The Observer.

When you can't find it and you're not feeling it. Also: Beware the "elevated network" series.

Because Netflix auto loads previews and because I have to use my phone to change the volume on one of my Sonos speakers — don’t ask, it’s boring and probably shaming to me — I sat there watching the trailer for “The Night Agent” and had a scary thought.

“I might want to check that out.”

Now, look, I already checked out the start of S1 when it came out and it was filled with plenty of action and crazy twists and Shawn Ryan really knows how to do that as a writer and a show runner. It’s a honed talent. But eventually “The Night Agent” started to seem like what I call “elevated network” television, airing on a streaming channel.

And yes I come from a time and place where I once expected and now just prefer to wish that all streaming fare is really good cable fare and that what I’m being presented is not just something to fold laundry to or check email adjacently.

I’m under no illusion that “really good cable fare” — not great stuff, just really good stuff — was, in its time, actually kind of rare and that mostly what cable made was “smarter and more challenging than network” fare and then, as the streaming content increased exponentially, “just good network fare with more swearing and some nudity.”

I always wish for more, even though I also come from a time and place that knows better, because I was there when the first big revelation about Netflix happened — that a lot of its shows were like broadcast network shows without a set day and time when they appeared. I know, it was heartbreaking to us all. We were promised jetpacks.

But this trailer for the new(ish?) season of “The Night Agent” was getting me — precisely what a trailer is meant to do if done well, and so I wanted to watch.

Hey, sometimes you just need to not overthink it.

Unfortunately, in my case, and I think you know where I’m going with this, I though it was probably better to rewatch the pilot from S1, then click on the fourth episode, skip to the sixth, that sort of thing to prompt my memory and let me know what I was getting (back) into. I mean, I never finished S1, not because I meant to and was too busy, but because I didn’t mean to. No offense to anyone intended.

So now, on a night when I just wanted some action, I was nearly two and a half hours into watching old stuff prepping for new stuff. I watched the first two episodes of the second season and those episodes were fine, if not really what I was looking for.

Or what I thought I was looking for.

The problem was I was looking for a mood and a feel, and that’s a lot harder than saying “I am interested in EXACTLY what ‘The Night Agent’ is giving.” When you’re looking for mood and feel, that’s Meander Sampling. It’s not really viewing. It’s assessing.

I’ve done a lot of that in my life, as you probably have. It’s not satisfying. It’s underwhelming. And if I tell you that I then switched over to “The Recruit” and essentially started down the same ill-advised path, I’ll bet you understand that all too well, as well.

Well, well, well.

When you can’t decide on something, you often stumble into “elevated network” series on a streaming platform, when what you really want is what used to be “high end cable content” — like HBO and Showtime and FX and AMC. Once streaming came along the idea seemed like it was all going to be sophisticated content, the premium shit that you used to pay more for on premium cable.

Ideas vs. reality - oh, boy, I could tell you some stories.

Anyway, that never happened. And maybe if you don’t know what “It’s not TV, it’s HBO” means then you’re not completely aware that there were levels to this shit. And you probably don’t care. Streaming is just TV and if you’re talking about broadcast and cable and streaming you’re just someone’s parent, an old head, walking around with an onion on your belt rambling about “seasons” and when there were 22 episodes of something and you were verified on Twitter.

I digress.

“Flipping around” and not settling on something to watch is a bad habit I do much more often with movies. I just can’t decide, which is ridiculous because there are literally hundreds of them that I want to watch. I could just look on Letterboxd for ideas. But no: I need to see what’s on ALL OF MY SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES and also no I don’t trust some janky app to do the work for me because I’ve been burned before.

Live shot of me, adrift, looking for something to watch.

So the other night, despite the fact it was already midnight, I decided I wouldn’t overthink it and I would just watch “Dune: Part Two” (the second movie of the good newer iteration).

You know what? That’s a long movie.

You know something else? If you’re not a “Dune” fanatic (like a read-the-book type), then it’s possible you might not recall all the details from the first movie, which makes the second movie very confusing.

Nevermind, I did it anyway and I persevered.

I liked “Dune: Part Two” quite a bit. Until it ended and then I realized that some “Lord Of the Rings” 17-year-cycle-of-movies bullshit was underway and I was annoyed. Do I want to wait until Christmas of 2026 to see the third movie? Not really. Do I think that Denis Villeneuve will hit that release date? Probably not. And even if he does, it’s not the end of the “Dune” story and there will be more movies. Frankly, I just kind of wanted something that had an ending.

So, my bad. I picked wrong.

But, again, I liked the movie plenty. It was a good distraction from life, not that I’m paying attention to the news, and sometimes you just go to bed at 3 a.m. and you don’t bitch about it. Choices.

I’m not on a great streak right now with choices. I sampled Hulu’s “Paradise” for the Two Episode Test, which I wrote about here:

"Paradise."

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Am I going to watch more of it? Probably not. Why? Because in that Two Episode Test I suggested that Viewing Partner KB would probably be thrilled to watch more episodes, based on how the series changed its premise from the first to the second episode.

And yet — and YET — somewhere in a different state than the one I’m in right now she did watch the third episode and as I made her tell me her thoughts she suggested it was, in so may words, kind of “elevated network” type fare.

Hmmm. No wonder we’re together.

She doesn’t think she’ll watch anymore. She watched one more than I did, then. I’m on to something else.

But first a short informative story about text I got in the middle of watching “Paradise.”

A friend said “everyone” (dubious!) was calling “Asura” on Netflix the best series the streamer has put out in 10 years and was I watching?

I said, no, actually I’ve been watching a lot of Mid (Or Less) television and frustratingly long movies but that I would watch “Asura” next and hope to choose better.

I think he got it. I think you get it.

I mean, it’s hard out there. Be careful of Meander Sampling.