Is it time to day goodbye to the binge watch?

[jo]

The Guardian has an article discussing the move by streamers away from the "drop all episodes at once" model in favour of weekly episodes, and what this might mean for binge watching.

Do you regularly binge watch shows, or do you prefer weekly drops? Or some sort of combination of the two? How do you even define bingeing? Do you agree with the writer's position that the new status marker for television is "not being the one show everyone watched in a weekend – an accomplishment harder and harder to come by anyways – but the one people look forward to week after week"?

Comments

[goodbyebird]

Very glad to see a shift back. All at once drops are exhausting if you want to exist on the internet and not get spoiled, and depressing if you finish it two weeks later and find that nobody's talking about it anymore.

Also, it doesn't leave any space to digest what is happening + has had a lot of creators pacing their show like it's one long movie and NO.

I find I'll binge stuff I'm casually watching, but very much try to cull that behavior when it's good and engaging.

[jo]

The thing that annoys me most about weekly drops is that if it's a show that has a fairly complex plot and/or lots of characters, I find I forget details of the plot, and/or lose track of things/characters or get otherwise confused, or just have trouble actually getting into the series. Because of that, I will often hold off starting a series until there are a sufficient number of episodes available (at least half, but usually closer to 80%). I don't then binge them in the usual sense of the word, but do like to be able to watch them on consecutive days, or maybe the first two back to back, which really helps me get into the thing and get a feel for the plot/characters, etc. Like, I am really glad all of Severance was available by the time it came to my attention, because if I'd gone into that one on a weekly drop basis, well, I don't know if I'd have been able to get into it properly. Obviously, your bog-standard US network-type shows are not sufficiently complex 99% of the time for this to be an issue, so weekly viewing is no biggie.

But even shows that do drop all at once, I rarely jump on them right away (still haven't seen season 4 of Stranger Things!), and rarely watch more than one episode at a time, or even on consecutive nights.

I don't have issues with social media and spoilers because I use only Twitter, and primarily for work purposes and staying informed re: Covid, so don't really look at it at all after work hours. TV stuff rarely appears in my feed.

[yourlibrarian]

Severance is a good example. I'd never have finished that season if I had to watch it weekly.

[goodbyebird]

With streaming platforms, nobody's forced to watch it week by week though. They can wait and watch at their own pace, when that suits them.

I don't have issues with social media and spoilers because I use only Twitter, and primarily for work purposes and staying informed re: Covid

Yeah it's more of an issue when you'd like to participate in fandoms and discuss theories and such.

[rocky41_7]

I prefer the weekly drop honestly, even if I don't watch it on the dot at release. Binging has never been for me; I can't sit still and watch that much TV so I cap out at 2-3 episodes a sitting unless there are extenuating circumstances. I also love the speculation and discussion that comes after a weekly drop! Back in the pre-plague times my office was all watching Game of Thrones (yeah F in the chat for S8) but it was so much fun to come in on Monday and gather around someone's cubicle for an impromptu discussion of what happened on this weekend's episode. And it's nice to have something little to look forward to ^.^ If they go back to weekly, I wonder if they'll bring back "last week on [Show]" recaps?

[jo]

As I posted in reply to another comment, when it comes to weekly drop shows, I often won't start them until at least half, if not most, episodes have dropped. While I rarely actually binge watch, I do feel the need to watch episodes closer together (e.g. consecutive days) in order to be able to get into the show, especially if the plot is fairly complex.

I don't think I've ever had workplace discussions about a TV show, because it always seems that no one else watches the shows I like to watch, or we watch them on different time frames (I usually torrent things rather than wait until they appear on something that I have actual access to, for example).

[feurioo]

I prefer the all-at-once release. That way, I can watch at my own speed without ever having to fear that I could run out of material. I remember thinking this was super irritating during the second season of The Boys.

That said, it was kind of sad that barely anyone still talked about The Bear's season two a month after it was released all at once on Hulu -- and, later, on Disney+. It's definitely one of those shows that feel like weekly-drop material to me.

