The Joy Of TV Channel Surfing On TikTok

If your TikTok For You page (aka FYP) looks anything like mine, you’re probably used to this sort of pattern: a Shameless clip, a pumpkin bread recipe, a PEN15 scene, and a satisfying bottle roll. But then you’re stopped by a high-adrenaline Chicago Med scene — anything from doctors going rogue to help a patient to finding out a patient’s husband has been unfaithful through a Zika diagnosis.

Before you know it, you’re dozens of clips in. For me, minutes added up to hours, and I now know the inner motivations of every doctor who works at the fictional hospital and could confidently tell you how they’d react to any given emergency, even though I’ve never “watched” the show, per se.

But this is watching, right? For as much as TikTok heralds the future of how we do, well, everything, the phenomenon of scrolling TikTok for a movie or TV clip that piques your interest is reminiscent of the best parts of classic cable or satellite channel surfing: skimming the lineup of usual suspects until you stumble upon a new show — that’s how I fell in love with Gilmore Girls reruns on ABC Family in 2008 — or settle into an old favorite.

It’s a casually serendipitous viewing experience streamers Netflix, Max, or Hulu can’t quite replicate — but TikTok can.

If this phenomenon hasn’t consumed your rising screen time yet, here’s how it works: You’re scrolling the FYP when a clip captures your interest. You might watch along with the commenters, many of whom ask questions (“name of movie?”) or make demands of the uploader (“next part pls” or “chop chop movie boy”). Said uploader is often a faceless, random user, but some of these top accounts are rewarded with millions of followers. From their profile, you can navigate to TikTok’s handy “Just Watched” button, find your clip, and continue watching the movie or TV show part by part — typically about two to three minutes each.

It’s a few more steps than selecting a show from your TV Guide, but you arrive at the same place, with a new title you’re excited to invest in, or one you’re simply happy to pass the time with while making lunch. Either way, as Americans increasingly move away from traditional, paid TV — with a mere 38% expected to keep subscribing to cable or satellite services by 2027, per a PwC forecast — it’s nice to see the art of channel surfing meet viewers where they are: the FYP.

Of course, if you’re a seasoned consumer of TikTok TV clips, you know they tend to look a little... off. (Even when they’re not paired with slime or soap-cutting videos in a bizarre split screen.) Taylor Cole Miller, Ph.D, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, tells Bustle that the audio and visual quirks common in these videos — think awkward zooms, filters, or sped-up sound — likely help the uploaders evade automatic content checkers that could get the clips taken down on copyright grounds.

But despite coming from unofficial channels, some of the platform’s most-viewed pirated videos might be turning TikTok scrollers into proper viewers. Earlier this year, for example, Maid went viral on TikTok nearly two years after debuting on Netflix — and promptly re-entered the streamer’s Top 10 list. Not even the show’s bevy of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations in 2022 prompted such a boost.

As Miller points out, TikTok clips have become a “recommendation engine” for him and his Gen Z students. “They provide a portal directly into one of the more interesting parts of a series or a movie,” says Miller, who also runs the TV history TikTok @tvdoc. “And then you can decide whether or not it really tickles your interest.”

Recently, I did decide to take my affair with Chicago Med clips to the next level by watching the show on Peacock — so Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise has gained at least one viewer from TikTok. I was pleasantly surprised to see several medical emergencies from the app appear in the first few episodes, which made me worry: Did I accidentally watch this whole show on my phone?

But alas, between the brief clips and TikTok cropping, I’d missed a few teeny details — like the fact that a main character is pregnant at the start of the series. So, as much as I love the FYP, you do lose some context. And that’s a good thing! Now I have a new show to dig into, one that’s simultaneously familiar and full of character development and details I’ll enjoy marathoning on my actual TV. As a longtime Grey’s Anatomy girl, I never thought I’d get into a second medical drama. But the all-knowing FYP has shown me that there is, in fact, room for another in my life.