What I've Been Watching: May

This is probably the last month you'll see this header being specifically directed at Netflix because I'd just like to talk about what I'm watching and I realized I've been including real-life tv in some of my entries as well, so from now on the header will just be What I've Been Watching. Even though Netflix is still my primary source for watching stuff, it's not the only thing I watch so it's a bit misleading to keep having this header then talk about other stuff. This month, however, I didn't really watch any Netflix which is why the list, save for one item, is entirely from YouTube. This confirms for me that I probably should have just made the header WIBW from jump but I never figure shit out the first few times so just bear with me. lol Moving on!

NemRaps

The Philip DeFranco Show

h3h3 Productions

Nicole Guerriero

Ermm Okayy

A&E's Second Chance

My youngest brother and I love a good Don't Laugh challenge and it's probably one of the only things we do together. I can usually find videos that get him to crack but I'm the reigning champ of our challenges so he often gets frustrated trying to get me to lose. One of the channels he showed me, NemRaps, has weekly Don't Laugh challenges posted and we love them.


I've been watching the Philip DeFranco Show for nearly, if not slightly over, a year now but I hadn't featured it here yet so I decided to include it. Basically, Phil is the primary news source I watch on the 'Tube because I prefer a (mostly) impartial slant to my news and with so many news sources proving themselves as untrustworthy in recent months, it's nice to have a source that I can just get my news from and research it on my own time if I want to learn more about it. I don't always agree with Phil's opinion on a story, but I don't watch him because we always agree. I watch him because he gives as much of the news, from all relevant angles, as he can. His opinion is always fairly easy for me to distinguish from the story and I appreciate that.


I unsubbed from H3H3 Productions a few months ago but I still like a lot of the content, so I'll go back and watch from time to time. I've been watching both the main and now mostly-defunct second channel Ethan and Hila, both of which are social commentary/reaction channels to the abyss we call the Internet and some of the questionable, cringeworthy content floating around on it. In some of those videos, there'll be a small parody of the content and those are probably my favorite parts.


One of my favorite beauty gurus is Nicole Guerriero and while she's been a little lax in her posting lately, she's making her return with daily vlogs and stepped away from the beauty for awhile so I'm interested to see where it goes.


As for parody channels, I found this smaller channel called Ermm Okayy a couple of months ago and it's basically a parody of the various Storytime creators and the drama going on on the 'Tube. The channel takes stories straight out of the creators' mouths and animates them, which makes the story funnier, especially if the story's a lie. If the creator is in fact lying, the truth gets weaved into the animation a bit and I just think the way it's done is funny and fresh.


Finally, I wanted to talk about a platform that I think is new to this series--Snapchat. I love that more tv networks and websites are utilizing Snapchat in a way to create smaller blocks of content in an engaging way. One of those networks is A&E, who created this new Snapchat-exclusive series called Second Chance. In it, two exes come together to talk about their feelings and the primary reason behind the breakup, and at the end one of the exes reveals that they brought the other person there to ask for a second chance. All of this is done via Snapchat's 7-second video format, which I love. It has the ability to be engaging and deep without going on too long, without saying too much. I believe the series just ended and I haven't looked to see if this was an experiment by A&E or something they'd like to break up into seasons, but I hope it's the latter. As with any social media, there's a lot of fluff on Snapchat but this is one of the more innovative, intriguing things to watch. I love the concept of creating Snapchat-exclusive series and Second Chance represents what networks and the like have the potential to get right by using this format. I hope they do a second season of the show.

Pick of the Month: A&E's Second Chance on Snapchat

Throwaway Pick: Nicole Guerriero (only because other beauty gurus on YT might be more up your alley)