[jo]

I watch at my own speed regardless with some shows -- if they're weekly, I won't start them until most of the episodes have dropped.

[olivermoss]

I massively, massively prefer weekly episodes.

Binge watching can be fun. I think Stranger Things and it's specific structure without traditional acts works way better as a binge. Part of why the show is so good is that it's structured fundamentally differently from most shows and a lot of things hit differently because of it. That said, I prefer weekly shows and the way fandom builds around those shows. I like to stay ahead of spoilers, but with binge watching that becomes miserable.

[yourlibrarian]

I find that with streaming essentially any older show (or season) can be binged. I have caught up on many with daily viewing of episodes, and then everyone ends up waiting for a new season (if we're lucky).

I do think that for fandom purposes, having a weekly model works better. Gives everyone a chance to catch up and weigh in before the next installment.

[bleodswean]

I prefer the weekly drops. The anticipation, the shared experience, the trying to sort the storyline and get deeper into the characters. I find binge-watching to be headache inducing and never really as thoroughly satisfying as installments.

I do like to be able to binge old favourites, or even old shows that are pretty much spoiled.

We had a ton of fun last year with House of the Dragon and, of course, I will never ever forget the excitement rendered by the first season of True Detective.

[jo]

I don't do any fandom stuff, and almost never have discussions about TV/streaming programs with anyone so there's rarely any sense of a shared experience for me. The few people I know who also watch some of the shows I like never seem to watch them at the same that I do, so discussing them is never possible.

[bleodswean]

That makes sense then, if a viewer isn’t part of a formal or informal “watch party”. It would be more gratifying to not have to wait!

[mcbangle]

I'm happy to see that more shows are moving toward weekly releases. I find it very stressful when new seasons of my favorite shows drop all at once, to the point that my fear of being spoiled and the pressure to stay up late to binge more episodes than I'd ordinarily want to can lessen my enjoyment of the show.

I also really enjoy the anticipation of looking forward to the next episode, discussing the latest episode with friends and fellow fans, speculating about what will happen next, etc. IMO, the bingewatching model really misses out on those opportunities to build up and maintain excitement. When I'm watching something weekly, I'm excited about it for months at a time, and that enjoyment sticks with me for long after the season ends. In contrast when I binge something, that excitement usually wears off after a couple of days or weeks (depending on how much I enjoyed it).

[goodbyebird]

when I binge something, that excitement usually wears off after a couple of days or weeks

Big same. And without the space to process it, a lot of phenomenal scenes don't even stick with me, because it was right on to the next thing.

I'm having so much fun with Wheel of Time atm, a whole bunch of us collectively chomping at the bit for the next episode while discussing the previous. And soon Our Flag Means Death is back to do the same.

[saddlerfan]

For me it depends on the kind of show. Something like Narcos or DARK is best when binge-watched, but there are other shows that work weekly as well. It's kinda funny how the streaming services are now trying to move back to the good old "weekly episodes" model that we always had before said streaming services showed up.

[jo]

Dark was especially best binged once all three seasons were available. The gaps between seasons was so long, I'd forget so much and remained utterly confused for a few episodes of the new season.

[shadowkat]

I'm not binge watching as much as I used to. It took me four weeks to finish Good Omens, and three to finish Foundation. I can't - the television shows are all shot at night or in the dark, so I have to watch them on rainy days or at night in order to see what is going on. And I can't watch five hours of television at night or even three - two is pushing it.

And I get why they are moving away from the model - if you drop all the episodes in one swoop, you get people who do free subscriptions for seven days, then jump out after they finished watching the show. But if you drop it weekly - like Hulu did with Justified: City Primeval or Disney did with its shows - you have people buy a subscription and hang around longer.

[adafrog]

I prefer an all at once drop because I sometimes get distracted, or forget which platform I was watching something on. Also, I don't generally pay attention to when a new episode is added, so unless they tell me, I have no idea.