No, Netflix, I don’t want to continue watching Fate: The Winx Saga. I don’t even want to continue watching the last two minutes of credits on The Dig. And I just wanted to watch the last four episodes of Schitt’s Creek again – please stop trying to get me started from the beginning (I mean, someday, I will, but I don’t need to remember that constantly now).
The most annoying thing about Netflix, which is shared by almost all the best streaming services, is a terrible lack of queue management. If you’re like me, your “keep watching” sections on Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, etc. they are full of things that you A) don’t want to watch anymore or B) you’ve already watched, minus a few minutes at the end.
To give Netflix at least some credit, they launched a way to fix Problem A – an option to remove a title from the “keep watching” line – but only on the mobile app. But I broadcast Netflix mainly on my television with an Apple TV, as well as millions of subscribers with various other devices like Roku and Fire Sticks. Many others see it on their laptops.
This definitely makes the sampling show greater pain. I tried the first episode of the fantasy series YA Fate: The Winx Saga, but decided it wasn’t for me. Still, it appeared on “Continue Watching” until I finally opened the Netflix app on my phone to get rid of it.
No other streaming service offers this option, so good on Netflix. Now, deploy it on the website and the TV app.
In the meantime, no streaming service offers a way to solve Problem B. Disney Plus thinks I want to continue watching all episodes of WandaVision, as well as all episodes of The Mandalorian, the movie Soul and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions . That’s because I didn’t let time run out of them all (apologies to the hard-working employees mentioned in the final credits).
To force Disney Plus to stop asking me to resume viewing, I have to play each episode / movie and finish or advance to the last second.
There is no way to say to a service, “Hey, I watched this!” This would also be useful if you see an episode on someone else’s account, as if you were watching an episode at a friend’s house.
All of this applies to Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video (Peacock does not have a “Keep Watching” section). But there is a streaming application that does the correct queue management.
Apple TV gives you control over your watch list
The Apple TV app (which is available on devices other than Apple TV 4K) makes it easy to organize your watch list. The Apple TV app pulls in the shows and movies you’re watching on other services, including Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu and more. Think of it as a streaming inbox.
The “Next Next” line does exactly what it says: it displays new episodes in your queue. But if you’ve seen it or don’t want to watch it, you can get rid of it! Simply hold down to select or tap and hold the thumbnail (or on a laptop, click the three dots) to open an options menu. You can remove from the “Next” line, mark the episode that was watched or remove from recently watched.
This now does not affect the streaming service queue. For example, if I mark episode 6 of WandaVision as watched on the Apple TV app, that doesn’t translate to Disney Plus. The latter still displays the episode as unattended.
So it’s a good solution if you use the Apple TV app to watch all of your shows. But the real services need to work to add more features to manage their queue. We’re all streaming more than ever today, and with more streaming services competing for our subscription dollars, an easy and painless experience is priceless.