Netflix has a little bit of everything but one area of the market that they haven't covered yet is talk shows and it is kind of understandable why that would be the case. Since people can jump in and watch an entire season of whatever they want it is kind of difficult to have a show that is dedicated to the week-by-week (or nightly) occurrences that happen in the world outside. They have attempted to break into the foray of talk shows on two other occasions that I am aware of in Chelsea and Patriot Act but both of these shows seemed (to me) like attempts at indoctrination and while they may still be on the platform, I don't watch them nor do I know anyone that does.
The Netflix Afterparty unfortunately stars one of my favorite comedians of all time, David Spade. This was the only reason why I watched it.
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I don't even know who those other two people are that are on the show with him but I would be willing to bet that they are somewhat famous in some capacity.
This show is all about talking about shows that were already featured on Netflix and they will have guests that come on, normally by face-timing or whatever live video service they are using and the interviews are meant to be unrehearsed but it is pretty clear in the 3 that I bothered to watch that no tough questions are ever going to be asked of any of the guests.
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They also bring on guest hosts in addition to the 3 hosts that they already have because you know, we need 4-5 hosts to have a show, right? Spade does his usual deadpan delivery and is snarky as hell and honestly, he is really the only saving grace to the show and I find all of the other hosts (the regular ones and the visitors) to be annoying as hell.
They make a real issue about putting the cameras (at times) slightly behind the audience so that we can see how everyone is being responsible by wearing masks and distancing themselves from people that I presume they are not related to. That annoyed me already because they are projecting, which is something that Netflix really struggles to not do. They can't seem to just have a show without injecting it with some sort of lesson for the "stupid" masses.
For me, the worst part of the show is the canned laughter that happens on a regular basis when the people on stage do what is obviously rehearsed dialogue with one another and the audience just erupts into uncontrollable laughter at something that isn't even funny. I realize that they have to do this, but it is just so obvious that it quickly grates on your nerves.
Try as I may to get involved in anything that Spade is involved in, especially when he isn't just in it because he is pals with Adam Sandler, I just can't get into this show. The only episode that exists at the moment is "The best and worst of 2020" and I couldn't even make it all the way through it. Maybe it will get better as it stops rehashing Covid jokes that have been used a thousand times before and I hear they are going to do this weekly and then maybe the information they present will be a little more relevant to things that we actually remember.
Should I watch it?
For now, I feel like this show is just too hokey to be entertaining and while some of the skits that focus exclusively on Spade's style of humor are pretty funny, the rest of the show is just lame. I couldn't even finish it because the canned laughter just got on my last nerve.
I would suggest you switch it on just to see if you agree with me but I reckon this show won't be around for very long.