Review of Quibi shows: fun, familiar and a bit forgettable

It’s far from easy to make fun of Quibi. That’s the first problem. You can start with the name: overly sweet “quick snack” cachet. It’s easy to say, but hard to attach meaning to – hence bizarre Super Bowl ad campaign dedicated to explaining. It’s Netflix, but only for your phone and mostly for the idle moments that are long enough to feel and yet short enough to not turn around in anything but your phone. You know: waiting in lines, pausing to have coffee, sitting in a car while someone runs into a store and grabs something. This is Quibi’s second problem: it was created for a world that no longer exists and which was awaited by a pandemic.

This makes Quibi harder to sell. Watching TV while you are doing something else doesn’t seem very appealing to me when actually nothing is happening. However, the opposite can happen also the truth is: we’re all staring at our phones anyway, so what’s another reason to do it a little more? There are 24 reasons today. Each Quibi show is delivered in installments of 10 minutes or less, and each show is the first three episodes ready for streaming. There are 72 snacks in search of a meal.

Content – usually a superfluous word for art but suitable for Quibi – manages the gamut, with no real ethos other than placing recognizable faces in front of consumers in ways many have not seen before. It’s there Punk’d a revival starring Chance the Rapper, a series called Skrrt where Offset is really into cars and cars, which is a remake The most dangerous game with Liam Hemsworth and A memory slot, a really bizarre show where Will Arnett stands in the studio telling you creepy moments in pop culture in less time than it takes to watch the YouTube clip yourself.

(Disclosure: Vox Media, which owns verge, he has a contract with Quibi to produce Polygon Daily Essential, and early on there was talk of a border show.)

Quibi shows are designed to play equally well no matter how you hold the phone; almost every one is shot in a way that works in both landscape and vertical orientation. I checked that, constantly, with every show I watched. Something amazing, Quibi tries to have things literally both ways. It works well enough, but there are strange side effects. In scripted shows, double composition means that there can be only one important thing in one shot, and that can create shallow serious drama. In unencrypted shows, this adds a layer of inerrancy as the smooth web conflicts with a visual composition that is closely linked to influencers and memory makers. Ironically, you can gauge how good the Quibi show is in vertical orientation.

Most of Quibi’s program is the kind of thing you can find on a regular TV, just broken up into smaller pieces. Flip House killer is a reality show in a vein Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in seven minutes. The most dangerous game it feels like an American drama, delivered by one plot. Punk’d actually was A TV show long before Quibi, but someone thought she could play better if you didn’t have to spend 30 minutes with her. (They were right.)

Quibi’s best shows are the ones that feel the most like they can only happen on Quibi. Not much is in the launch, but it might be the best example Chrissy’s Court, And Judge Judya courtroom show, in which Chrissy Teigen is a judge who handles only petty disputes, such as who got someone a better Lizzo-themed sweater. It’s a perfect Quibi show – like TikTok that has fallen out of hand a bit, but it ends just before it stops being funny.

More, Gayme Show, play comedians Matt Rogers and Dave Mizzoni as hosts in the competition. In each episode, two different men will compete to see who is a better ally. Again, a bit is perfectly placed for the platform. It’s smart and efficient, with cascades loud enough to keep your attention and talent talent enough to keep it going. (This might even be the funniest show on Quibi.)

Documentaries also play quite well on Quibi. The position is I promise, about LeBron James School I Promise in Akron, Ohio, which serves at-risk children with access equal to parts of social work and education. Forcing, honestly and moving, every eighth installment absolutely flies.

Still, there is a frivolity for Quibi that none of its programs can be shaken because the platform is built for ease. I could introduce myself at a Quibi show and keep it good while writing a grocery list, chopping garlic or brushing my teeth and just looking at it. One time I almost put on a Quibi show while watching something else on my TV.

For this reason, Quibi’s best point of comparison is podcasts, not television streaming. It’s a space-filling medium that you’ve probably already filled with something else, but for some reason, you should have it in your head finishing something in that time. He exists in the blurry space between TikTok’s constant dopamine rush and his constant supply of novelty and Twitch’s cool, frantic sink. It is an annoying constant and is usually solved by habit. That is the platform’s biggest question then: can you change your habits that you can fit into?

Because Quibi is designed to be commonplace. New episodes should be released every day, and new shows will premiere “every Monday,” per Quibi. It’s a steady stream of quick snacks that comes from an endless bag of treats. Quibi is even in a world of circumstances, which is an interesting idea that wants us to use our phones the way we already do, like a Wi-Fi fidget spinner or smoke smoke that we can use anywhere. But that’s the third problem: no one remembers the snack. They remember a really good dinner.