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Proving that the Netflix execs don't have the foggiest fucking idea what they're doing.
You gain viewers by engaging them - by giving them something so interesting that they can't be distracted.
If you dumb everything down, the most likely outcome is that rather than looking at their phones in addition to your show, they look at their phones instead of your show.
As long as the people are still subscribing, it doesn't matter.
Have a 19 year old that cant watch an Instagram clip to completion. Im not sure if Netflix needs to adapt or correct the behavior? Unless I'm on a flight, I never watch a movie on my phone.
I mean... have you met people? We're all collectively getting dumber by the hour. So I guess it makes sense to chase that moving target.
The other half of this proof is them being practically the only streaming service with binge/bulk releases instead of weekly. Ifs very likely this way because they're too stupid to gauge a show's success by any other metric than how much people watch in a short time.
If I'm looking at my phone it's because whatever's on the screen is not engaging my attention isn't it?
All the stuff on the phone has been designed for maximum engagement, there is no way movies or series can compete with that for people who are e.g. social media addicted.
And I am not saying that to say Netflix is right, the problem needs fixing at the root, not doctoring movies into something complementary.
I watch everything on my computer which is hooked up to a couple of TVs but it's still the same problem...or not a problem. When it gets a little non-engaging, I'll start browsing on my 2nd screen. These boring parts to me usually are the scenes that spout the most exposition. Then I just have to rewind like 50 times before I understand what they just explained.
They dumb down their shows because I'm on the phone and I'm on the phone because their shows are so dumb that I get bored.
Soon they will reinvent the radio drama, but on TV with a story board or something.
I know it's not Netflix but the last Mission Impossible movies have made the characters so bewilderingly stupid it actually makes the dumb action set pieces harder to watch.
Like, I get it, it's mission impossible it's not the height of cinema but in the past, characters were somewhat intelligent and made rational decisions based on what they knew. Like, not just Ethan and crew but the villains all seemed like they knew what they were doing, what they wanted, and it was clear why things were important.
The latest pair of movies dropped that ball so hard I just can't fathom how it made it out of the writing room.
The last two movies are pure ass. Who is the bad guy? So AI or something?? I've already forgotten it was dumb as hell.
There are dumb fun movies, and then there are just dumb movies.
The TV series, “Police Squad” was canceled because “people had to pay attention” to see/get the jokes. ☹️
Netflix had some good years, then it seemed like they were starting to get pretty inconsistent, and now it seems like they're entering their straight-up slop era.
There have been very few shows that have actually been brought to a proper conclusion instead of actually being canceled though. Maybe fewer than 10?
This has been around for a long time, before Netflix. My dad and much of his generation get lonely when the TV is off, so he leaves it on at all times on whatever, while working or watching sports. Network TV does this with predictable crime dramas and sitcoms, cables got Hallmark movies and reruns of family guy, etc. Half-tune is a popular format for pretty much most age groups.
I explicitly don't do this, but I do have podcasts for my second screen in a sense-- only I won't do them unless it's a grindy game or Minecraft or something, and usually the podcast is taking my cognitive attention. It's disruptive if it's a thoughtful activity, like scrolling social media (though I guess the fediverse is a little more engaging than slopbook or whatever).
I listen to podcasts, usually ones with minimal or no commercials.
But I can’t stand TVs being used like that. Especially when they are blasting commercials. It’s so depressing.
I 100% agree. A loud TV blasting ads all day is extremely upsetting to me, you can literally feel companies groveling and begging for your money; it’s disgusting. “Hurry in!” “These deals won’t last!” then of course the fucking low-level humor that makes you feel even more stupid. I honestly loathe being anywhere near a TV tuned into stations like that.
The enshitification of thought.
My mom stopped watching "the bold and the beautiful" for this exact reason. She was watching it from almost 40 years straight 😂
When I went to their house for lunch I could hear her shouting "what? Need to explain again the conversation from the beginning?? It literally happened just 5 minutes ago!! Noooooo! Can we just go forward with the plot instead of explaining what happened one minute ago??"
I watch one episode a month but indeed it's annoyingly repetitive. Not even "second screen" but something like "muted TV in a dentist waiting room with subtitles in another language"
This is how my mom explained me why it is annoying:
Before: ** plot twist happens ** => viewer is shocked
Now:
for 15-20 episodes before the "plot twist" is supposed to happen, characters insert "if [plot twist] happens it will be very bad for us" in their speeches.
The bad guy is shown preparing the "plot twist" for another 15-20 episodes
For another 15-20 episodes the characters still mention randomly in their conversations how bad if the plot twist would happen in their lives and let everyone swear that no, they can never let the plot twist happen.
