It's an all-too-familiar frustration for film fans - wanting to yell at the character who picks up the wrong suitcase, forgets the torch batteries or assumes wrongly the killer is dead. 

But the days of yelling impotently at the screen when someone does something dumb could be numbered thanks to a new generation of interactive content giving the viewer control of the story. 

Leading the charge is Netflix, which is conducting its first experiment in "branching narratives" with DreamWorks animated series "The Adventures of Puss in Boots" and stop-motion show "Buddy Thunderstruck." 

One-off episodes of both shows which dropped recently on the streaming service bring the "choose your own adventure" format seen in 1980s novels to Internet TV. Viewers are asked at various points what their character should do next, and are able to navigate to numerous possible endings by making decisions using their remote controls or touch screen devices. 

Another such show, "Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout" - based on the 1970s' US action figure - is scheduled to air on Netflix next year. 

"Most of the episodes are straight, linear, traditional Saturday morning cartoon-type episodes," said "Buddy Thunderstruck" creator Ryan Wiesbrock, an executive at media company American Greetings Entertainment.  

Consumers have been spoiled or choice since the 1980s when it comes to role-playing games and "choose your own adventure"-style novels, while the best video games look almost as good these days as the most sumptuous movie. Films like "Wayne's World" (1992), "Sliding Doors" (1998) and "28 Days Later" (2002) have toyed with the idea of multiple endings but none has allowed the viewer to shape the narrative in real time.

"Think of a show like 'Lost'... Just knowing from the get-go it's going to be interactive, it affects the stories you would tell, how you tell them and how people would receive them," said Eric Towner, a director of "Buddy Thunderstruck". 

(Cover photo: "The Adventures of Puss in Boots" via DreamWorksTV)