QUIBI.

• Author: Suderman, Peter

With Quibi, television has finally come to the smallest screen. It has long been possible to watch Netflix, Hulu, HBO, or any other streaming video service on a smartphone. But the programs on those platforms were designed to be watched on a big TV screen.

Quibi was built with a different vision of the viewing experience. The name was derived from the words "quick bites," and for a few dollars a month, that's what it serves. Episodes are capped at 10 minutes. Some run as few as five. Content is viewable exclusively on phones and tablets, and visuals switch seamlessly between vertical and horizontal screen orientations. Quibi was made for a mobile world.

Although I didn't love any of the half-dozen shows I sampled, the format made it stand out from the rest of the streaming pack. Quibi's launch offerings seemed disposable, but maybe that's the point. From comic books to...