Obvious "Plot twist" happens in slow motion over the course of 5 episodes
Characters talk about how the "plot twist" impacted their lives for 15-20 episodes
After 30-60 episodes, when characters are gathered at a family reunion on the coach, start reminiscing how the "plot twist" was so shocking and unexpected
For the next 15 episodes every single person present at that family reunion including some random security guard really needs to retell the "plot twist" from their point of view
I'm pretty sure this is why andor flew under the radar/gets mixed reviews. Even with friends who are huge Star wars nerds like me, I get 'but it's boring!' a lot, mostly because it builds up to the climax in each three-episode arc. There isn't necessarily a huge, inexplicable 'OK time for action' scene in every episode just because. To enjoy it you need to be plugged in, absorbing the dialogue and connecting the dots scene to scene to understand how the plot got to the action and why it's important, and if you do you understand the tension buildup. Otherwise it just seems like two episodes of babbling and then some stuff happens, while you're still staring at your phone. At no point do any of the characters stop and explain what's happening before or during an important scene, it's all show-don't-tell. One of my best friends is working on his PhD, super bright guy, huge Star wars nerd. Has all the baby yoda this, clone trooper helmet that. I finally understood when we were watching something on stream once and I'm like "what's that? That noise?" It was his other screen on in the background watching a Twitch stream :( now I understand he's never not had a second screen going with a stream lmao feel like I'm taking crazy pills. We might as well pipe video of that stupid railway running coin grabber mobile game directly to the cortex of every citizen atp
As I've gotten older. I have completely stopped using the phrase "To enjoy [] you need to []".
It's pointless
Anyone who needs to do it isn't going to, and everyone who is going to do it - will do it anyways.
That explains the latest season of Wednesday.
You could just treat it like a shitty audiobook. I half-expected characters to start describing their own facial expressions.
Second? Sheeyit. I'm 72 and well into third and fourth screen viewing. Mostly at work. The spreadsheets and PowerPoint crap just don't hold my fascination like the trailer park boys, Star Trek, or clash golf.
This might be why Netflix didn't click with me, because I pay attention.
They actually used to have shows with decent writing, but they cancelled them all I'm pretty sure lol
Dunno, haven't had a subscription in years. I guess Ozark is the only show I should acquire to see how they finished it. Pretty much everything else that was promising, has been finished, cancelled, or... they cast an actual knowledgeable fan of the source material as the main character, and never listened to his input because the showrunners wanted a completely different show from the books and games, and then the lead actor got replaced too. Yes I'm still salty about that.
Welk, that validation of many people's suspicions about Netflix shows. Stranger Things' last episode was particularly harrowing...
World's ending, every second counts!
*monologues for 5 min about the importance of friendship
Yep. There are many shows now where characters keep repeating what just happened. Great for ADHD GF, annoying for me when I'm actually trying to just do one thing at once.
No listen there's a secret 9th episode of Stranger Things.
Is it the same as the other 50 episodes?
I bet it is.
This style of writing predates streaming, though i'm sure it's more prevelant now.
Plenty of pre-internet shows have characters ham-fistedly repeating or summarizing the situation after ad breaks, or telling rather than showing their feelings, or telling you what's at stake.
Stupid characters who have to have the plot point explained to them in case the audience still hasn't gotten it are everywhere too, it's super common in sitcoms.
I see this as kind of like the "loudness war" in radio.
It's not a conspiracy or anything, it's just the networks and producers adapting (correctly) to how people actually watch/listen to stuff.
Audiophiles can complain all they want about low dynamic range, but if you're listening to radio in a noisy environment (like a car), high dynamic range is actually fucking awful.
Similarly, there's nothing inherently wrong with watching a show when you can't give it your full attention. Sometimes I watch TV while I'm doing chores, or even during my workday. You know what's great for that? Those stupid competition shows where they narrate everything on screen, and have five instant replays plus recaps after ad breaks. I never feel like I'm missing anything even if I ignore 80% of the show. I'd never sit down and really watch this stuff though. My brain would rot. It's just a step above white noise.
Honestly, podcasts are great for that kind of stuff. You can just listen while you do whatever needs to be done and don't have to worry about glancing at the screen at all.
Fuck this timeline. We’re not cattle! Reclaim your time and Degoogle/big tech your life.
The volume of material has grown faster than anyone has the ability to consume it.
Just... find things you like and discard the rest. You're not required to watch bad TV.
I feel like nearly every Netflix original I've saw in the last few years at friends houses feel like they're made for middle schoolers with the story devolopment and over explaining what they're doing/about to do on screen as if we can't see them
Heard about this a few times now and witnessed it too. I don't recall which movie it was, since it was forgettable, but the characters felt the need to remind me what was going on in the plot more than four times and I remember actually questioning my sanity. Like, do they think I'm this stupid and can't follow a simple plot?
Maybe in a few shows, but there are plenty others that turn into messes of a plot and are just poorly written.
If you watch a lot of BBC stuff, you'll find that you can generally follow the plot without necessarily paying too much attention to the screen. In their case, it's because the BBC originated as a radio broadcaster and their script culture still reflects some of those old styles and practices. The fact that they maintain a robust radio play / audio drama production focus certainly doesn't hurt either.
Having partaken in online discussions about Pluribus (which doesn't really do this), I can see where they are coming from (although I absolutely do not agree with it).
You go into episode discussion threads and regularly wonder "have we watched the same show?", because people will just absolutely not know about some absolutely pivotal plot point that happened or explanation that was done.
It's insane
I have phone shows and no-phone shows.