One of the best TV shows streaming right now is From, which you’ll find on a little-known streaming service called MGM+, formerly Epix.
Amazon acquired MGM in 2022 in a massive $8.5 billion deal, bringing franchises like Rocky/Creed, James Bond, The Handmaid’s Tale and more into the Amazon fold. Original shows like From and Godfather of Harlem can be found on MGM+, along with a bunch of really great movies, from True Lies to Fight Club to Top Gun: Maverick.
There are other original shows on MGM+ that I’ve never heard of but that I now want to watch after browsing the service (I subscribed to watch From but now that I’m here, I may as well take advantage.)
Rogue Heroes is a WWII drama from the creator of Peaky Blinders about the creation of the Special Forces unit (SAS) based on the book by Ben Macintyre. Oddly, this has been on my “to-read” list and I didn’t even know there was a show! Now I have to decide whether to read or watch first. (Oh for four or eight more hours in a day!)
Britannia came out back when this was Epix and not MGM+ and tells the story of the Roman invasion of Britannia in 43AD which sounds right up my alley—but it’s been buried on Epix and MGM+ all these years, so it’s flown directly under my radar.
Chapelwaite, about a creepy town in Maine in the 1850s, looks scary and fascinating. Never heard of it. Historical Roman drama, Domina, about Augustus Caesar’s third wife, Livia Drusilla, looks like a rather lavish production. It aired in 2021. I never caught wind of it. Same with the Brendan Fraser spy thriller Condor or the British spy thriller A Spy Among Friends, both of which have high scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
I’ve heard of Godfather Of Harlem but still haven’t watched it. It’s supposed to be excellent. Forest Whitaker at the top of his game. I’ll watch it now with my MGM+ subscription—but I will cancel that subscription the moment From is over and I’ve caught up on all this stuff. And far, far fewer people will watch any of these shows than they would if all of them were part of the larger, more popular streaming service Amazon Prime Video.
This seems like the obvious answer to the MGM+ obscurity problem which is part of a larger issue: There isn’t necessarily too much content, but it’s all spread out over too many competing streaming services. Consumers can’t keep up both because it’s too expensive to subscribe to so many services, and because it’s hard to keep up with so many different shows when they’re spread so thin. You see what’s being put in front of you on the streaming services you subscribe to and little else. We can only take in so much.
I don’t want Netflix to be the only game in town, but that doesn’t mean we need Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, MGM+, Apple TV+, etc. etc. etc.
What I predict is that soon the losers will start dropping, and big decisions about how content is going to be delivered in the future will have to be made. The reality is simple. Everyone can have a piece of the streaming pie, but not everyone can maintain a profitable streaming service.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2023/05/08/amazon-should-bring-from-and-the-rest-of-mgm-to-prime-video-asap/