When I watch a TV series, I’m always a little bit gutted when it’s one of those standalone episodes that doesn’t move the main plot forward.
Or, as the Barenaked Ladies sang about the X-Files:
“I hope the Smoking Man’s in this one”
If you tuned into Mulder and Scully and caught a glimpse of an old white guy lighting up a Morley’s in the shadows, you knew you were in for a belter of an episode.
I was thinking about this over the past few days, as I’ve been rewatching The Mentalist.
For any non-mental fans out there, the main plot revolves around tracking down the notorious serial killer, Red John (no relation, though definitely an inspiration) – the man who butchered Patrick Jane’s family.
I like murder mysteries, but even I remember watching the series every week and thinking it was a bloody slog.
I’ve seen Glaciers make faster progress.
They bled that single reveal dry for six seasons – the same time it took “Lost” to wrap up every single one of their 4,000 Gordian plot knots.
I remember losing patience with the Mentalist and giving up.
As the entire series is on Prime though, I thought I’d give it a rewatch. Only, to save me having to consume 120+ episodes to get to the big reveal, I thought I’d Google:
“Which episodes of the Mentalist feature Red John?”
The answer? 15.
Now, instead of having to time block 3 weeks out of my hectic calendar so I can finally say “wait – it was Sheriff McCallister? REALLY?”, I just need to find ten hours or so.
And as a man who has very little going on in his life, that’s a doodle.
(That sounds way more depressing than I intended)
Hell, I made it through four seasons’ worth of episodes in one day.
(Again, that’s a depressing thing for me to boast about)
There’s a lot to be said for focusing on the bits that move the needle. Not only do you get to where you want to go faster… it’s also a more enjoyable journey too, as every step feels like you’re actually making progress.
I think this is one of the reasons people enjoy my email writing course “Sent.”.
It’s not the “Encyclopedic encyclopedia of everything email” course because Lord knows, I’m not the guy to make that course.
Besides, you don’t need to know absolutely everything about email, copywriting, or hosiery repair to write money-making emails.
Instead, “Sent.” is the “Red John” needle moving episodes of email marketing – the pieces that help you sit down and effortlessly write an email that sells AND sounds like something you would write…
WITHOUT getting bogged down in boring, standalone episodes that don’t advance the plot.
“Sent.” is delivered day-by-day via email over 15 days, meaning you can either take it one episode at a time… or do what I’d do and wait for everything and then binge the hell out of it in one sitting.
There’s also a daily video, in case you prefer watching rather than reading.
Oh, and there’s also a bunch of FREE bonuses you’ll get when you join today though, in true TV cliffhanger tradition, you’ll have to click through to this page to see what they are:
https://insertgaghere.com/sent/
(10 bonus points if you can use your Mentalist powers to spot my favourite testimonial)
If you’re looking for a way to enjoy procedural copy TV shows, I’d heartily recommend Googling the relevant episodes.
If you’re looking for a way to write an email that sells without feeling like a sleazeball, I’d heartily recommend “Sent.”.
Check out the lovely things people have said about it here:
https://insertgaghere.com/sent/
John