Netflix just reported an excellent quarter in its latest earnings report due in large part to the success of Squid Game, the new hit series, and there's no doubt that Netflix has become part of culture (see the term "Netflix and Chill" in many parts of the world including the U.S, where viewers have cut the chord in favor of streaming shows. The binge-watching capability that Netflix allows is liberating in allowing people to watch a whole series from start to finish as soon as it starts....(like MJ, who can get a recommendation from me about a cool-looking TV show in the morning, start watching that afternoon, get addicted easily and can finish a 10-episode season all in one night, and when I ask her the next morning how far she is she sheepishly admits she's already fnisihed it) but is that really a good thing?
For the "give me now" generation, it likely is, but at least for TV consumption and discussion, it really lends little to the way of water cooler talk and online message thread speculation, which I cherished when growing up as a teenager watching cartoons (ALL-NEW episode!) and then in high school with reality TV taking off (who got voted off on Survivor or the Office?) through college when LOST was the big thing on everyone's minds, through law school (more sophisticated shows like The Wire, Sopranos, etc.) and then the start of Game of Thrones. These shows gave me a sense of camaraderie with other TV-watchers that we were consuming these episodes together and coming together later to dissect it and living through the experience, like watching live sports and talking about what happened each week after football. Credit HBO for being the anti-Netflix, where episodes still drop only every once every week and viewers have to set a ritual for watching the show.
The issue with Netflix for me is that everyone hears about a good show, but then they all watch it at separate times, spoilers are not allowed since not everyone has seen it yet, and when others finally catch up and have seen the full season the early birds have likely moved on to a different show and aren't interested in it any more. The level of interest in a show is totally different at all times depending on who you are, whereas for HBO's newest hot show (Succession, season 3 came out this past weekend) everyone knows where you stand, so that the show sets a limit for everyone to no skipping ahead. And I dislike it when people skip ahead. Stay with the team! In the analogy of episodic television as a reflection of today's generation, I'm on Team HBO of setting limits to the wild unsatiable consumption by people to a more moderate approach, taking food by portions as opposed to the wild buffet that Netflix offers that allows no time to even chew, take a break, let the food digest, savor the taste and reflect on how good the episode is. For example, in the recent Squid Game, the universally acclaimed "Episode 6" would have been a great stopping point for universal discussion among the internet community as well as within the household to reminisce on what just happened, but instead everyone just barreled ahead to Episode 7 and towards the close of the show. I personally wanted to save some good things for later and come back to it to spend more time with the favorite characters instead of just a one-night stand of emotions and unbridled indulgence in a good thing, like a sleepover sugar high (kind of a good metaphor of what the Squid Game was).
Finally getting to the point I was trying to make: Jeopardy has become my safe harbor for old-school TV. It's my replacement for live sports where I don't have patience to watch 3-hour games anymore to find out who won, but I'm much more attracted to the daily rhythm of a Jeopardy game that's reliably on Monday-Friday at the same time, same format and same brain-challenging clues. There are also internet forums where I can feel like I'm in 2004 again asking why the polar bear was on LOST and what do Jack, Sawyer, and Locke represent, except now in 2021 I'm finding out why General Motors was the correct answer to a Chevy Volt question or where the heck Rockaway Beach in New York City is. I still get the same adrenaline of wanting to know what happens, knowing that this is a fresh episode that others may have already watched but in the same calendar day at least, a daily ritual shared by millions of other viewers. I'm just glad that feeling can still exist in 2021.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment