If your late-night scroll has ever landed you forty episodes deep into a show about a pregnant werewolf with amnesia, you already know about vertical microdramas. These are ninety-second soap operas made specifically for your phone, shot vertically, and packed with plot twists that make absolutely no sense and somehow work anyway. Surprise quadruplets, secret billionaires, evil twins, you name it.
The wild part is that this scrappy, low-budget format has become a genuine lifeline for the entertainment industry during a rocky stretch. Fans keep tuning in because it’s fast, addictive, and honestly more fun than a lot of what’s on streaming. Slate’s ICYMI podcast recently explored the trend with Yahoo’s Kelsey Weekman, and the verdict was clear: these shows are ridiculous, they’re poorly written, and we should absolutely protect them.
That’s where the worry kicks in. AI is already threatening the format, since these episodes are cheap and quick enough for machines to mass-produce. If that happens, we lose the chaotic human charm that makes microdramas so weirdly lovable in the first place.
So what’s your take? Would you still watch if AI started writing them, or is the messiness the whole point?
Have you fallen down the microdrama rabbit hole yet?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.