We have so much entertainment at our fingertips that TV shows have become a bit of a chore.
Consider the long list of series Hollywood wants to release in the coming days and weeks, including: Suits: LA, 1923, Daredevil: Born Again, The Handmaid’s Tale, Andor, Wednesday, Squid Game, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, etc.
We want to watch all these shows and more. So what’s the problem? Daredevil: Born Again, is a sequel to three Daredevil seasons Netflix aired nearly a decade ago. In other words, you are unlikely to appreciate some of the plot points and references Daredevil: Born Again will make.
The Handmaid’s Tale is even more problematic because the upcoming season is the sixth in the series. Squid Game has a different problem. Season 2 aired roughly three years after its predecessor, which means that many don’t even remember why they cared about the show. It generated a lot of hype, but the three-year gap sapped enthusiasm.
Admittedly, it would only take you a day or two to binge Squid Game Season 1. But what about Suits: LA, which is a spin-off of a nine-season series? Are you willing to wade through 134 episodes before tackling the spin-off? Avid TV watchers won’t mind.
If you love a TV show, the more episodes you have, the better. But guess what? Most people are too busy to re-watch multiple seasons of every show they enjoy for the sake of refreshing their memories before new seasons debut.
Some shows provide vague recaps that, depending on how long ago you watched a season, may jog your memory. But if brief TV recaps are insufficient, YouTube recaps are all the rage these days.
This is where a YouTuber sits in front of a camera and narrates a TV show from start to finish, exploring the various plot threads and character arcs. They will also edit clips from the show in question into their video, painting the clearest possible picture of what happened.
YouTube recaps have exploded in popularity for the reasons I noted at the start. Hollywood churns out too many TV shows for the average viewer to keep up. And it is not like you can simply tune them out.
Think about the number of people who watched Squid Game because every online space they visited would not stop gushing about it. Peer pressure is real and it influences viewing habits.
I have online acquaintances who decided to watch the final Game of Thrones season because they wanted to attend the viewing parties their friends kept throwing each week. But they had never seen an episode of Game of Thrones. So, what did they do?
They watched a recap of the first seven seasons. That sounds insane, watching a recap of a show instead of watching the actual show, but this trend is more common than you think, particularly among viewers who think certain shows are too stupid to appeal to their tastes but they want to participate in the online discourse.
When it comes to choosing a YouTube recap channel, your preferences will guide you. Micheal Rosenbaum and Tom Welling have a podcast in which they cover individual Smallville episodes in great detail.
You can listen to comprehensive breakdowns of that ilk while driving, running, doing chores, etc. It has become quite commonplace for actors to do recaps of their shows. But if you have neither time nor patience, YouTube has plenty of videos that cover entire seasons within 10 – 15 minutes. The key is to locate a YouTuber that matches your energy.
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