Netflix's long-awaited shuffle button will reportedly arrive this year

Can’t decide what to watch on Netflix? If so, heads up: the streaming giant appears poised to roll out a feature that will pick something for you.

During its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Netflix execs said that a new feature that “gives members the ability to choose to instantly watch a title chosen for them versus browse” will “reach all users worldwide” in the first half of the year, according to TechCrunch. Netflix later confirmed to TechCrunch that the feature will, indeed, be its long-percolating “Shuffle Play” feature.

Netflix’s shuffle feature has broken cover many times over the past several months, in one form or another. At some point, it was a shuffle feature that played a random episode of a favorite TV series, while at other times it was a “Play Something” option in the navigation bar. More recently, the feature has popped up as a “Shuffle Play” button on the home screen of its connected TV app.

Details about Netflix’s upcoming shuffle feature are still sketchy, but in past tests, the Shuffle Play function hasn’t been completely random. In previous iterations of the feature, the shuffle button would pick a show or a movie with input for Netflix’s vaunted recommendation engine, Variety reported last year. In other words, pressing “shuffle” might simply tee up a video that you’d otherwise see promoted on the Netflix home screen.

Still, a shuffle option could help resolve the dreaded Friday night paralysis that sets in when it’s time to decide what to watch on Netflix. Personally, I dread the prospect of sitting in front of the Netflix interface and clicking through row after row of “Supernatural TV Shows,” “Hidden Gems for You,” and “Futuristic Sci-Fi Movies” videos, all of which look frustratingly familiar.

Doing the Netflix shuffle is also a throwback to the days of plunking in front of the TV, picking up the remote and clicking around to see what’s on. Indeed, shuffle buttons and so-called “linear TV” offerings represent a curious rejection of (or perhaps just an alternative to) the on-demand revolution that first began back in the 1980s.

In any event, look for the Shuffle Play button (or whatever it ends up being called) to appear on your favorite Netflix app in the near future.