The Beast (TV Series) on Netflix

Today's venture was watching the premiere of "The Beast", a drama about harder-than-nails FBI undercover agents. The older lead agent is played by Patrick Swayze and the younger, newly-assigned protege and partner is Travis Fimmel.

If the first episode is anything to judge by, this series will depict a dog-eat-dog environment where undercover officers have to play their cards very close to the chest and protect their own and where the bad guys will go to any lengths to get them.

In order to get the job done, they'll also have to play fast and loose with their own safety and the rules. But in the end, it will be about getting the job done.

I think I'll like this series - there is tension, their is a form of controlled chaos, and their are some machiavellian manouvers. This show's leads try to show that undercover officers have to be able to concoct a story and play to it, no matter the stresses or situation - improvising as necessary.

Patrick's premature demise in 2009 ended the series early, but if the remainder of the season follows on with the level of dramatic excitement of the premiere, one could easily say it was a decent final gig for the old pro. Unlike many of his nice guy roles, this is him at his mean, gritty best, with retained elements of the tough guy and the thinker from other roles.

I'm imagining this series would cost $30 or more on DVD and I'm watching it for free. Even if I was paying $8, it still seems like good value. The more I look at what Netflix offers, the more I understand the fear that is motivating Bell, Telus, Shaw, Rogers, etc. to want to see Netflix subjected to Can-Con rules and so on.

I think that would be one of the more tragically stupid steps if the CRTC follows it. It would seriously begin to change my mind away from supporting the CRTC's existence.

The CRTC should be about enhancing competition, enhancing consumer choice, protecting consumers from predatory oligopolies and from predatory pricing. It should be about pushing Canadian TV, radio and internet technology forward and opening up new and disruptive avenues that lead to new industries and shake up the pricing structures of the old.

Netflix is definitely disruptive and the oligopoly players of conventional TV should be scared. They've been living high off the fatted calf with the collusion of the government for some time now. Netflix and Vudu from Walmart when it gets here will be tearing up the marketplace with a new assignment of valuation and with a new value proposition declaring that cheap, available content is the route to everyone making money.

I think they ought to have a boatload of consumers. And the closed-subscription systems that will drive Showtime and other major TV players with such 'flagship' shows as Twilight (ha, ha ,ha!) are doomed to crumble. Their idea of a value proposition won't stand up i the face of $8 for all you can watch combined with bitTorrent of the things people want to keep from being under that regime.

People will pay $8 a month to Netflix for their wide service offering. They'll watch a bit of news and weather on the net and they'll watch movies and series on Netflix.

Eventually the oligopolies of the TV world in Canada will either get it, realize their business model and margins have to change, or they'll go extinct like the MPAA and RIAA appear to be working hard at.

TV and movies are no longer worth $60-80 a month. That ship has sailed. On Netflix, you can watch what you want, when you want. That beats the heck out of even time shifting.

Anyone who hasn't tried it out should give Netflix' 30 day free trial a test drive. Even $8 a month doesn' seem like a lot for what is on offer and the more subscribers the get, the better they can balance off the oligopoly tactics of Bell, Shaw, Telus and Rogers. That alone makes $8 a month worth spending IMO.

Check it out! And check out the beast, if you like gritty undercover law enforcement stories.