4 Roku-driven cures for "there's nothing on"

Even with literally millions of options, there are days when browsing through lists of movies and TV shows just doesn't do it.  That lethargy doesn't have to be, however, if you're maximizing the features on your streaming device.

I have two Rokus -- a 2 and a 3 -- and both have kept me quite happy.  I've been cable-free for more than four years, and life is good.  Now that additional channels are available through standalone subscriptions such as HBONow and CBS All Access, as well as the plethora of add-ons (Showtime, STARZ, etc.) that can be tacked onto an Amazon Prime subscription, we not only have access to more titles, but we have more control over them, as well. So when you want to sit down and watch something that really interests you, don't settle for whatever glides through the screen.  Try one of these techniques that may be eluding you:

1.  Keep a pen-and-paper wish list

Sometimes there's no substitute for simple and low-tech, so don't let your watchlist be the only resource to finding something you're interested in. Again, it may lead you to settle for the things that are promoted and more easily accessible.  Writing down titles where you can get to them regardless of what's available can be faster than "following" them on your Roku or adding them to each channel's queue.  Then use Roku search to see where it's available. That's the search option from your Roku home screen, that searches everything they have, including free, rentable and purchase options.  It'll save you a lot of time, and it's surprising how many times things will come up that are already available on one of your channels, but that haven't shown up in the category rows.  This happened recently with "History Boys", which is available through Amazon's STARZ add-on, but which hadn't appeared in any browsing.  Score!

2.  Rent and save

Especially on Amazon, some movies will be offered in unannounced "flash sales" for as low as $.99. This is a great reason to add newly released or hard-to-find movies to your watchlist, even if you're not interested in paying premium rental or purchase prices.  Go to your watchlist occasionally and click on a movie.  Then use the left and right buttons on your clickwheel to scroll through the movie display pages, one by one.  I've found truly great deals on rentals and even purchases that have been quietly discounted, and grabbed them in the moment.  Then when I'm really ready to give the film my undivided attention, I have one or two things in reserve, on the cheap.  Keeping an eye out is especially useful now that Amazon, for instance, has eliminated their "Special Deals" row, which was never all that special, but at least offered some guidance.  Now we're on our own!

Saving a rental:  This is a trick that surprisingly few people know about. With some channels (notably Amazon and VUDU), once you enter your PIN and rent a title, you don't have to watch it right away: just be sure to click "Watch Later" after you purchase.  Don't start watching until you're ready.  You'll have 30 days to start your rental, and you can put it on hold for those nights when you want to watch something you're really excited about.  Once you start watching, then the rental clock starts ticking.  Individual policies may vary about multi-day rentals, so if you have a 7-day rental and want to make full use of it, be sure to start watching it at least 23 days after you set it up, as the rental period might not exceed the 30-day window.  Check your terms of service or contact the channel's customer service reps if you're not sure of their approach: one timeline probably takes precedence over the over.

3.  Play "Similarity Roulette"

Those "Customers Also Watched" and "You Might Also Like" lists can actually be extraordinarily useful, revealing titles you may never find otherwise.  Amazon tends to have one row reserved for this, based on the last title you watched.  But you can also access these recommendations from most title pages: click on a title that you already like, then click down to "Trailer, IMDb & More..." (that verbiage may vary if no trailer is available, for instance). Most channels have options like this, but they'll go by different names:  be sure to look around and see what kind of recommendations and guidance they have available.

4.  Try the opposite category

If you like comedies, and don't see anything you're interested in in the row of comedy titles displayed "for your convenience" on your channel, remember that these groupings are created largely to sell specific titles, and there are likely many, many more in their library at any given time. Moreover, streaming librarians are sometimes laughably misguided about the nature of many of their titles, and films are often tagged for either multiple categories or are just plain mismarked, resulting in misfiles that can leave you scratching your head or even laughing out loud.  Many films boast cross-genre complexity and legitimately fall into more than one category, but many a gem has been found in some nether corner of the streaming universe for reasons truly unknown, and it's often worth a little click adventure to find things that should live elsewhere.

Today, for instance, Amazon's STARZ interface shows 87 titles in the "Comedy Movies" row, including a John Wayne classic and the iconic urban offering Boyz n' the Hood, both of which stand out like sore digits next to the likes of The Wedding Ringer and The Spy Who Shagged Me. Similarly, "Western Movies" boasts The Ghost and the Darkness, the Val Kilmer/Michael Keaton film about a Brit going to Africa in the late 19th century. "Drama Movies" includes '90s teen formula Drive Me Crazy, frothy romcom Never Been Kissed and 2010 baseball romp Fever Pitch (all three of which are limited to drama of the angsty variety), as well as Emma Roberts' more recent Wild Child, which sports a description that wraps up thusly:  "No cell phones, no designer clothes...no way!".  This list somehow also includes Beethoven, aka in my house as "Charles Grodin vs. the Pooch", and all of these examples prove that the companies offering streaming titles need to both screen and monitor their probably desperately underpaid data entry folks more carefully.  Seriously, folks.

Side note 

If you haven't seen the 1997 Colin Firth Fever Pitch that the Farrellys remade, it's a treasure: all around a better, more subtle, film, and more faithful to the Nick Hornby novel it adapts.  Same name, and proof that sometimes we should just leave the Brits well enough alone.  See also Chris Rock's unnecessary remake of the nearly perfect 2007 Death at a Funeral. Click on the images to the right to check out the DVDs of both originals.  (I may eventually rant on this topic in another post. You've been warned.)

The Lesson

Don't trust the categories, and be sure to use the search tools beyond the readily-accessible browsing setup.  Most people are fairly lazy (at least in their entertainment decision-making), and streaming companies are counting on that.  You can miss out on great stuff, and no one should be hampered by the sales agendas of our streaming companies' distribution agreements.  Put your tech to work, do your own searching, and be your own boss.  There's always good stuff out there, no matter what you're into.