Name: Paramount Plus is a powerful nostalgia machine, but it doesn’t feel necessary yet
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Paramount Plus is a powerful nostalgia machine, but it doesn’t feel necessary yet

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The Verge logo. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. is maybe one of the best streaming services for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are looking to get nostalgic about the television of their youth. Outside of that, Paramount Plus is a bit of a head-scratcher. There certainly seems to be a bunch to choose from, but with missing seasons, incomplete film collections, and no immediate “must watch” TV or movie options, the question is still why would anyone sign up for this right now? The good thing is that ’ positives are hard to deny, but most of those positives fall on the TV side. As someone in their late 20s who grew up on a hearty breakfast of Nickelodeon shows, MTV reality series, and crime procedurals, Paramount Plus has everything I would have wanted a decade ago. Last night, I watched a bit of All That before starting up Jersey Shore again and ended the night with some Criminal Minds. A total blast! Whereas CBS All Access was restrained in its offerings, takes full advantage of Viacom’s library. Instead of having to choose from a medley of cop shows, classic television, films people may have forgotten about, and various Star Trek installments, there are classic BET and MTV shows, Comedy Central specials, and Nickelodeon collections on top of what CBS All Access already offered (like next-day episodes). Paramount Plus is peak snackable TV, comfort shows that can be tossed on before bed, in the background, or when the nostalgic urge returns. While Paramount Plus’ library is what stands out, there are issues. Full seasons of shows and installments in film franchises are missing. Rocket Power only has one season available, CSI made the first, second, and 15th seasons available, FBI only has the third season, and several seasons of All That are gone. On the film side, sequels to movies like Grease, Bad News Bears, and Charlie’s Angels are available but not the first movies. I would imagine this comes down to rights agreements (remember, ViacomCBS shows are also on Netflix, Peacock, and Hulu), but it’s something that came up for me a few times to the point it was noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Understandably, it’s a bit of a pain. But there are full seasons of shows like Drake &amp; Josh, Survivor, Criminal Minds, Cheers, Frasier, various Star Trek seasons, and hundreds of other movies to watch. Content-wise, Paramount Plus’ biggest flaw is a staggering lack of exciting original series — even the selection of originals is several rows down on the homepage. Considering so many of these series are on other streamers — I can watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and iCarly either on Paramount Plus or Netflix — it’s hard to think of anyone beyond nostalgic 20- and 30-somethings signing up to scratch an itch. And even then, how many people are rushing to rewatch Rugrats when they’re still making their way through a back catalog on Netflix?(For what it’s worth, it seems like ViacomCBS is aware of this, too, moving A Quiet Place Part II’s . This means it will debut on Paramount Plus much earlier than anticipated and hopefully bring in a batch of new subscribers.)The answer may lie in Paramount Plus’ live offerings. There are four specific live channels with the Premium ($9.99-a-month) plan: CBS local news, CBS News network (24/7), CBS Sports HQ, and ET Live. Since these are pulling feeds from live TV broadcasts, they include ads. I didn’t particularly care about using CBS Local News, CBS News, or ET Live since I can grab the majority of my news from reporters on Twitter, but Sports HQ is interesting. There isn’t any control over what game or sport you’re watching, but I found myself checking back in from time to time to see if it was anything interesting. The main problem is that it’s not a strong enough offering for sports fans who want access to every game (this is also the group of consumers who tend to hold onto their cable packages longest), and the news offering is relatively weak, too. If the idea is for a group of consumers to use Paramount Plus’ live channels as a replacement of sorts for cable — and I’m not sure that is the idea — it’s simply not enough. That’s content. But what about the actual platform itself? Like every streaming service, there are pros and cons, but I found the pros greatly outweighed the cons. Like HBO Max and Disney Plus, ViacomCBS makes it so people can browse via preferred network: BET, Nickelodeon, MTV, CBS, Comedy Central, and