Netflix Confuses Movies With Sports, Tests Instant Replay Feature

If the rewind button was never enough for you, here's some potentially good news: Netflix is testing an instant replay feature. This feature, dubbed instant scene-replay, allows viewers to pause whatever they're watching and replay a just-watched scene. The streaming service claims this is just a test, and there's no guarantee they might roll the feature out to everyone some day. But it's definitely something they're considering, which asks a big question...why?

I'm sure someone, somewhere out there, thinks this is a good idea. Otherwise, Netflix wouldn't be doing it. But I'm hard-pressed to understand the appeal of Netflix's latest new wacky idea – an instant scene-replay feature. Per the LA Times, this feature " allows subscribers to pause a movie or TV show and rewind a scene, all at the click of a remote or tap of the screen."

I can definitely recall times where I've enjoyed a particular scene in a film or TV show, and felt the urge to rewatch it. But when that occasion arises, I simply hit the rewind button. Why invent an entirely new feature to do something we can already do with ease? Is the instant scene-replay faster? How much faster can it possibly be to justify itself? When will I know true happiness? I don't have the answers to any of these questions, folks.

"We're trying out a feature which gives Netflix members the ability rewatch favorite scenes and memorable moments with the click of a button," a Netflix spokesperson told the Times. "Right now we're just looking to learn from it and may or may not roll it out more broadly in the future."

According to the story, what makes this feature so much better than simply rewinding is that it's "sophisticated", and will allow the "replaying whole scenes or sequences with one click or tap." The option to enact the feature apparently pops-up while watching specific Netflix titles. Again: I'm sure this appeals to someone. But it just strikes me as kind of wrong – if I'm watching a movie or TV show, I don't want something popping-up on the screen asking me if I'd like to replay a scene. I want to be immersed in the experience. But this is par for the course for Netflix, who have also introduced the option to skip show intros, while also more or less obliterating end-credits by having a preview of some other title invade the screen. Sometimes, when a film is over, I just want to sit and ruminate with the proper end credit music – I don't want an ad for Ozark cutting in.

Hopefully, Netflix will learn this instant scene-replay feature is kind of pointless, and move onto developing something else that will probably be just as confusing.