People thinking about getting into the podcast business like to say that podcasts have a ‘discoverability problem’, and the recent move to video is an attempt to solve that. The problem with discoverability is that the medium has not yet found a reliable, easily reproducible way to capture and maintain listeners’ attention. It’s easier to stumble upon a video curated and presented through an algorithm than to click a bunch of buttons on a dedicated app to listen to the audio.
In an attempt to secure YouTube’s dominance over the Internet’s passive viewing demographic, Netflix launched podcasts earlier this year through licensing deals with Spotify, Barstool Sports and iHeart. But if discoverability was one of Netflix’s goals, it failed miserably with its new video podcast, which quietly launched in late January.
First of all, it’s nearly impossible to stumble upon a podcast on Netflix unless you know what you’re looking for. There is no home page carousel, no links in the home navigation, and no categories in the Show Genre drop-down menu. I clicked through the homepage for a few minutes trying to find the podcast homepage, then finally gave up and typed “podcasts” into the search bar. This search gave similar results to what I expected. All of the show pages on the platform are tagged with the word “podcast” and are supposedly arranged in an inconsistent order.
In addition to the many shows it brought to the platform through licensing deals, Netflix also launched three new video-first shows this year, the titles of which could only be gleaned from the Tudum blog. From a production standpoint, the show is lackluster. White House It’s a football show that brings Michael Irvin to the small screen with his off-kilter commentary. bridgerton The companion podcast delivers all the insight and reporting thrills of a press junket, with the goodness of national media. This is fodder for the crazy, and it makes sense that Netflix has invested its resources into serving two of its most voracious and growing audiences: sports fans and romance fans.
The most interesting of the three new products is pete davidson showIt’s a self-conscious attempt to wrap pathos in irony, which in many ways is what Pete Davidson is all about.
In the cold open of the first episode, Machine Gun Kelly says, “I don’t know how to clean a bathroom.” He’s talking about Davidson’s Japanese toilet that “shoots water into the hole.” It’s a callous disclosure that betrays the editorial intent of the project. A perennial little brother, shit mixer, prolific dater, and fun-loving, Davidson is now in his early 30s. He’s the father of a newborn and seems to be using the show as a way to figure out what it means to take responsibility for someone when he’s still dealing with his own trauma. Over the course of the nearly 40-minute episode, the conversation between the two pinballs ranged between poop talk, parenting advice, EMDR therapy, rehab, manic episodes, astrology, drug-addled antics, and thoughts on fame.
This thematic aimlessness is just part of how the show takes on its most callous stance ever. Reportedly recorded in Davidson’s garage, the song may be original or unedited. For Netflix, what sets podcasts apart from other forms of media is their lack of effort. The set doesn’t just visually recreate the now-cliche “two dudes behind the mic,” though the pair also wear visible lavalier microphones taped to their shirts. This is a choice we make a conscious effort to make when reality appears on our platform. love is blind Hide your microphone. The point is to make it look easy and eliminate the usual forms of planning, writing, and editing that suck all the fun out of two friends’ goofing off. That intimate rawness is the appeal of shows like this, drawn from a producer economy that has reduced the space between ‘talent’ and viewers to the depth of a glass pane.
The first episode ends with a long shot of Machine Gun Kelly’s Polaroid photo in a scrapbook, which will become a visual motif in the next episode. Overlaid on top of the video is recorded audio between Davidson and family members. “They allowed me to perform in the garage and I thought it would allow me to be at home with Scottie more,” Davidson said, referring to his 3-month-old daughter. “And I did interviews so I could see my friends.”
pete davidson show Although simply shot with Lifetouch in the background, these shots are intentionally framed and vary in distance. The show’s lighting is dim but color-corrected, and cigarette smoke melancholy refracts the light. Occasionally, wide shots show numerous producers right next to the set, giving us a glimpse of how many people it took to make this happen. One of the things that makes this show different from other TV shows on Netflix is that there are no credits running at the end of the episodes.
Even knowing that the show is beautifully composed and filmed, it’s a decision that highlights Davidson’s efforts as a “talent” on camera. And if you’ve ever worked on a project like this, you know that there are few things more boring and difficult to edit than a cool guy who just wants to hang out with his friends. All I could think while I was watching this was that there’s no way the original recording was 38 minutes long and some poor soul took on the task of editing it to make it consistent without getting any credit for his or her work.
This affected ease defines and limits the show, and by the end of the episode I almost felt sorry for Davidson for saying he had discovered it. “It’s really hard to stay relevant and constantly reinvent yourself.” That sympathy quickly evaporated after I remembered that the man I was thinking of had spent more than a quarter of a million dollars on an old Staten Island Ferry that had turned into a logistical nightmare.
In the first few episodes, Davidson hints at professional difficulties. He high-fived Machine Gun Kelly and said their careers took a downward turn at the same time. Even 10 years ago, the opportunity to take on a Netflix project meant a lot to a comedian. At the time, they were still experimenting with form and giving people a significant amount of creative freedom. Likewise, if Davidson had started his podcast 10 years ago, he would have been hugely popular with many of his contemporaries in the industry. But in 2026 pete davidson show Both the format and the streaming era are late. At this point, he’s just another guy running a podcast.