the Smithsonian Channel. This is key for someone like me who is primarily using Paramount Plus for Nickelodeon and MTV shows. Search tools are pretty accurate, and the subheadings within film and TV sections are plentiful. Switching from one episode to another while watching a show is pretty easy (simply scroll down and pick a new episode), and controls for rewinding or fast-forwarding are effortless. There are plenty of options for caption customization, including font, size, and background color. While a launch wouldn’t be a launch without some cons, the only big one I discovered was not being able to add a show or film to a watch list like Netflix allows.All in all, is a pretty decent streaming service for $10 a month. When I feel the desire to rewatch The Hills or Jimmy Neutron, I’m sure I’ll return to it. But in a world where it’s so easy to cancel and sign back up for a service, I don’t see any real reason to keep Paramount Plus now when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and Hulu fulfill so much of the same needs, but with new shows and films that I actively want to use the streaming services for. Maybe things will change when series become available to stream. For now, it’s a giant nostalgia machine that I’m glad exists, but I don’t feel like I need to add it to my monthly bill cycle. Most PopularDiOS 16 should let us swipe down for notifications.Antonio makes an excellent point here that completely slipped by me in the months I’ve been using the iOS 16 betas. Swiping down on the home screen is part of my muscle memory for Spotlight, but now that there’s an always present button on the home screen to launch Spotlight, the swipe down gesture could easily be repurposed for Notification Center. Or at least give us the option.With iOS 16 apple now gives you TWO different ways to do a search on your home screen (swipe down from center and tap the pill button at the bottom). This would have been the perfect chance to switch that down swipe to pull down the notification shade, which is all I want in iOS— Antonio G. Di Benedetto (@SuperAntonio64)DGoogle’s first-party Pixel 6 case proves to be junk.I immediately had the impression that Google’s official cases for the Pixel 6 were awful , but a long-term review from 9to5Google shows just how bad they can get.Here’s to hoping Google does better with the Pixel 7 cases this year.[9to5Google]Worshippers of Elon Musk have flocked to the middle of nowhere in Texas to watch SpaceX’s attempts to build a space-worthy rocket — and to find friends Revolutionizing the media with blog postsMust ReadsMust ReadsJSony’s State of Play event starts at 6PM ETYou probably shouldn’t expect an announcement on the level of Nintendo’s , but fingers are crossed for news of some kind about God of War Ragnarok in the . The show will air on&nbsp;&nbsp;and&nbsp;.AUber will pay $100 million to New Jersey for misclassifying drivers, gets to continue misclassifying them.Gizmodo reports that Uber will pay $100 million in back taxes to the state of New Jersey in response to an audit that concluded the company was misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors. But here’s the thing: Uber will pay any amount of money necessary to , because reclassifying them as employees would cause Uber to cease to exist. [Gizmodo]DVictoria Song says the new Fitbit Inspire 3 feels like a product from 2015.Where is the lie?NThe Westworld subreddit is anxious the show will be canceled before the final season.Viewership was way down this season, and the recent changes — including — don’t seem to bode well for what’s been a very expensive show. That said, this season started strong and ended with a whimper, so maybe it’s all for the best.fromJNintendo will announce a release date for the delayed Advance Wars reboot “once it has been determined,” the company told Axios.Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp, a Nintendo Switch remaster of the first two Advance Wars titles, was delayed from an April launch . It was absent from .I asked Nintendo if Advance Wars 1 + 2 has been cancelled, given the lack of news about it since it was delayed due to the invasion of Ukraine.Nintendo rep's reply: "The release has been delayed. We will announce the new date once it has been determined."— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo)AAlex Jones is on trial yet again.The InfoWars host lost a defamation case over the Sandy Hook shooting by default, and now, a Connecticut jury will decide what he should pay. It’s a near-repeat of a similar case in Texas — but without that state’s limits on financial damages. Jones’ company has filed for bankruptcy, though, setting up a fight over the money.[The New York Times]PodcastsPodcastsEThe retail revolution comes for Congress: Rep. Angie Craig found out her son was trading behind her back.