Apple TV+ Has Great Shows — But No One Is Watching Them

The Streaming Wars are over and there is a clear winner — surprise, surprise, it's Netflix. Joining the pile of companies reconsidering this whole streaming thing is Apple TV+, which is now vowing to stop throwing so much money at shows no one watches. Apple TV+ is watched and used about as much as U2's "Songs of Innocence" was listened to when it got released on iTunes for free, with Bloomberg reporting that Apple TV+ "generates less viewing in one month than Netflix does in one day." 

When every studio and company began launching its own streaming service, there was an outcry over the return of cable but worse, which is something no one liked and is the reason so many of us flooded to Netflix in the first place. However, the overabundance of streamers also came with the opportunity for variety and specialization. Just as Hulu had long been the streamer platform for TV lovers and Shudder appeals to horror fans, it was feasible that each individual streamer could actually offer something different. Of course, that didn't happen.

Instead, HBO Max (now just Max), Peacock, Paramount+, and Disney+ mostly rely on audiences liking their individual studio's library more than anything. And when it comes to original titles, other than known IP, there isn't really much about any single streaming-first title that instantly suggests a house style distinct from any one streamer — except for Netflix having a bland visual style. The lone exception is Apple TV+, a rare streamer that has a consistent output of great TV shows and movies, and the home of the best sci-fi shows on TV right now.

Science fiction is where Apple TV+ truly shines. Sure, Disney+ has "Star Wars" and "Paramount+ has "Star Trek" (not to mention, Prime Video has possibly the single most expensive TV show ever in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"), but when you're watching a sci-fi show on Apple TV+, it feels like you're watching a massive blockbuster film. This has become the service's strongest selling point, with several shows of different sizes and tones.

Shows like "Foundation," "For All Mankind," and "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" consistently deliver big screen visuals, transporting audiences to entirely new worlds that look tangible and real, with stories that are epic in scope and well-written. Even relatively smaller shows like "Silo," a series with limited locations that every "Attack on Titan" fan should watch, and the more grounded sci-fi drama of "Dr. Brain" still provide something unique to the streamer. That's on top of "Severance" (itself one of Apple's biggest hits) and the streamer's post-apocalyptic adventure series "See."

In many ways, Apple TV+ feels like the early version of the Sci-Fi Channel, back when it was getting started and spent a lot of money on miniseries that felt groundbreaking in their time (including the network's "Dune" and "Children of Dune" miniseries, Spielberg's "Taken," and "Battlestar Galactica"). Just like the network managed to adapt the unadaptable with "Dune" and its two sequel books, Apple TV+ is bringing Isaac Asimov's opus, "Foundation," to life with tremendous success.

It's unsurprising in some ways. Apple has always been a company that focuses on pushing the boundaries of technology, a company that looks forward into an aspirational future, and that has carried over to its programming. And it's not stopping just yet, with adaptations of Martha Wells' "The Murderbot Diaries" and William Gibson's iconic "Neuromancer" in production, as well as a show about Rashida Jones and an emotional support robot solving crimes.

In many ways, Apple TV+ feels like the endpoint of the evolution of TV the past 30 years, a combination of the bold programming of HBO as well as the creative blank checks of early Netflix. When the streamer launched, it did so by attracting every major star you knew — to the point that Apple ran an ad campaign all about Jon Hamm being jealous that he's the only star without a series on Apple TV+.

Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott went over the streamer when they got the money to make passion projects in "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Napoleon." Stars from Oprah and Steven Spielberg to Jennifer Aniston, M. Night Shyamalan, and even Harrison Ford all managed to make their way to Apple TV+. And the quality is there, with dramas like "Pachinko" and comedies like "Ted Lasso" and "Shrinking" delivering prestige shows that feel like old-school HBO. No one may be watching TV shows on Apple TV+, but the streamer has found plenty of critical success, as it became the very first streamer to have a movie win Best Picture with "Coda" in 2022.

Part of the reason Apple can spend so much money and not care about it is that its investors care more about iPhone sales than viewership numbers. The news that it delayed production on "Foundation" season 3 to lower costs, and is spending less than before is definitely bad. But Apple is also much less likely to go broke than its competitors. Really, if there's one company that can afford to spend a fraction of its 3 trillion dollars net worth on entertainment, especially entertainment that makes us look at the future with awe and wonder, it's Apple. So, why not let it do just that?