With apologies to those who love crochet, there must be other options. One recent discovery is Acorn TV, a streaming media app that caters to a specific audience. You like British dramas and mysteries, and that’s about it. You are not interested in science fiction, sports, or even situation comedies, news, or movies. Your favorite type of show is probably something along the lines of Death in Paradise, a murder mystery show. Read on to find out how it all checks out. That said, with around 320 shows in total, it’s not a great value. Netflix has several thousand shows and movies and, for the streaming-only plan, costs about twice as much. As you’ll see, the only real reason to consider Acorn TV is if you like British shows. In terms of value, Acorn TV provides a boatload of new shows to wile away the time during the pandemic, many of them quite compelling. My favorite show on the streaming media app is called The Nest. I was hooked right away. I’m a fan of twisty dramas, procedural crime shows, and mysteries myself. One thing that impresses me so much about BBC shows in general is that they don’t rely on shock and awe as much as American television. You have to pay attention, and some of the shows seem more like books come to life. The app is a bit limited in terms of how it works. There are no recommendations and suggestions. (So if you find a show you like, you can’t see similar options.) You have to dig around even for basic information like the rating and when the series debuted. It’s not a huge issue if your goal is to watch the entire season of a British drama and you know what you like, but we’re a long, long way from Netflix here. The app is also a bit behind in other ways. The resolution runs at only 720p, there are no user profiles, parental controls, or family plans. You know what you want (British dramas and mysteries), and this app plays them for you, that’s really about it. In all cases, the app worked fine, but the browser version would stutter slightly once in a while. This can be caused by many factors, some unrelated to the app itself. Usually, it’s a memory issue where the browser window stalls out a bit. Acorn TV provides a good list of compatible devices. In general, it pops up on most smartphones and tablets, streaming devices, and smart televisions. Our only strange discovery is that Google search results often don’t flag a specific show as being on Acorn TV. When you search for The Nest, for example, it lists Sling TV as the provider. One feature I did like about the Acorn TV app is how quickly you can fast forward. You don’t see any thumbnails or fancy effects. It just jumps ahead and that’s it. You won’t find anything too techie. To use the app after you install it, you have to login with your email and password. You can’t sync to an existing account on your laptop or phone as you can with almost every other streaming app we’ve tested. As I mentioned, there are no parental controls, no profiles, no TV show suggestions. You are stuck with basic features like a watch list. The interface is not that cluttered so it is easy to find the latest shows and also the ones that are coming up soon on the app. I’m also impressed by the quality of the shows, even if they are streamed in only 720p. Most of the acting is good, the plots are twisty, and the music draws you in. Here’s just one example: In the show I keep mentioning called The Nest, the main actor Sophie Rundle turns in a stellar performance, one that is equal parts jaded, confused, and yet highly emotional. She wants to have a child and goes to great lengths to find a surrogate mother. I won’t spoil the plot, but you can probably guess how that all turns out. You might not call this innovative, but it was a pleasant surprise, especially compared to some of the shows on the Quibi app I watched recently, that the acting is consistently engaging. You can hear the dialogue easily. Most of the shows are bent on hooking you into the plot so the reason to keep watching is to find out who did some dastardly deed and not because a spaceship seems to fly overhead and blast the aliens into burnt toast. It’s one of the easiest decisions to make when it comes to streaming media. If you like these types of shows, the $5.99 fee is a no-brainer. Acorn TV adds new shows on a routine basis, and the quality is good. Obviously Netflix and Hulu and many others are better apps with more shows and movies, but they also cost far more per month.