“As a mom, I would be grateful if my college student son was not allowed to own or trade stocks. And as a member of Congress, I’m working to pass a law to force him to listen to his mother,” she told The New York Times.[The New York Times]AApparently Motorola built a fully functional electric Chevy Corvette prototype in the 1990s.The Drive’s Kevin Williams has made what could be one of the greatest EV archeological discoveries of a generation: a 1987 Chevy Corvette EV built by cell-phone pioneer Motorola. This raises so many questions. First and foremost, why the hell was Motorola making cars? Electric cars for that matter? And can I drive it? There’s loads of pics and fun backstory, so I recommend you go check it out. [The Drive]EElon is Elonning again.Musk is wading into the fight between Twitter and security researcher Peiter “Mudge” Zatko again, after. Good luck to whoever at his law firm has been assigned to !Anyone know who the secret clients are? Let’s out them on Twitter rn haha. — Naughtius Maximus (@elonmusk)AThe Twitter whistleblower says he’ll work with Congress on “sorely needed” laws.Peiter “Mudge” Zatko’s attorneys say they hope he offered a window into Twitter’s business operations, including details about potential national security risks, during a Senate hearing today. Lawmakers focused on the threat of foreign agents inside Twitter and proposals to reform the FTC.An attorneys' statement:&nbsp;"Mr. Zatko is hopeful that the Committee’s work today has helped educate the public about just how dire the security and privacy situation is at Twitter ... He remains ready, willing and able to be part of the legislative reform that is sorely needed." — Adi Robertson (@thedextriarchy)Most PopularMost PopularRMark Zuckerberg has very good lawyers.As a way of dragging its heels in , Meta is trying to get as much court-ordered information as it possibly can on rivals like Snapchat and TikTok.The threat here is less that Meta will discover Snapchat’s secret sauce, and more that this (and a dozen other motions) will overwhelm the FTC’s ability to properly try the case with its existing resources.[Bloomberg.com]EWaze has more torture for your return to the office.The new “pokes fun at the people we can all become at work — acronym-slinging, jargon-parroting, catchphrase machines,” and features phrases like “Make a U-turn: Or what I call ‘circling back.’” Thanks, Waze, but I think I’ll stick with my Boy Band voice directions for now.Our driving experience for the month is designed to help you drive synergy.Let’s table this discussion and see if you can figure out what it is. — waze (@waze)ASpecialized teases its new e-bike brand Globe with a poem and a cheeky logo.Earlier this year, a new sub-brand called Globe dedicated to building high-quality electric utility bikes that are designed specifically to replace car trips. We still don’t know what these bikes will look like, but today the company released its brand statement in the form of a poem, which is cute. Specialized promises it will have more to say on September 27th, so mark you calendars. MA woman is suing San Francisco after the city used DNA from her rape kit to arrest her for an unrelated crime.The police’s practice of using DNA from sexual assault victims to identify suspects in other cases came to light . At the time, legal experts said the practice likely violated California’s constitution. It’s yet another example of the posed by growing DNA databases. [CBSNews]MUbisoft’s AAA games are getting more expensive.In an interview with Axios, CEO Yves Guillemot said that “the big AAA games will come at $70,” starting with Skull and Bones. , however, is listed for $50 .[Axios]JI’m convinced Tears of the Kingdom is going to feature time travel in a big way.The for the game is the second to seemingly show Link . The game’s logo is an ouroboros. And , Nintendo says that “Link’s endless adventure begins again” on the game’s release date, May 12th. If only I could time travel to then.

The Verge logo. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. is maybe one of the best streaming services for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are looking to get nostalgic about the television of their youth. Outside of that, Paramount Plus is a bit of a head-scratcher. There certainly seems to be a bunch to choose from, but with missing seasons, incomplete film collections, and no immediate “must watch” TV or movie options, the question is still why would anyone sign up for this right now? The good thing is that ’ positives are hard to deny, but most of...

Paramount Plus is a powerful nostalgia machine, but it doesn’t feel necessary yet

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