotate and the next might not return for 2 years which allows changes in cast and situations.
    We are used to 24 episodes and picking up where we left off as if it was the next or the same day.
5. It isn't free but it is cheaper than cable. MHZ Choice, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix are players.
    They all have fees, You have to decide which streaming service(s) fill the bill.

I might still have to do a bit of house cleaning. I have Sling TV but haven't picked up the remote in months. Might have to consider if I am getting any value from that $20 per month.
So to sum up I am not slamming American TV. I am bored with it. I felt like I was being manipulated and held prisoner by the cable company. I made a break and wound up discovering a whole new world of writing, acting and social sensibilities as portrayed on the other side of the Atlantic.

If you are "mad as hell and...not gonna take it anymore" at the cable company take a walk on the wild side. I've got the scissors!

UPDATE:****

A few additions to my list of streaming gems. Every series features compelling stories well acted and are available on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime.

SilverSpoon Russia (4.5 out of 5) subtitles
The privileged bad boy son of an oligarch is sent to work for the police as penance by his father. Conflict, crime, romance and a look at Moscow like you have never seen.

Rita Denmark (4.5 out of 5) subtitles
Brilliant 30 minute episodes of finely crafted Dramedy. Rita is a school teacher who will break all the rules for her school and students but wouldn't be nominated for mother of the year. Her relationships with men and her three children are sorely lacking. (I saw the pilot for a US version when it was aired on Bravo in 2013 but the network passed on the series. There was no way it could capture the essence and freedom of the Danish school system, the casual use of profanity nor sexuality of the original and get past the rigidity of American censors.)

Same Sky US/Germany (4 out of 5) English
Cold war spy drama with a twist. East Germany trained handsome young men to attract, seduce and ultimately to extract secrets from their targets. The belief was after establishing what appeared to be a long term sexual relationship the women would drop their guard and be susceptible to passing  intelligence during post coital pillow talk. The series stars two of my favorite actresses (Claudia Michelsen and Sofia Helen) and it's recreation of 1960's Berlin is well executed. 4 stars since they abruptly ended the series with too many plot points left dangling and as yet have not announced a second series

MHZ Choice ($7.50 per month) streams European series that feature some of the best acting and characters at any price. They have over 2500 hours of content available to subscribers. I have spent most of my viewing hours there with Netflix a close second. Amazon hasn't been very diligent in adding new content. It seems every time I check it's always the same lineup. Hulu has a few original series and they have been quite good, but their niche appears to be streaming recent and classic network TV series.

Favorite MHZ series include:
The Undertaker (crime/dramedy) Switzerland subtitles (ST)
Montalbano (crime/dramedy) Italy (ST)
Flemming (crime/drama) Germany (ST)
Beck (crime/drama) Sweden (ST)
The Cleaner (comedy) Germany (ST)
Rising Tide  (Mystery) Sweden (ST)
Smeris (Action/comedy) Denmark (ST)
Tatort Barowski (crime/drama) Germany (ST)

There are plenty of others worthy of naming, but 8 seems like a good number and gives you the idea. There is so much more out there to watch. Using this service has been a real eye opener for me and made me realize how much we are herded and penned like cattle by the networks and those that control them. Cut the cable. Abandon the censors and come over to the dark side.