In these trying times, there’s only one thing Americans can reliably turn to: Netflix. The ultimate in comfortable bunker time, bringing to our couches everything from gazillion-dollar historical epics like “The Crown” to obscure episodes of “Saved by the Bell.”
The one problem: It’s a massive pain to use.
Perhaps that’s overstating the case, but Netflix’s interface is famously frustrating. The homepage design makes browsing as manual and tedious as flipping through CD racks at Musicland in the ’90s. And the search function is — well, who knows what you’re searching for?
Thankfully, there is now a solution, a shortcut to help you quickly find more and better entertainment and temporary escape from the ever-widening hellmouth of the society outside. Here’s what you do:
Put this URL in your toolbar: www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XXXX
Replace the ‘XXXX’ with one of the subject-category codes in this comprehensive list. For example, “Classic Comedies” is 31694 and “Satanic Stories” is 6998. You can then browse all the movies in that category in a nice, comfortable vertical scroll, instead of the dizzying horizontal flip on the homepage.
Need ideas for what to watch? Of course you do. Here are the best movies on Netflix in May, and what you need to watch now because it’s leaving Netflix in May. In between searches, watch “Dear White People.” Maybe skip “13 Reasons Why.”
