[Cet article a été publié le 22 février 2025 et republié le 2 avril 2026]
Be honest: are you really paying attention when you watch TV? If you’re in the habit of absent-mindedly watching a series or movie – for example, dottedly following Netflix while you review what your nemesis just posted on Instagram – you may be surprised to learn that not only does Netflix know full well that you’re engaging in this vile behavior, but it wants you to continue.
The streaming platform recently made headlines thanks to an excellent article by Will Tavlin, published in [la revue culturelle new-yorkaise] N+1, which explains to readers the existence of a microgenre intended for “distracted viewingâ€Â: Shows and movies designed to be watched while doing something else. One of the paragraphs in particular sparked a lot of reaction. Tavlin maintains that Netflix asked several writers to ensure that their characters “announce what they are doing, so that spectators who are watching without looking can follow†.
Dialogues to roll your eyes to the sky
As was to be expected, this results in some horrible dialogue, like the following, taken fromIrish Wisha film with Lindsay Lohan [mis en ligne par Netflix en mars 2024] : “We spent a day together, declares the character played by Lohan to James, her lover. I admit, it was a beautiful day, with spectacular scenery and romantic rain, but that doesn’t give you the right to question my life choices. Tomorrow I’m marrying Paul Kennedy.†James’s response: “Très bien. This is the last time you see me because once this job is finished, I’m going to Bolivia to photograph an endangered tree lizard.â€
Is it fundamentally wrong to address people who prefer to watch television absentmindedly? Is it snobbery to think that television should demand our full attention all the time?
Netflix serves the dilettante viewer, this is no news. Alongside its prize-covered series (My little reindeer won the Golden Globe for best miniseries [en janvier 2025]), the channel is also known for telling its showrunners that their scenes aren’t enough “deuxième écranâ€. In other words, if the viewer’s first screen is their phone, the program playing on their second screen, i.e. Netflix, must not be so demanding that they stop watching it.
No explicit instructions
And above all, cynically, Netflix simply wants you to stay on this visual equivalent of elevator music for as long as possible. “Nothing to add on that, but thank you for writing to us†, the Netflix communications manager told me when I contacted them.
This type of article is likely to raise awareness, which is a niche problem. Three people who wrote for Netflix told me they never received instructions. Danny Brocklehurst, [un scénariste britannique] who wrote several television adaptations of Harlan Coben’s novels [l'écrivain américain de polars]to start:
“I tell you with my hand on my heart, no one at Netflix is putting pressure on us to do simplistic things or to be able to watch by scrolling on our phone or whatever.â€
“I would be very surprised if an executive said to us, like: ‘Write to me any way’, confirms [le Britannique] Joe Barton, qui a créé Giri/Haji et Black Doves. I don’t believe Netflix is homogeneous. It’s a huge company, there are a lot of different services.â€
Viewing habits are changing
Willy-nilly, however, the scriptwriters cannot ignore the fact that spectators consume programs differently. [Le Britannique] James Hamilton a été le scénariste en chef des séries animées Dogs in Space et Jentry Chau, a teenager against demons. “We would be lying to ourselves if we didn’t admit that most of us have trouble putting down our phone when the TV is on. And we get distracted very easily, he declares. But I would be very concerned if an executive I work with tried to give viewers permission to be less attentive.â€
[sur ce dernier point,] Brocklehurst acknowledges being more of the “old schoolâ€. “I hate the idea that people can watch series, and mine in particular, with the phone in their hand, he confides. Look, that’s all. We make television so that people are captivated, by the quality and because it pleases them and they want to watch. It’s the opposite of releasing a production so simple that it’s swallowed like a mouthful of popcorn.â€
Ryan Broderick, [journaliste américain] who writes about pop culture, however, points out that distracted viewing is nothing modern: the phenomenon was very common before television entered its second “âge d’orâ€, at the turn of this century. Television narration was then very much inspired by radio and the dialogues were more explanatory.
What place for creativity?
When so-called “prestige” television entered the arena in the early 2000s, its complexity and comprehensiveness began to give rise to comparisons with literature and cinema. Now, just as you can’t read a novel while doing something else, you weren’t supposed to do the dishes while watching The Sopranos.
Joe Barton also recalls that the big series of the golden age did not necessarily have a huge audience [elles étaient avant tout diffusées sur des chaînes câblées auxquelles il fallait s'abonner, comme HBO aux États-Unis]. The more spectators we have, the more likely we will be forced to explain more to include everyone. The Sopranos, Mad Men et Listening [The Wire]which predate Netflix, were not designed to be watched in one go and perhaps enjoyed greater artistic freedom than modern series.
Maybe it’s all a question of balance. As long as there are series that can be watched absentmindedly and series that demand our 100% attention, everything is fine. “It’s comfortable to have a familiar series or movie in the background that your attention can drift back and forth to. It would be ridiculous to expect everything to require everyone’s complete attention… says Hamilton.
“But that doesn’t mean people can’t pay attention or that stories need to be deliberately designed for people who have the show on in the background.â€
On the contrary, convince the spectator
The other balance to find, a balance that authors have strived to perfect since the dawn of time, is that between the unsaid and the sluggish exposition. How do we ensure that the public understands what is happening without making them do their job?
If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, according to Brocklehurst, it’s that the chains are very afraid that people will leave them. But a retort about photographing Bolivian tree lizards is unlikely to keep viewers engaged forever, and Netflix should think hard about how to make TV that’s casually watchable and still good quality. One does not necessarily exclude the other.
“If you don’t really follow the story, fine – that’s your choice [de téléspectateur], déclare Hamilton. But we should ask ourselves how to encourage spectators to pay more attention, not less. I believe people are still hungry for stories done with nuance, care and attention to detail, whether they realize it or not. A good story rewards distracted attention as well as focused attention.â€
