The entertainment industry needs some serious Swedish Death Cleaning.
If you haven’t watched the hit show on Peacock (the streaming channel that used to be NBC) it’s based upon the book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter.
What does death cleaning have to do with the entertainment industry? Everything.
The show is both entertaining and inspiring, which is exactly what entertainment is supposed to be. But lately, the industry seems to have shifted from viewer enjoyment (ratings) to customer acquisition (trial). Entertainment companies have become more focused on the shareholders’ wants than by viewers’ needs. And all of this trial is leading to too much content. An abundance of streaming platforms each with their own watch lists and favorites. Expensive platforms run by personalization engines with complex algorithmic recommendations.
So if technology is a tool for making things better, why can’t I ever find anything GREAT to watch?
I have amassed an accumulation of content I no longer need or want and the worst part of it is that I did it to myself.
Yes, it’s been a tough few years and don’t we all deserve to “take our comfort” through mindless hours of mediocre entertainment? Isn’t it joyful enough to zone out on the couch or maybe even not get out of bed? Is the answer really less when shouldn’t it always be more?
If the streaming platforms were rooms in my house, it would go something like this:
Netflix is for sure the garage. It’s an organized mess of many, many things I’m afraid to part with. Boxes of window fans and a portable AC unit. Old oil paintings. A camp stove. Power tools and lamp parts. Extension cords and do-it-yourself dog grooming equipment. Love letters my long ago divorced parents wrote to one another.
Amazon is the attic. A few of my cherished relics reside there. Things that would be ruined if they were in the garage. Like Acorn TV and BritBox. But a stack of unmarked boxes in the corner I will never open. Every once in a while I find something unexpected and fabulous. Like a movie that’s still in theaters or a new series on Frevee. Then I’m reminded I have to spend money to play it. Like VHS home movies still in need of being transferred to digital.
HBO is the beautiful glass conservatory on the sunny side of the house with a view of the lake (why not since we’re imagining). My special place where I go to experience the most remarkable things. Sopranos. Need I say more? The Wire. Couldn’t help myself. Until earlier this year, quite unexpectedly, when crazy Uncle Max got evicted from his house and moved all of his oversized unscripted furniture and boxes of storage stuff in.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my HGTV and Food Network. I just hate piles of yard tools and garden gnomes, air fryers and food processors cluttering up what used to be my sacred space of creativity.
A quick plug for PBS which is like my backyard creative shed I don’t go to often but when I do it is magical. Peacock and Paramount+ are spare bedrooms. Okay to sleep in but who wants to spend all day hanging out much the same way a daybed is essentially not really a sofa but a bed made up to look like a sofa. Hulu’s probably the game room. Fun yes, but essential?
Also why do I want ABC shows on my Hulu or CBS shows on my Paramount+? Maybe I’m old fashioned not wanting everything that’s ever been made shoved onto a streaming App and served to me which takes me back to the clutter of it all. Why I think it’s time for me to Swedish Death Clean my entertainment. Steady myself, take a deep breath and start putting things into piles. Content to keep — or decide to discard?
I’m preparing myself emotionally to say “Sorry, I cannot watch Ted Lasso. I don’t have Apple TV+” or “I won’t be downloading Disney+ to watch Andor” or “Who you calling MAX?”. Getting ready to be outside of the zeitgeist, irrelevant at the water cooler, book-read and boring at the bar.
Oh, and please don’t bother offering to buy me a subscription for a month because you think I just must see something. I’ll be busy attending concerts, tasting new cuisines, and walking along the coast watching the wildlife and making real live memories instead.
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