Appreciation post: going from weekly episode drops to full season dumps changed how I watch shows

I used to watch shows as they aired, one episode a week, waiting for Mondays to get the next part. Now I only start a series if the whole season is out on streaming. I made the switch around 2021 after I got hooked on a show that aired weekly and I forgot half the plot by the time the finale came around. It drove me nuts keeping track of characters and side stories over 10 weeks. Now I just wait until I see a post saying "full season out" and I binge it in a weekend. It feels more satisfying to get the whole story at once without commercials or gaps. Has anyone else quit weekly watching because the wait kills the momentum for you?

3 comments

3 Comments

harpery478d ago

Does the binge approach ever backfire for you though? I tried that with a heavy drama and by episode 6 I was completely checked out, felt like I was forcing myself through it just to finish. How do you decide if a show is worth committing a whole weekend to versus just waiting to hear if the ending actually sticks the landing?

lunaf678d ago

Same thing happened to me with Ozark. I started spacing episodes out, one per night with no skipping ahead. That way if I lose interest I can just drop it without feeling like I wasted a whole weekend.

anthony_campbell888d ago

Actually a lot of it comes down to the show's structure. Procedural shows or comedies with standalone episodes? Those are perfect for binging because there's no heavy emotional investment. But serialized dramas with dense plots, those are weekend traps. I learned this the hard way with The Leftovers, by episode 4 I was just staring at the ceiling. Now I check the episode length and tone before committing. If episodes are 50+ minutes and everyone online says it's emotionally draining, I know to pace it out over a couple weeks instead of one sitting.