The "What Should I Watch?" Problem Is Solved (Thanks to This One AI Prompt)
Stop the endless scroll through Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon—get personalized picks in seconds based on your mood and time
It’s 8:47 p.m. on a Friday.
You’ve had a long day. A long week. You deserve this. You’re finally sitting down with your wife, your favorite snack, ready to watch something—anything—that will help you forget about emails and errands and all the other digital debris that filled your day.
You open Netflix.
You scroll.
And scroll.
And scroll.
Seventeen minutes later, you’re still scrolling. You’ve opened three different streaming apps. You’ve read 40 descriptions that all sound the same. Your snack is gone. Your free time is vanishing. And you still haven’t picked anything to watch.
This is the streaming paradox: We live in a time of unlimited options that somehow make it impossible to choose anything.
But here’s the thing nobody tells you: AI can fix this in about 90 seconds.
The Problem With “What Should I Watch Tonight?”
We’ve all been there. You ask your partner what they want to watch. They say, “I don’t know, what do you want to watch?” You suggest three things. They’re not in the mood for any of them. They suggest some stuff. You don’t like any of them.
The problem isn’t that there’s nothing good to watch. The problem is that you’re trying to match your current mood, your available time, and your personal taste against thousands of options across multiple platforms.
That’s too many variables for a tired brain to handle.
You don’t need someone to tell you the top-rated shows on Netflix. You need something that matches how you feel right now, fits the time you actually have, and aligns with your specific taste.
AI can do that. And it can do it faster than you can finish scrolling past the first page of Netflix recommendations.
The Prompt That Ends the Scroll
Let’s go.
⭐️ Open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok (they all have free tiers) and paste this:
Copy This Prompt
You are an entertainment expert with comprehensive knowledge of movies, TV shows, books, and streaming platforms. Your goal is to provide personalized entertainment recommendations based on my preferences.
Please ask me these three questions, one at a time, waiting for my answer before moving to the next question:
1. What’s your mood right now? (For example: need a laugh, want to cry, feel like an adrenaline rush, need background noise, want to think deeply, looking for an escape)
2. How much time do you have? (For example: 30 minutes, 90 minutes, 2 hours, a full series to binge, or a book I can read over several days)
3. What have you loved recently in any format—movies, shows, or books? (Name 1-3 titles that resonated with you)
After I answer all three questions, provide me with 5 personalized recommendations. For each recommendation, include:
- The title and format (movie/show/book)
- Where to find it (streaming platform or how to access it)
- A one-sentence description of why it matches my mood and preferences
- Approximate time commitment
After your recs, ask me if you need to suggest more (because I've already seen your suggestions). And ask me which one I picked (if any), so that the next time I ask for recommendations, you'll remember when I chose the last time and ask me for my rating from * to 5 stars. That'll help you get better at suggesting things I like.
Make your recommendations diverse across different platforms and formats, so I have options no matter what I have access to.
This works because you’re giving the AI Agent1 three essential pieces of information: your emotional state, your time constraint, and your taste profile. That’s everything needed to cut through the noise and give you options you’ll actually enjoy.
Here’s What It Looks Like
I tested this last night when I had about 3 hours and wanted something that would play in the background while I worked on this newsletter, make me laugh, but also had some heart to it.
Here’s what AI suggested:
1. Shrinking (Season 1 or 2)
Where: Apple TV+
Why: Jason Segel and Harrison Ford deliver perfectly timed comedy with real heart—it has that Sheridan-style character depth but with way more laughs per minute.
Time: Two 30-minute episodes or binge 4-5 episodes (~2.5 hours)
2. The Banshees of Inisherin (movie)
Where: HBO Max
Why: Dark, dry Irish humor with surprising emotional weight—if you love Sheridan’s character-driven storytelling with wit, this delivers beautifully.
Time: 1 hour 54 minutes
3. Bad Monkey (Season 1)
Where: Apple TV+
Why: Vince Vaughn in a Florida Keys mystery-comedy that’s got that rugged, lived-in world feel like Sheridan but with more tropical absurdity.
Time: Three 45-minute episodes (~2.5 hours)
4. The Gentlemen (Netflix series)
Where: Netflix
Why: Guy Ritchie’s witty crime-comedy series has that tough-guy charm and empire-building tension you love in Yellowstone, but with British humor and faster quips.
Time: Two 1-hour episodes
5. Poker Face (Season 1)
Where: Peacock
Why: Natasha Lyonne solves murders road-trip style with sharp humor—episodic like a comedy-mystery hybrid with new characters each week (very watchable in chunks).
Time: Three 1-hour episodes
Notice something? Every recommendation came with a platform, a time commitment, and a reason why it matched what I was looking for. No more scrolling. No more “I guess this looks okay.” Just five solid options I could choose from immediately.
I’d already seen all of the suggestions. Not a big deal; I just told the AI “I’ve seen all of these,” and it came back with five more ideas. I hadn’t seen four of them. So I picked one I’d never heard of—Detroiters—and started watching. And you know what? It’s pretty good so far.
Make It Even Better
The basic prompt works great. But here are three ways to customize it:
If you’re watching with someone else: Add this line after the three questions: “I’m watching with [partner/kids/friends]. Adjust recommendations to work for both of us.”
If you want to discover something new: Add: “Prioritize recommendations I probably haven’t heard of. Avoid the most popular mainstream options.”
If you’re loyal to one platform: Add: “I only have access to [Netflix/Hulu/etc]. Keep all recommendations on that platform.”
Why This Changes Everything
I’ve used this prompt eleven times in the past three weeks. Not once have I spent more than five minutes deciding what to watch.
More importantly, I haven’t once regretted my choice. Because AI isn’t just throwing popular titles at me—it’s matching my actual state of mind with options that fit.
That’s the difference between algorithmic recommendations (which are based on what you’ve watched before) and conversational recommendations (which are based on how you feel right now).
You’re not getting “because you watched Breaking Bad.” You’re getting “because you said you want something suspenseful but not too dark, and you only have 45 minutes.”
That’s the kind of help that actually helps.
Oh, and I didn’t even mention the coolest part yet!
All these AI tools have memories. So the next time you use this prompt, it’ll remember what you watched the last time and ask you to rate it from 1 to 5 stars. That’ll help it get better at suggesting things tailored just to you.
Try this prompt tonight. Select the one recommendation that sounds most appealing. Watch it.
Tomorrow, I’m sending you the prompt that plans your entire week of meals in three minutes. If you’re tired of the “what’s for dinner?” paralysis, you’ll want that one.
– Jeremy
The Agent is just a fancy term for the chat window you’ll have going with the AI. They call them agents because the ultimate goal of AI—what people are furiously working to create right now—are AI tools that work seamlessly as your agent. As in, they get stuff done for you when you’re doing other things, like..an agent.
You could be at work, and your AI is busy booking your trip to Omaha for work, making sure your grocery list has enough healthy food items on it and scanning your email inbox to make sure you aren’t missing anything important.