Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Follow This’, Netflix and BuzzFeed’s Show About Weird Internet Trends

The internet is a strange place, and BuzzFeed wants to guide you through it one oddity at a time. A collaboration between BuzzFeed and Netflix, Follow This is a docuseries that zooms in on odd culture stories 15 minutes at a time. It’s short, upbeat, and aims to make viewers walk away from this show knowing something they never knew before. 

FOLLOW THIS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A young, smiling woman leans into the camera, mimicking a YouTube video. There are several jump cuts as she whispers to one side of a microphone system then another. She then starts to rub the microphone, slurp into it, and lick the side of the speaker.

The camera then cuts to this episode’s host, BuzzFeed News Culture Reporter Scaachi Koul as she watches in disgust. Welcome to the weird, allegedly calming, and vaguely disturbing world of ASMR videos.

The Gist: BuzzFeed and Netflix’s docuseries collaboration can best be described as Vice News but with a sugary, internet-obsessed twist. Follow This breaks down the weirdest cross-sections of culture and the internet, but instead of channeling Vice’s brand of bro aggression into their work, Follow This leans on BuzzFeed’s optimism. The series explores some interesting topics with a group of journalists who seem like they want to make the experience more entertaining than educational.

For its first episode, Follow This dives into the rising trend of soothing sound effects. Subsequent episodes focus on other eyebrow raising internet trends like deep fakes and men’s rights activists. The seven episodes are hosted by a rotating roster of reporters.

Our Take: On paper Follow This sounds like a slam dunk. The internet is a deeply unsettling place, so why not try to explain its oddities with a group of people who should know it best — BuzzFeed reporters? But at least in its first episode, the docuseries falls frustratingly flat. Follow This seems so consumed with selling you on itself and BuzzFeed it brushes aside its engaging premise.

It’s not Koul’s fault. Her journey into the world of ASMR videos leads her down some interesting paths, and it’s fun to watch her take those turns. But Follow This makes Koul a noticeable host, which detracts from the authority of this docuseries. Throughout the episode’s scant 17-minute runtime she’s shown making two different calls to her editor and typing at the BuzzFeed office multiple times. The episode even ends with her narrating a story about her experience à la Sex and the City‘s Carrie Bradshaw. After a point it’s hard not to question what Follow This is more interested in — the episode’s topic or the fact that this brand is making a show.

What makes these extra moments feel frustrating rather than just annoyingly self promotional is that “The Internet Whispers” doesn’t feel like a complete story. Instead it feels like a list of checked boxes. In her quest to figure out why these videos are so popular, Koul interviews one YouTube star, one scientist, one ASMR superfan, and has a crazy night at the Whisperlodge, an ultimate ASMR immersive experience. Every interview conducted is almost glowingly in favor of these videos and this trend. And yet this nearly 20-minute episode offers little more insight into ASMR than a minute-long conversation with a fan will give you. There are very few probing questions, and there is absolutely no focus on the other side of this coin — people who find this sensation creepy. It’s all a big heart eyes emoticon.

What makes this extra frustrating is that Netflix just released another docuseries that handles cultural oddities extraordinarily well. David Farrier’s Dark Tourist could have easily fallen into the trap of gawking at serial killer tours and modern day vampires. But instead it took its odd subject matter and tried to understand dark tourism through a clear, largely unbiased journalistic lens.

Much like in Follow This, Dark Tourist‘s host was happy to explain his biases about the subject matter. But Dark Tourist consistently pushed past the easy questions to ask the underlying why. Follow This never feels like it follows through in its fist installment. With so many other docuseries available to watch that feels like a problem.

Parting Shot: Sitting in BuzzFeed’s office, Koul types on her computer as she narrates the story we just saw. There’s a very “all in a day’s work” vibe to the conclusion. 

Sleeper Star: Because the principle star of this series seems to be the BuzzFeed brand rather than anyone else, Koul gets this honor. She’s engaging to watch, and her expressions are excellent. 

Most Pilot-y Line: It doesn’t really feel like a pilot-y line, but the most cringe-worthy moment certainly goes to the “flirtatious” woman in the Whisperlodge. Set in a room filled with rosewater, she seductively asks if Koul wants rosewater. Her curt “Sure” solidifies that she’s not nearly as into this experience as the Whisperlodge wants her to be. 

Our Call: Skip it. At least in the first episode, there’s a lot of sugar and not much else.

Stream Follow This on Netflix