Market Saturation's Unexpected Upside

Din Djarin and Grogu, also known as The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda. I will see them soon. Image courtesy The Walt Disney Company.

Earlier today I sat in a local diner eating a tomato and cheese omelette with wheat toast and the radio was on. Well, it wasn’t the radio, it was some kind of streaming station — maybe Pandora, maybe another service — but the owners of the establishment had it on the free or cheap setting because in between Pat Benatar and Mister Mister songs there were some ads. One of them reminded me that very soon The Mandalorian and Grogu was coming to a theater near me.

“I will see this movie,” I thought to myself, “but I will skip the press screening. Not worth the bus fare.” (Though a press screening is “free,” a local ticket is also ostensibly free, as I am an AMC “A-List” member holding a monthly pass that is, I am happy to report, tax deductible for me.) I can, and will, wait a few days.

I watched and enjoyed seasons one and two of The Mandalorian (especially the episodes with Bill Burr’s Migs Mayfeld) but the fact that I’ve taken an “I’ll get around to it” attitude to season three speaks for itself. The sense of urgency is gone with Star Wars, at least for me, and maybe for you, too.

There are, quite simply, too many Star Wars shows, most of which I have not even started, and the fact that they are always available means that I’ll probably never watch them.

This surely exposes my old school Gen X “appointment viewing” mindset, but the eternal availability of streaming has, in some ways, kneecapped the product. I have gone from “Counting Down” (remember CountingDown.com?) to just not giving a shit. Corporate mismanagement of the brand has done something I never thought would happen: it’s made me grow up a bit.

Is this a bad thing or a good thing? I don’t exactly know. But it’s a thing. I now live in a world (a galaxy?) where I only need to push a button with my snout and get a new Star Wars pellet. I don’t know if there is any correlation but I am also someone who, if I find myself with an extra hour, would rather go read a book or walk in the park or maybe make dinner with my wife. As a fella from another science fiction property is wont to say: “Fascinating.”

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To my regular readers, I apologize for the gap in updates here on HOFFSTACK. I hope to put an end to that now. No specific excuses, I’ve just been busy. More soon!