This nice fellow on Facebook, who happened to be in the original company of Follies, was raving about a Netflix limited series, as if it were brand new. It sounded familiar to me but I haven't had Netflix for two years. He was bowled over by the twists and turns and thought it was one of the best. The replies agreed - the BEST. So, I looked it up online and it wasn't new, it was made in 2021. I checked the notes and sure enough I watched on the last day of February, 2022. It was the show that got me to cancel Netflix. Here's what I wrote:
"Yesterday, I decided to watch all eight episodes of a Flix of Net Limited Series. The eight episodes run about six hours in total, which is about four hours too many, as per usual with these things. The show was entitled Clickbait, which proved to be fairly accurate as a description. Despite taking place in Oakland, it was filmed in nearby Australia with mostly Australian actors. These limited series mysteries are all from the same cookie cutter, I’m afraid, both in writing and directing. I think they all harken back to the Swedish show The Killing, at least its first season. In each episode you’re led down the garden path to suspect this or that person or thing, but since there are many episodes to come, I think you know that that’s all a bunch or communist herrings. But you go along with it, you watch, you feel stupid for watching, you wince at the predictable and horrible dialogue, you don’t really care about anyone (there IS one excellent performance by an actor around episode six or seven and you do care about him but that’s the actor, not the writing). But what do we really know about these limited series other than that they’re limited in creativity and talent? Well, here’s what we know: At least twelve times we will hear the line, “We’re done here.” We know in every episode, either in the middle or at the beginning or end, there will be some useless and pointless song. We know that if someone apologizes or feels bad they will not merely say, “I’m sorry,” they will either say, “I’m SO sorry” or “I’m SO SO sorry.” And the latest of the cliches, when someone is on the computer looking at something or texting or getting texts we will have that graphic not as a cutaway but huge on the screen for no reason whatsoever. I feel like I saw the show that began that malarkey, but I can’t remember what it was – but it’s now part of the visual landscape of these sorry shows. This one stars Zoe Kazan and one or two other American actors, none of whom really have anything to play except the same beat over and over again. We know that there will be conveniences throughout, we know logic will play no part whatsoever, and in the case of this particular limited series, the reveal in the final episode is so ridiculous, so preposterous, so insulting, as to defy credulity. And then we must continue watching as they wrap up that ridiculousness. And yet, it was quite popular on Netflix – at least Netflix says so. It wasn’t quite so popular with the critics, most of whom did what I did but not strongly enough – told it like it was, laid it on the line, and not beat around the bush. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad and I don’t care who knows it."
