Is this * how * we got to the Baby-Sitters Club?
Image: netflix
With regard to blatant ads, this is very good.
On New Year’s Day, Netflix We invite subscribers everywhere to start 2021 by calling a direct line of recommendations – allegedly made up of celebrity operators ready to help you with your spree. Netflix announced the service (which we have been providing for years, thank you very much) with a musical number posted on Twitter that reimagines “Auld Lang Syne” as a listing anthem.
You can contact the hotline 1-866-NYD-2021 to go through the experience on your own or comment this Twitter topic to request a personalized recommendation. If you just want to know what happens when you call, keep reading. I went through the entire phone tree (which is really all that the hotline represents) and transcribed some highlights.
Happy New Year! We have assembled a team of celebrity experts to help you find the perfect thing to watch today!
Just tell us what you want and we’ll get in touch – you can also call our hotline at 1-866-NYD-2021 🎉 pic.twitter.com/vYmDczd4ph
– Netflix (@netflix) January 1, 2021
“Hello and welcome to the Netflix New Year recommendation hotline, brought to you by Netflix in the year 2021,” said an overly encouraging operator. “2021: at least, it’s not 2020. If you’re wondering why Netflix brought the hotline back, it’s because Hollywood loves to restart.”
“Speaking of Hollywood,” the voice then instructs you to type in the extension for “your celebrity’s operator” – assuming you know.
To find celebrity extensions, you can guess the entries and dial a pre-recorded message. (For example: dial “666” and you will get Sabrina’s chilling adventures stars Kiernan Shipka and Gavin Leatherwood recommending scary shows.) But if you’d rather not guess, get a comprehensive guide to celebrity extensions in Netflix’s official Instagram story. There are messages from Jimmy O. Yang, Gabriel Iglesias, Rahul Kohli, Michelle Buteau and others.
If you skip the Easter egg hunt for celebrities, the operator will provide nine options corresponding to the keyboard:
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“1” to “if you want something totally new on Netflix”
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“2” to “if you have a hangover”
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“3” to “if you’ve already violated your New Year’s resolution”
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“4” to “if you are feeling a deep sense of existential dread and want to embrace it”
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“5” to “if you are feeling a deep sense of existential dread and want to avoid it”
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“6” to “if you are really optimistic about next year”
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“7” to “if you were trying to order a pizza, but accidentally dialed this number”
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“8” to “if you’re looking for something to watch with your family”
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“Under no circumstances should you press ‘9’”
So, of course, if you press 9: “I see you’re a rebel who doesn’t like to obey the rules. Well, you’ve reached the part of the hotline where I list 99 TV shows and movies that are now all streamed on Netflix. OK, let’s go. ”
The operator actually goes through a monologue of 99 titles and, if you are still on the line at the end of the speech, will say, “Are you still there? Cum? “and take you back to the menu.
Go through the other eight options and you’ll hear some decent jokes about drinking, parenting and the year to come – plus some solid (albeit biased) streaming recommendations.
UPDATE: January 1, 2021, 11:49 am PST This story has been updated to include new information about the hotline celebrity extensions feature.