Look, let me put this as simply as possible: I fucking adore Netflix. They’ve been an absolute godsend during this pandemic due to both their massive back catalog library and their neverending upcoming slate of original movies and TV series. If you didn’t know before, you know now: Netflix is coming for the crown.
That said, as much as I may worship my Netflix Overlords, I do have but one question for them: how have they not installed a channel-surfing feature yet? Imagine being able to scroll between an action channel and a comedy channel, a prestige drama channel and a comic book movie channel? Flip back and forth between a true-crime channel and a sports documentary channel, from an adult animated comedy channel to an anime channel.
It’d be the best of both worlds: want to seek out something specific to watch? Sure, that’s what Netflix was made for. But want to mindlessly scroll through the channels and let us decide for you like how it used to be? Now we’re cooking with gas.
How does Netflix not have channels yet? So you can flip through them like old-school cable TV.
An action channel 💥
A comedy channel 🤣
A comic book movie channel 🦸
A prestigious drama channel 🎭
A true-crime channel 🔎
A sports doc channel 🏈Imagine.
— Post Cred Pod (@PostCredPod) August 16, 2020
Granted, while this new “Shuffle” feature that they’re currently testing out sort of scratches that “you decide for me” itch, it’s simply not the same as having a bevy of various channels to chose from. Merely hitting shuffle on a library that includes more titles than I can possibly comprehend, without any sort of parameters, sounds like complete chaos.
Interesting new feature @netflix … but what kind of insane person just says, “yolo, let’s spin the Netflix wheel of fortune” pic.twitter.com/6WDJrmd7pG
— Turner Levison (@TurnerLevison) August 18, 2020
But channels, on the other hand, now that’s a different story. Picture this: imagine there was a crime channel on Netflix. Right now, they’d be able to air a day of content that included the likes of Donnie Brasco, The Irishman, The Town, Public Enemies, Killing Them Softly, End of Watch, and Drive. That’s an absolute murder’s row and the type of line-up I’d be giddy to see on TNT or AMC on a lazy Sunday afternoon. That’s what TV is all about. Give it to us, Netflix, we deserve it.