This week alone, there are new seasons of Grace and Frankie, Star Trek: Discovery (watch the trailer above) and Marvel’s The Punisher; movies Close and IO; and docos FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (watch the trailer below) and Trigger Warning with Killer Mike. I haven’t had time to check out those last three, but as I said, I’m up to the challenge – I’ll just get to them when I’ve explored all those Black Mirror: Bandersnatch storylines and reached the end of You.
Part of me thinks I can skip Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, which dropped on New Year’s Day, a move surely designed to take advantage of viewers’ defences being down. I’m already kind of anal about things being organised and neat, so I’m surely not the target market for this one. This is, however, where the competitive aspect of being a Netflix subscriber comes into play. Everyone else is talking about the decluttering show, so I feel it’s my duty to at least sample it. No pop-culture fan wants to be left out of the conversation.
Perhaps I could pitch my own self-help Netflix show about how to manage and prioritise Netflix viewing. With the constant demands on my time, I’ve developed some rules for coping with the load.
First, give a show two episodes then pull the plug if you’re not into it. Life’s too short to spend 10 episodes on a dud. Second, once committed, don’t get distracted by new, flashy shows –complete the one you’re on or you might never come back to it. Third, give Tidelands a miss. Fourth, no matter how late it is, there’s always time for one more episode. Most importantly, the majority of household activities can be done while you watch Netflix – possibly even those bedroom ones we won’t talk about.