Advice you trust... where do you go?

HALLIE EPHRON: I am so out of touch with television and movies these days. Too many choices, too many streams that I don’t subscribe to and don’t want to pay for. Too much of a good thing? 

It’s like going into a department store (remember NYC Macy’s?) with SO MANY floors and departments that you feel like running for the EXIT.

So I’m very grateful that here in Boston we have a wonderful television reviewer – Matthew Gilbert for the Boston Globe. I can usually trust his recommendations – if he likes something, I’ll usually like it too. Though I cannot imagine how he keeps up with it all.

My other go-to place for recommendations–like when I need to buy a mouse trap or a cell phone charging cord or breakfast sausage – is the Wirecutter feature of the New York Times. Saves me so much time–they’ve done all the testing. I subscribe to the New York Times anyway, and it’s only a small amount more.

Are there reviewers or columns you rely on to help you make your reading or watching or purchasing decisions?

HANK PHILLLIPPI RYAN: I love Matthew Gilbert, Hallie ,and I am in awe of his television watching. Yikes. I read what he says very carefully, and usually agree. Usually.. (Speaking of, and fyi, I HIGHLY recommend The Night Agent! Based on a Matthew Quirk novel, and I adore him, and this is a compelling FBI CIA DC story. We are loving it.)

And hmm. Thinking of it, we came upon it via “shopping” the “trending” videos on whatever platform it is. (I think we all have a pretty infallible blink reflex where we can tell if it’s good after watching about ten seconds.)

And–I get so much from right here on Jungle Red! What kind of immersion blender, for instance, and what movies, and what books. YOU all are my go to.

I do like Wirecutter–those kinds of decisions are truly impossible, and I love when someone says, well, you want the pricey one? Or the perfectly good one?

And the Facebook hive mind is also valuable..,ask a question, and the favorite will emerge. People cannot resist suggesting things, right?

RHYS BOWEN: I've long given up reading reviews of movies as I never seem to like what the reviewer likes. I have to admit when I plan to buy a product I go to Amazon and read all the negative reviews. If enough people find a fault I am warned. 

Ditto for hotels. If enough bad reviews state that the place is dirty, the staff rude I look for somewhere else!

But I have bought books based on reviews, either professional in the Times or Post or on Goodreads or here at Jungle Reds. We have a great Resource!

JENN McKINLAY: Well, I used to use Yelp for quite a lot of things but then I learned that they take payments to lift businesses up, so now they’re out. I like TripAdvisor for traveling. Usually, books and TV are word of mouth.

If someone I like (such as the Reds and our Readers) recommends something, it usually proves out. I have become very suspicious of pop up ads, however. If I tell the Hub we need a new toaster and then my online world is full of ads for toasters, I refuse to buy any of them on principle.

If I want to buy your product, I’ll come to you. Sheesh!

LUCY BURDETTE: Me too on Wirecutter! They review the most interesting items so I have to hold myself back from buying things I don’t need.

I do look on Amazon, but only use that as one source of info. Sometimes I’ve fallen into their “if you liked this, you’ll like that” rabbit hole and found they weren’t correct at all!

I do love the Red readers advice and after a while, can figure out who has my taste and who doesn’t:).

For pet-friendly hotels, BringFido.com is a good resource!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Count me in among the fans of Wirecutter (which, btw, you can access on the web without a NYT subscription.) I also subscribe to Consumer Reports - yes, they are still around and still number one for telling you the most reliable and best-performing car/ dishwasher/ router/ baby carrier. At $30-something per year, it’s well worth the price.

Amazon, for all it’s faults, used to be a great way to find things that many people genuinely loved, but it’s become SO much more difficult to find the actual “best reviewed” items among the ads-that-don’t-look-like-ads and artificially-boosted results. The Washington Post had a whole article about it. Now, I don’t even look there until I already know what I want to buy.

And for movies - I love Roger Ebert Reviews. No, the sorely missed Roger Ebert himself is no longer writing (although if you’re considering an older movie you stumbled across on Netflix of HBO, all his old reviews are still there!) The new reviewers working there jibe well with my tastes - they judge fun popcorn flicks on their merits, but also have thoughtful reviews of more ambitious cinema.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes to Trip Advisor for travel reviews, no to Yelp, ugh. 

For movie and TV reviews I read the Times and the Post and there seem to be about half a million other suggestions that filter in. I love when we have books/movies/TV suggestion days here on the blog because I always learn about things that sound interesting. 

I read Bon Appetit reviews for food and cooking related reviews, and I do read Amazon reviews for products, although I tend to take them with a handful of salt. Sometimes I'll buy a book just because someone's horribly negative review annoys me–call me contrary.

HALLIE: Where do you go for trustworthy recommendations, and where have you been burned?