Despite even our best, most slothful efforts, it is impossible to watch everything on screens big and small these days. We must prioritize. But how do we avoid wasting our time with television and movies we realize too late are just kind of "eh"?
The makers of CharacTour are on it. The site bills itself as a sort of OkCupid-IMDb mashup that aims to help us find not only our next favorite movie or TV show, but our new favorite video game and book, too. Like a dating app, the site has given 4,500 characters from popular shows and films their own profile pages, and visitors decide how they want to be matched. (Unlike a dating app, matches are unable to send gross pick-up lines.) The idea is, if we fall in love with one character, we'll fall in love with the show/movie/game/book they're in, too.
Although I'm skeptical of the premise -- I find myself drawn to shows more for their cast dynamic, setting, or other factors -- CharacTour is fun to play with. I spent a few minutes trying out all the different ways to get matched up and was pretty pleased with the outcomes.
My personality quiz results told me I'm 80 percent similar to Jennifer Lawrence's "Silver Linings Playbook" character, therefore may like the movie. (I loved it.)
When I mashed up two characters I adore, Cersei Lannister from "Game of Thrones" and Liz Lemon from "30 Rock," the site took qualities from both of them and spat out Jeremy Goodwin from "Sports Night" as the top match. (I never watched Aaron Sorkin's short-lived sports dramedy, although it is on Hulu, so maybe one day.) My attempt to "design" a character from a list of traits -- I chose "chatty," "lazy," "sensitive" and "homicidal" -- left me with Trevor Philips from the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." (I'm not sure what I was expecting.)
CharacTour's Browse feature, however, may be its most useful asset -- the site lets you filter shows and movies by time period, location, and Netflix availability. In the end, if it's not streamable, there's a slim chance I'll end up watching.
Get a taste of the character "designer" below, and head to the site for the full experience. (Please note: The below currently works best on desktop.)
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