Today, if you want to watch one of the new or recent movies streaming, all you have to do is go to one of the best platforms (or use an Amazon subscription for those VOD titles) and press play. It’s simple, easy, and the best way to watch a movie at home. However, as many of us who grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s know, watching movies from home on pay-per-view could be a long, drawn-out process that could result in you missing a chunk of a movie (or having an ending spoiled) if you weren’t careful.

I’m not trying to sound like an old man yelling about “walking 15 miles uphill in the snow to get to and from school,” but Gen Z will never understand the struggle of trying to order PPV movies back in the day. With nostalgia being in high demand these days, I think now is the perfect time to look back on that arduous process that many of us followed when we didn’t feel like driving to Blockbuster on a Friday night.

Annette Benning in The American President

(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

Back In The Day, You Had To Call The Cable Company To Order Pay-Per-View Movies

so many wild wrestling moments happened then) when I was a kid, I called my dad to get the rundown for the two times I distinctly remember renting a movie from our cable company. He told me that he would have to call the cable company, punch in the code for the movie (I distinctly remember him ordering great U.S. President movies like The American President and Air Force One), and then hope that everything was in order before it started.

big twist ending, you either let the world burn around you or miss a part of whichever of the best ‘90s movies you rented.

People would often record stuff with the VCR, even though the FBI warning before each movie explicitly told you not to, but I don’t remember ever syncing up a VHS tape to save a film for future use.

Again, I don’t want to sound like I’m taking a shot at Gen Z because they have some things easier today, but it’s just wild how much watching movies at home has changed over the past 30-plus years. I mean, you don’t see “feature presentation” intros like this anymore.

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