The Five Stages of Realizing You’ve Already Watched This TV Series
Deja view
Stage 1: Denial
You hate endlessly swimming through all the bland shows on five different TV apps. You’re ecstatic to have found a show you might love. It doesn’t look too violent. It has a love interest that’s sexy enough to hold your attention, but doesn’t dominate the plot. And there are six seasons!
Not only that, you really like the lead actor. You’re so glad he or she is in it. You’ve seen him/her in something before, and they look really handsome/beautiful in this one. This is gonna be good!
You watch the trailer and text your friends, telling them you’ve found a wonderful show that they might also like.
Stage 2: Anger
As you hit play and begin Episode 1, familiar details emerge. “Hey, that’s an interesting gazebo — I think I’ve seen one like that before,” or, “I must’ve seen a sun hat just like that at the beach last week.” You hear dialogue that sounds remotely familiar. You think the characters must be expressing thoughts so universal that you’ve heard them before.
You think, “Boy, this actor sure plays the same character a lot.”
“Wait a minute!” you shout at the screen, waking up the dog. “I remember this plot…
