Why are TV Shows so counterintuitive and horrendous to navigate through on AppleTV??

[MasturB]

Apple's usually pretty good about user interface and user experience. However, If you bought a TV series complete, and you try to watch it in iTunes TV Shows app, you can't navigate the episodes by season. There's a "Seasons" option but it lists individual seasons that you have to purchase even though you already have those episodes from the complete series!!
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As you can see here, it's not organized into separate seasons. I have to go left to right from E1S1 all the way...

I noticed there is a little workaround that's a bit inconvenient.
If you go to the TV App, and you "Continue Watching" the episode from that show, and you click the Menu button there is a "More Episodes" option in the window that pops up.

And from there it does divvy all the episodes up into their respective seasons, so I don't have to navigate all the way left to right.

If you are just watching the episode from the TV App/Library or the iTunes TV Shows App, and you press menu, there is not a "More Episodes" button.

 

[-Gonzo-]

The easiest option is to use the Siri remote and ask for said TV Show (or via manual search in the TV App).
Select that TV show, scroll down one and the Season selection is there.

 

[kohlson]

I agree with the OP. We have an AppleTV 4K and it has not made watching TV easier. Seems like there is some variability on the part of the "apps makers" like Netflix and HBO. But [snark] now I know where all the iTunes UX people went.[/snark]
All these years of development, and this is what we have? And for us, Siri is not an option.

 

[vinegarshots]

AppleTV from a UI standpoint is horrendous unless you're using standalone apps from the home screen. Anything else is basically the worst of the worst for a lot of reasons. Want to watch AppleTV+? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you manage to find it. Want to watch a "channel" that you've subscribed to? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you find the row that has your channels in it. The organization is counter-intuitive, messy, and a miserable experience.

 

[MasturB]

The easiest option is to use the Siri remote and ask for said TV Show (or via manual search in the TV App).
Select that TV show, scroll down one and the Season selection is there.

Thanks for this.

Maybe one day, I can just go to the TV Shows App (which I prefer over the TV App Library), select Scooby Doo Where Are You, and all 3 seasons are divvied up so I don't have to do a workaround. lol. The dream.
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I agree with the OP. We have an AppleTV 4K and it has not made watching TV easier. Seems like there is some variability on the part of the "apps makers" like Netflix and HBO. But [snark] now I know where all the iTunes UX people went.[/snark]
All these years of development, and this is what we have? And for us, Siri is not an option.

AppleTV from a UI standpoint is horrendous unless you're using standalone apps from the home screen. Anything else is basically the worst of the worst for a lot of reasons. Want to watch AppleTV+? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you manage to find it. Want to watch a "channel" that you've subscribed to? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you find the row that has your channels in it. The organization is counter-intuitive, messy, and a miserable experience.

I feel like, even worse is you can't customize your Movie Library. There are movies that are clearly in the wrong categories. Or their names screw up the listings in order when you browse.

For example, all 7 harry potter movies when I browse go from 2,7A,7B, 4,6,5,3,1. That's because it goes by Harry Potter and the first letter of the name alphabetically (Chambers, Deathly Hallows 1/2, Goblet, Half-BLood, Order, Prisoner, Sorcerers).

The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is not listed next to the other 4 Jurassic Films in order because The Lost World is first in the title. So in the library it's alphabetized with other movies that start with L, not J.

 

[CraigB1960]

I agree with the OP. We have an AppleTV 4K and it has not made watching TV easier. Seems like there is some variability on the part of the "apps makers" like Netflix and HBO. But [snark] now I know where all the iTunes UX people went.[/snark]
All these years of development, and this is what we have? And for us, Siri is not an option.

I agree, I have found it a horrible experience on the user interface.

 

[mallbritton]

I feel like, even worse is you can't customize your Movie Library. There are movies that are clearly in the wrong categories. Or their names screw up the listings in order when you browse.

For example, all 7 harry potter movies when I browse go from 2,7A,7B, 4,6,5,3,1. That's because it goes by Harry Potter and the first letter of the name alphabetically (Chambers, Deathly Hallows 1/2, Goblet, Half-BLood, Order, Prisoner, Sorcerers).

The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is not listed next to the other 4 Jurassic Films in order because The Lost World is first in the title. So in the library it's alphabetized with other movies that start with L, not J.

I've been complaining about this, and sending feedback to Apple about being able to edit the metadata in our cloud-based video libraries, just as we can with our Music, for years now. Crickets. I absolutely HATE the way my library is displayed in both the TV and Movies/TV Shows apps.

 

[BJMRamage]

I was really HOPING apple would have fixed all these issues with tvOS13....then I thought when AppleTV goes live Nov 1 and they update the tvOS...this would all be corrected....but nope. and it sucks

I wish (besides the above) Apple would have a NEXT UP, and AutoPlay the Next episode easier than going back out. I wish they had a SKIP Intro like Netflix. it may be 'nice' to have Amazon's pop-up info but just fix a few things first.


oh, and besides the buggy non-ordered Movie Series...I hate that some movies (even in the same series) are in different Genres.

 

[Diatribe]

appleTV is still treated like the ugly stepchild of apple products. The interface is horrendous. Looking for what to watch in my movie collection is tedious and genre sorting just does not cut it especially if everything just gets dumped into two categories mostly.
Even switching users isn’t intuitive. I wish they had some competent people working on this but it seems like the same people who work on news+...

 

[Ruggy]

I agree it's annoying and a bit of a mess.

If you've ever written anything like an instruction manual, you'll know that to make it really simple takes a lot of time and a lot of feedback.
It's quite easy to just write a list of instructions but to refine it into something really good and logical, can take many many hours.
Writing a well crafted letter or speech is the same and may be something more people might be familiar with.
I think you have your answer there: they just don't put as much time into these things as they used to.

It's the same reason updates go public with bugs in them more often than the used to.

 

[kohlson]

We switched to YouTube TV over the weekend. The learning curve was about 10 minutes. It is a breath of fresh air. The comparison to AppleTV is stark.
Keep in mind we are full invested in the Apple ecosystem - we have at least one of everything. Not a single Android and only 1 PC (work) that visits occasionally. We've had a Tivo for 20 years.

 

[mark34]

Apps work well, but the TV app is not great. You are right about YouTubeTV being excellent, but I don't understand what you mean by the comparison to AppleTV being stark. YouTubeTV is a service of live and "recorded" stuff you can use really effectively ON AppleTV (among other devices). It is one of the reasons I love using the AppleTV for all of my viewing. I just use Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Apple+, etc as apps on AppleTV and completely ignore the TV app. I do watch some AppleTV+ shows, but that's the only time I click on the TV app. It's unnecessary.

 

[seanrt]

AppleTV from a UI standpoint is horrendous unless you're using standalone apps from the home screen. Anything else is basically the worst of the worst for a lot of reasons. Want to watch AppleTV+? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you manage to find it. Want to watch a "channel" that you've subscribed to? Scroll down through a random list of shows and networks until you find the row that has your channels in it. The organization is counter-intuitive, messy, and a miserable experience.

Agreed. It's extremely painful to navigate and enjoy.