Do you spend a lot of time just deciding what to watch on Netflix? Any hacks? | Hacker News Reader

Do you spend a lot of time just deciding what to watch on Netflix? Any hacks?

2 pointsAtul859 comments

How do you decide what to watch? I just can't make up my mind.

Life hack: Don't watch Netflix. Find a constructive hobby. Or watch classic movies you haven't see, make a list and go through them, order doesn't matter (though chronological order will make sense if one wants to get an understanding of artistic and commercial changes in directing and scriptwriting over time).

I don't get why people think that old movies have more value than modern ones. To be clear I do watch old movies but I don't think that watching old movies is more constructive than watching new ones. And btw what does even classic mean this days, the matrix is certainly a classic now. Would you prefer to not having watched it back when it came out and waiting until now?

Also not everything has to be constructive/productive people need to wind down.

Netflix includes some classic movies. They started as mailout video.

It does. But the problem I saw with Netflix (and made me quit after some time - though I still keep the sub for family), is that it has a limited selection (especially in classics), and a lot of what it has is fillers.

It comes down to preference. De gustibus non est disputandum

But that said, I generally try internet archive for old B&W. I'm screening "hellzapoppin" and a fred&ginger in the next few months for condo movie night. A lot of stuff is getting really hard to find online.

It would be good if the criterium collection had a netflix like service (perhaps it does, there's a "criterium channel" website they maintain, but it's unavailable in my region so don't know how it works....

Do you spend a lot of time just deciding what to watch on Netflix?

I've had that happen on occasion. There have been a few times I wound up switching back and forth between Netflix, Prime, HBO Max, Disney+, etc. cycling through "recommend for you" and "continue watching" lists and just not "feeling" anything. Maybe the "paradox of choice"[1]? Dunno. Usually I eventually settle on something, or give up and read a book instead.

Any hacks?

Not really a "hack" but recently I went to the Wikipedia list of Cyberpunk movies[2], put every title into a spreadsheet, sorted by release year, and marked off the ones I've already seen. The plan is to go through the rest, largely in chronological order.

Of course this plan is slightly frustrated by some of the movies on the list not being easy to find. Many are not available on Prime/Netflix/Youtube/etc., and some are hard (or even impossible?) to find via Torrent sites. Maybe if I was on more movie-centric private trackers, but I lost interest in dealing with all of that a long time ago.

Anyway... pick a genre, or a director, or an actor, or some aspect of media, make a list, and go through it. That's one algorithm you could use.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cyberpunk_works#Films

I just don't use netflix to pick what to watch. Make your decision using imdb/reddit or whatever else you use and then check if it's on netflix/prime/etc. and if it's not repeat at the top.

Start on season one of Greys Anatomy.

Or season 1 of deep space 9.

It will keep you busy for months.

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