There’s Way Too Much to Watch (But There’s a Secret to Catch Up)

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Sweet

Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by Amelia Emberwing, IGN streaming editor. Check out the latest entry: Abbott Elementary nailed Gregory Eddie’s evolution.

Welcome to (American) Thanksgiving week! It’s a time, for many, of abject panic as we all rush to prepare our meals and prepare to face this strange uncle who we are obligated to be polite to (you don’t have to be , it doesn’t matter. You can tell your mother I said it). But after all the hustle and bustle, stress and inevitable family squabbles that have become so synonymous with the holidays, there is a three-day weekend of peace. It’s during this long weekend that people across the country take advantage of quiet days to catch up on the shows and movies they’ve missed throughout the year, whether because they’re passionate about media or because there simply isn’t much else to do during their stay. surviving our respective tryptophan-induced lethargy. But over the years, a shift in release cadences threatened this long-standing American tradition. Rather than knowing exactly what to put in the background while you decorate the tree or, let’s face it, struggle to stay awake while rotting on the couch, many of us find ourselves in the dreaded excessive freeze: Media Edition.

“Excessive freezing” may seem like a silly phrase, but it is actually a real psychological term. This means exactly what it means on the tin and acts as a shorter explanation than “I have too much to watch or read or play and so I just won’t do any of those things and will take a nap at the place.”

There was a time, not long ago, when this wasn’t a problem. In the Before Times, the fall television season that ended before Thanksgiving, Hollywood was largely on hiatus, and theatrical releases beyond a few big family-oriented films for Thanksgiving weekends and Christmas holidays were rare. This gave you plenty of time to catch up on what you missed throughout the year. But these days, theaters are the only ones sticking to their traditional trends. The fact that there are no longer TV seasons paired with straight-to-streaming movies means there’s more media to catch up on than ever before.

Since it’s my job, I watch a stupid amount of movies and TV. Still, I look at my traditional weekend catch-up and the proverbial pile of “ones to watch” with a kind of frozen dread. The tried-and-true methodology of listening to recommendations from people you respect is usually the best way to go, but I’ve also been burned by Emilia Perez, the darling of Cannes who, to put it politely, is basically just a bunch of trans tropes piled into a trench coat. One bad movie or series isn’t the end of the world: hundreds and hundreds of them are made every year. But when you have endless options and limited time, the pressure to find something you’ll love on the first try can be daunting. Worse yet, the mentality that we need to find The Best show or movie can prevent us from finding new art that we love. I scoffed at the concept of The First Omen from the second it was announced, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite films of the year!

Here’s the most frustrating part: the typical clinical advice for combating excessive freezing doesn’t really apply when it comes to its brilliant Media Edition. Usually the steps involve reducing the task, incentivizing yourself, and making sure you don’t avoid the task altogether. This doesn’t really apply to watching things you’re interested in, because that’s apparently something you to want to do rather than a huge list of shopping or obligations.

With that in mind, here are some things I do:

Create a spreadsheet or list of media you want to view. Don’t think about it, just start spitting out movies and TV shows into a list. You can do this as one list or separately, but the reason I keep mine together and mention that I don’t think about it is because the ones you write down first are probably will be your priority titles.
If that doesn’t get you where you need to go, I’ll add a gender column. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to watch a documentary or drama, so I know I need to head straight to the other genres I’m usually drawn to.
Sometimes a simple indicator of what I want to prioritize is whether or not I’m worried about a series being canceled. One person may not matter individually, but a lot of people watching them matter, so I try to focus my attention on the shows I want to see more of as soon as possible after they come out.
This one probably This won’t matter to people who don’t vote for the annual awards, but I don’t know your life! The final step I take is to quickly scan the list to see which titles I should prioritize for year-end awards voting for Critics Choice, Television Critics Association, and IGN.
And finally, take a look at what you can watch at home and what you need to go to the cinema. This won’t matter much for the shows, but with the remaining theatrical releases for the year ranging from Moana 2 to Nosferatu, there’s a good chance you’ll be heading to the theater before the end of the year.

For me, I start things off with a shrinking frenzy. It’s one of my favorite shows, and other priorities have kept me from catching up on season 2. But what about you? What are you going to watch before the tryptophan coma sets in?