Netflix Is Experimenting With a 'Random Episode' Feature For TV Shows (androidpolice.com) 39
Netflix has begun testing a shuffle button with some users of its Android app. "Spotted by one our tipsters, the Android app (specifically v7.6.0 build 19 34157) offered to randomly select something to watch," reports Android Police. "And in the playback controls, there's a shuffle icon with a 'Random Episode' label." From the report: It's unclear at this point whether this is just an experiment or if we'll see this roll out to a wider batch of people soon. For now, if you don't have this, you're stuck with picking something on your own.
Chatroulette channel surfing (Score:3)
I so they want to combine the joy of channel surfing with the remote with more risque material than TV can offer? Chat roulette minus the interactivty
Re:Chatroulette channel surfing (Score:4)
I actually would like to see this in more streaming services. One of the things that I do miss about standard is just putting it on and letting play whatever is coming up.
Re: (Score:2)
Chat roulette minus the interactivty
So, like recommended French cat videos on YouTube?
Do not want (Score:1)
No thanks, Netflix. I only watch TV shows from s1e1/pilot to the series finale, including theme song and "previously on."
p.s. How I know if I like a show or not: If I can't learn to like the theme song, then I stop watching the show and rate it 1/5.
Random Scene? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Time disorder. Done to near perfection by Tarantino in one particular movie..
Pulp Fiction [deadshirt.net]
Tarantino’s approach to time here is like a DJ’s, with the chronological order of the narrative cropped into thematic drum breaks and resequenced for maximum rhythmic impact. In the macro, the nonlinear storytelling is the most blatant evidence of chronal distortion, a stylistic trick that filmmakers love to employ when they get unnaturally jealous of novelists, but it’s in the micro that the real magic happens.
Lol (Score:5, Insightful)
Netflix discovered broadcast television.
I wish they would experiment with... (Score:1)
better content.
Ive been asking netflix/hulu for this for a while (Score:3)
I'm sure they'll manage to f'up the implementation.
Not every show is a serial... Sometimes TV is just background noise.
All I want is a separate playlist that you just throw a few different shows in it and it will play random episodes from those shows.
Don't want them sequential/ordered, don't want it to update status with OH you watched season 4 episode 5 of 10 year old tv show, NOW YOU WANT TO WATCH ALL OF THE REST IN ORDER!
Just a simple randomizer pool.
Perfect! (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't think I would use it (Score:5, Interesting)
After a very long time of subscribing to Netflix, I still find the predicted star ratings for discs hit or miss, and I'm not really interested in most of the shows it claims I might like.
So to me a random episode chosen from a large pool of stuff I didn't try to watch, doesn't seem appealing...
Maybe magically it would pick from the handful of shows I would actually like but never bothered to watch because the description turned me off.
I find it really interesting that some here said they would like it though, maybe it will end up being popular.
Great idea, until... (Score:2)
The random play decides to show you the final episode of a serial drama like House Of Cards, and you never watched the first few seasons.
Congratulations, the entire show is now ruined for you because now you know how it ends. You also end up thinking that the show really wasn't all that great and wasn't worth watching, mostly because the final season sucked compared to the first 2 or 3.
Experimenting? (Score:1)
import random
random.randint(0,10)
Solved for a ten episode season?
Not the biggest problem (Score:3)
Just stop playing trailers - with sound - of every show I hover over on Apple TV. I hate having to mute just to browse in peace.
Isn't this how Fox presented Firefly? (Score:2)
No particular sequence, random episodes.
How could it fail?
Great for shows you've watched before (Score:1)
That sounds like something that would be great for rewatching shows you've watched before and just want something in the background.
Imagine a Random Episode button for rewatching The Office.
Something you've watched 100 times beforehand and know all the episodes by heart, but still want to watch it. That's what this is for.
Re: (Score:2)
And those are long story arc dramas, not sitcoms. You can see the difference, right?
Random show = yes, random episode = no (Score:2)
I can see a feature that picks a random TV show for you to watch (maybe optionally filtered by genre based on other shows you've watched) quite a nice feature. However, playing a random episode within that TV show is almost always a bad idea for continuity reasons - unless every single episode is standalone (e.g. The Twilight Zone, non-competitive cooking shows etc.).
I think the episode selected should be the last one you haven't finished watching yet (and if you're mid-way through that episode then resume
Re: (Score:1)