That’s pretty much a function of the algorithm which is terrible at surfacing new interesting stuff. It generally either surfaces stuff that is very popular (which includes a lot of rubbish) or stuff that you’ve already watched. Though the “Top picks for…” section might be worth a look. The trick is to keep on top of new stuff as it’s added (there’s now a menu section where you can see what’s new this week and coming next week), but obviously that’s not an option for you now. So, other than the shows I’ve already mentioned, I’d recommend reading some criticism and see what takes your fancy. The AV Club and The Decider both have extensive coverage of the streaming services, and Rotten Tomatoes has a dedicated TV page, though that site’s algorithm tends to grade TV too high so I’d definitely read the reviews rather than relying on the score. Also, it’s the time of year where loads of sites are doing “best of” lists, so have a look at some of those.
Thanks for the suggestions. I think Witcher was on there last year, since I remember trying it and bouncing off (which exactly matches my experience with the games, so maybe that makes sense). Regardless, I’ll definitely take a look at the other two!
Yeah, that was my takeaway. Discoverability was never great on Netflix but I swear it’s gotten substantially worse, and now I can’t even get a description of shows that do look interesting without going to a dedicated page. That’s just stupid.
“The only way to keep up with what’s on the service is to stay subscribed” certainly is a business model, I suppose, and I guess it must be working for them.
Noted, I’ll have to look around. Finding stuff to watch on a service shouldn’t be this much work! :) I appreciate the advice, regardless.
I mean, you can just look at the release calendar on their corporate site, but it doesn’t give a lot of context.
I wasn’t aware of that, thanks for the link!
Not sure if it’s on US Netflix and I didn’t watch it there as it aired on terrestrial first, but as it hasn’t been mentioned yet, I recommend The End Of The Fucking World, whose second season was added recently. First season is better though.
Also, I’ve not watched it yet, but Mank just came out and is pretty well reviewed.
It’s easy to find stuff to watch. Finding good stuff is another matter. Same as any medium.
jsnell
1676
Looks like it was added 11 months and 2 weeks ago, so technically “in the last year” :-P
Yep, they’re hopeless at surfacing the back catalogue. The only realistic way to find out about those is if a friend recommends them. (Happened to me this year with iZombie and Orphan Black, both of which are just brilliant and it should have been obvious to any personalized recommendation algorithm that they were right up my wheelhouse).
I don’t understand how a company that’s supposed to be so metrics-focused can screw this up so badly.
I thought their discoverability and algorithms were excellent back in the DVD rental days. They seemingly had every movie ever released on DVD, and I would rate movies constantly as I watched them, and Netflix in return would recommend and adjust 5 star ratings according to what it thought I would think of them. And what they thought I would like was pretty spot on most of the time. I watched a lot of movies I’d never heard of through that method and loved them.
I think TV shows is where it gets complicated. Back in the early days you could rate TV shows by season, which I thought was a much better way for an algorithm to figure out tastes. Some shows have really good seasons and really bad seasons. But eventually everyone switched to just one rating per show.
Of course, a couple of years ago Netflix switched the thumbs up and thumbs down rating, and their recommendations are almost completely worthless now.
I find that the actual % match score is generally OK for me, it’s just the UI doesn’t surface enough high matches. It massively favours things that are popular with other people, and disfavours back catalogue. It also has a habit of showing the same movie/show in five different places on the UI, crowding out other options. Amazon does exactly the same thing, but its UI is even more terrible.
By taking out metrics. Like Rock8man says, when you could actually rate stuff in any sort of meaningful manner, it was much better at figuring this stuff out.
Netflix was amazing in the DVD rental days. I resent what’s become of that end of the business, especially considering that it killed any alternative means of filling the same need.
Doing away with ratings is undoubtedly a huge part of the problem. Most of what gets recommended to me wouldn’t be if Netflix had any idea at all what I actually enjoy watching.
It should surface back catalog if you rate enough stuff and watch what it recommends so it knows you’re looking for more.
I wish you could somehow let it know that even though you haven’t seen what it’s showing you, you know about it and want to learn about other shows so your to-watch list grows. Or at least present another tab/view where that can happen. That’s definitely a weak area.
Pretty silly we have to spend time trying to outthink these services at all, generally, too.
See, this is an ideal example of something I’d never have watched based on Netflix’s description, not that it would matter since it shows up nowhere in my recommendations anyway, but it’s a lot of fun (frankly way better than it has any right to be). I’m sure there’s more stuff like this hiding on the service, but it’s no use to me if I can’t find it. Anyway, thanks for the recommendation!
If you’re digging their Castlevania, you might also enjoy Blood of Zeus, a new Greek-fronted mythological horror production from the same animation house. We’re a couple of eps in and digging it.
I’ll also take every possible opportunity to shill She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It’s twee and shit and has nothing to do with your expressed tastes, but it’s a well-encapsulated story told over 5 punchy, short seasons with lots of feel-good vibes, if you want something light and bright.
Also, Community and Hannibal are both back on Netflix, and are two of the best shows evarr etc etc., so worth watching if you didn’t catch them at any point in the past.
138
1684
Watched Klaus on Netflix last night and it’s a really solid addition to the Christmas movie collection.
However, about 3/4’s of the way through, there is an absolutely dreadful auto-tuned holiday song of sorts. My wife had to hit the mute button to save us.
Oh very nice, I’ll check that out!
Color me skeptical but sure, I’ll give anything a few minutes of my time. Tweeness is, however, likely to be a problem.
Community is an all-time classic that I’ve watched through many times and already own. It’s also worth noting for anyone that doesn’t know that Netflix deleted one of the best episodes of the show over a single scene that could have simply been excised on its own.
Hannibal is probably not my cup of tea, but I’ve heard consistently good things about it.
Thanks for the recommendations, Armando!
Mashable just published their best of:
You’ll note that almost none of them are ones I’ve mentioned, (though I do have His House in my backlog and did watch Da 5 Bloods and I’m Thinking Of Ending Things). It shows there’s plenty of stuff on there to appeal to different tastes.
I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO WATCH THIS NOW, PLEASE!
Nesrie
1689
I know there are millions of women (and men) out there truly excited about him. I’m still questioning if he holds up solo. Still am.
