Epic power struggles over control of the remote have taken on a new dimension. Our entertainment landscape is crowded with streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Prime, Tubi, Pluto and Max, creating what should be a promised land of abundant options. But that utopia can quickly morph into a battlefield when you and all the other members of your household differ on what to watch on the coveted big screen.
Sure, everyone can retreat to their respective little blue-light boxes and binge-watch shows about middle-aged Manhattanites throwing high-class shade, or the exploits of animated self-aware puppies who enforce the law, but there’s still something special about coming together to decide on what will be the shared diversion.
Here’s how my text conversation with Pix started out. The green bubble at bottom reads in full: “None of those options are appealing. Got anything that will show us why marriage is still a good idea?”
Social sites like Letterboxd, recommendation articles, and Reddit threads can only take you so far when you’ve got multiple eyeballs to please. Plus, they’re often out of date when it comes to what’s available where and for how long before jumping to the next service.
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That’s where Pix comes in. It’s an AI chatbot trained to offer recommendations for entertainment options including TV shows, movies, books and podcasts, to ease the push and pull of what to watch. Of course, there may still be some disagreement in your household about Pix’s picks. You may never get Star Trek fans to favor Han Solo over Mr. Spock, but Pix tries to create harmonious compromises.
How to use Pix to choose what to watch
Pix operates on a blend of custom-built databases and personal recommendations from users of its sister app Likewise, which offers suggestions for what to watch and why and was built by ex-Microsoft employees and invested in by Bill Gates.
You can go to the Likewise site and search for recommendations, which will return a list of titles and further info on where they’re available to watch, but texting Pix at 550550 is much more fun. You can also access Pix via email (pix@likewise.com), the Likewise website and the Likewise app.
Pix responds to text messages in a friendly conversational tone and offers a range of titles from feature films to TV series and can help to potentially settle any arguments around what to watch, listen to or read, via its customized suggestions.
Later in the conversation, after one of Pix’s recommendations included the sitcom Modern Family, I asked for some specific episodes.
I put the tool to the test by making up a totally fake scenario that definitely never happens, in which my spouse and I are being pissy with each other. I tasked Pix with jumping through several hoops to find us the perfect things to watch that would restore harmony in the home.
Pix offered some suggestions of recent and older titles that might help set the mood to patch things up, and when I let it know I wasn’t pleased with its performance, Pix came back with a fresh batch of options.
When pressed even further to provide specific episodes of the TV show Modern Family, Pix suggested a few that would set the right tone for a makeup session.
Pix is free to use, and Likewise seems, from my poking around, to keep a highly up-to-date database. This makes it a whole lot easier to locate where you can watch anything that’s recommended, especially when time is of the essence.
