🎬 Best Netflix show you watched purely because of the thumbnail

Was scrolling through Netflix a few nights ago with genuinely zero specific plan in mind, and ended up clicking on a show purely because the thumbnail image itself looked visually striking enough to catch my attention immediately, without reading a single description or checking any actual reviews beforehand the way I would normally do before committing time to something new. Turned out to be a genuinely solid, well made show that I probably would have scrolled straight past entirely if I had actually paused to read the description first, since it sounded considerably less interesting summarized in a couple of sentences than it actually turned out to be once I properly started watching the whole thing myself directly. This got me thinking about how much thumbnail design genuinely shapes what people actually end up watching on these platforms generally, probably more than most people, myself included until this specific moment, would honestly like to admit consciously. A genuinely great show with a poor, unappealing thumbnail likely gets scrolled past constantly by people who would have otherwise genuinely enjoyed it themselves, while a fairly mediocre show with a genuinely striking, well designed thumbnail probably gets far more initial clicks than the actual content quality alone would ever justify or earn on its own merits. Mentioned this specific realization to a friend who apparently does this fairly regularly herself, picking shows purely based on thumbnail appeal rather than any actual research, and she said her personal hit rate for genuinely enjoying what she picks this way is honestly surprisingly decent overall, better than I would have personally expected going into this conversation with her about it. Curious whether other people have discovered a genuinely great show this exact same way themselves, purely through an eye catching thumbnail rather than any actual recommendation, review, or even reading the show's own basic description beforehand before actually deciding to commit and watch it. What is the best specific thing you have ever ended up watching purely because the thumbnail alone happened to catch your eye that particular day?

My personal system now is actually the opposite, if a thumbnail looks too polished and overly dramatic I get immediately suspicious it is compensating for something genuinely weak underneath, works surprisingly well as a rough filter more often than you would probably expect it to across most streaming platforms I have actually tried this specific approach on so far this year.

This happens to me constantly with book covers too honestly, a genuinely great book with a fairly plain, boring cover gets passed over constantly, while a flashy one somehow sells regardless of what is actually written inside it. Judging things purely by their packaging apparently never actually goes out of fashion no matter which specific medium is actually involved here.