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Ever found yourself immersed in a film or series on a streaming service, only to be abruptly interrupted by an automatic trailer for the next random show, even before your current pick has concluded? This often sends viewers scrambling for the remote in a frantic attempt to beat the countdown and avoid being whisked away to another program.
Bill Simmons, a culture commentator and the mastermind behind The Ringer, recently voiced his frustrations over the intrusive “Next Episode” countdown feature on the latest episode of The Rewatchables. He expressed his irritation with various streaming services for disrupting his enjoyment of movie credits.
Simmons specifically criticized Prime Video for rushing him through the climax and credits of the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers during a recent viewing. “I’d like to issue a public service announcement to all the streaming services, including Netflix,” he remarked. (Interestingly, Netflix hosts several of The Ringer’s podcasts, such as The Rewatchables, The Bill Simmons Podcast, and The Big Picture.) “Amazon is counting me down from the bottom right, eager to push me to the next program. I want to savor the ending and am forced to hastily grab my phone or remote to stop it from redirecting me to something like Harry Potter Season 7, or whatever else they have lined up.”
Simmons’ tirade drew comments from producer Craig Horlbeck, who suggested it might be “some of your best work.”
“Leave me alone,” Simmons fumed. “Allow me 20 seconds to enjoy the movie’s conclusion before you rush me to the next feature just to inflate your streaming hours, while all I’ve done is left my TV running. Screw you.”
Journalist Van Lathan also chimed in and praised Simmons for speaking out about this “despite current business situations.”
“Let me watch the fucking movie before you give me five different things to watch,” he added.
As they pointed out, the queueing feature is convenient when streaming television shows, but it keeps viewers from being able to enjoy whey just watched as they’re being rushed to stream yet another episode or title. Netflix arguably revolutionized television by establishing the binge watching model. Now, platforms have baked that model into every aspect of streaming, optimizing the viewing experience to keep viewers tied to the screen, consuming as much content as possible with little value put towards quality.
Chris Ryan complained on The Rewatchables that he doesn’t “wanna live in a country” where viewers “need someone to spoon feed you the next episode or the next movie before you come to the conclusion of the artistic statement that you are taking in.”
While Horlbeck called the feature “anti-below the line” for not letting viewers see movie crews get their credit, Simmons ended his rant with a scathing indictment about the streaming industry.
“Stop telling us you actually care about the movie industry and you won’t let us see closing credits for anything,” he said.
The statement seemed to refer to the promises Netflix made during its failed deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. CEO Ted Sarandos suddenly changed his tune and promised to maintain the 45-day theatrical release window, walking back his previous stance that consumers should be able to stream movies at home sooner rather than later.
Hopefully, streaming platforms can lay off the “Next Episode” countdown feature and give all viewers a little more breathing room.