We live in a need it now world. We don't want to wait in line at the store, so we have self checkouts because everyone thinks they can do it themselves better than the cashier. We have smart phones and can access the Internet, social media, and email any time we want instead of turning on the computer when you get home. Hell, I even wrote part of this on my phone thanks to an app. So once streaming services started producing their own content and releasing it all at once, there was no longer a seven day wait for the next episode. Binge watching a new season became normal. Sitting down over the course of a weekend to watch all the new episodes is now typical behavior. I just don't see how people can do that. I don't understand how they can keep focused for four or five hours at a time to watch a handful of episodes all at once. To be honest, I have done this once. When Netflix released 'Wet Hot American Summer: First Day' we sat down and watched all the episodes. It's a little different with thirty minute episodes, which is what it was. And it was funny and you didn't really have to pay attention to small details or conversations. Just recently, the new season of 'House of Cards' was released and people were on social media talking about the entire season just a few days after it came out. Full disclosure: I haven't watched any of that show, so I don't know how intense or detailed it is. But still, that has to be tough.
There are shows that I want to watch over a two or three day span. When 'Daredevil' comes out at the end of the month, I might be tempted. I watched the first season an episode at a time over a few weeks time frame. Holding onto the old ways of waiting I guess. What I have found is that I'm good for two new episodes of dramas or shows that are an hour long. I have trouble keeping focused after two new episodes. I get thinking about stuff I could be doing other than watching a show. Plus, it's going to be there the next day. But again, with a thirty minute comedy, that's different. Maybe because it is so short, you feel that it's only an hour if you watch two and you still have the drive to watch more. Right now, I'm in the midst of the second season of 'Arrow'. It's good, and as I watch the episodes, I want to watch more than two because character development and action sequences are starting to pick up. But I've tried watching a third episode. What ends up happening, if I can get through it, is that I forget what happened. So I end up re-watching the episode.
There is also the fact that after watching television shows for so long the traditional way, you are use to waiting to see what happens. You are use to having time to digest what has happened. One of the drawbacks to binge watching is you don't get that downtime to think about what is happening to the characters or what might happen in the next episode. You get that instant gratification, but the anticipation of the new episode is gone. Watching shows like '24' and 'The Walking Dead' they leave you reeling with cliff hangers or character injury/death that you have to deal with for an entire week (or more) before you find out what happened. I mean, how intense was it wondering what happened to Glenn for those two weeks Walking Dead fans? How long did you mourn President David Palmer, Tony, and Michelle 24 fans? It was great. That is the allure of television. The waiting and the anticipation of the next episode.
Some years in the future, the not too distant future the way technology develops, we will look at waiting seven days for the next episode as just plain crazy. Even now, it's starting to become a relic. With on demand television, you can miss an episode or two and still catch up on it. You can wait until the weekend and catch up on all the shows you would have to plan your evenings around. Is it only a matter of time before cable and network channels stop broadcasting new episodes on a weekly basis? At what point will we start to see whole seasons of sitcoms being released all at once? It doesn't feel like it's that far away. When that happens, that might just be the death of the television station. Or at the very least, the death of the television station as we know it. It will become something else. Something new. And what that is I am interested to see.
There are shows that I want to watch over a two or three day span. When 'Daredevil' comes out at the end of the month, I might be tempted. I watched the first season an episode at a time over a few weeks time frame. Holding onto the old ways of waiting I guess. What I have found is that I'm good for two new episodes of dramas or shows that are an hour long. I have trouble keeping focused after two new episodes. I get thinking about stuff I could be doing other than watching a show. Plus, it's going to be there the next day. But again, with a thirty minute comedy, that's different. Maybe because it is so short, you feel that it's only an hour if you watch two and you still have the drive to watch more. Right now, I'm in the midst of the second season of 'Arrow'. It's good, and as I watch the episodes, I want to watch more than two because character development and action sequences are starting to pick up. But I've tried watching a third episode. What ends up happening, if I can get through it, is that I forget what happened. So I end up re-watching the episode.
There is also the fact that after watching television shows for so long the traditional way, you are use to waiting to see what happens. You are use to having time to digest what has happened. One of the drawbacks to binge watching is you don't get that downtime to think about what is happening to the characters or what might happen in the next episode. You get that instant gratification, but the anticipation of the new episode is gone. Watching shows like '24' and 'The Walking Dead' they leave you reeling with cliff hangers or character injury/death that you have to deal with for an entire week (or more) before you find out what happened. I mean, how intense was it wondering what happened to Glenn for those two weeks Walking Dead fans? How long did you mourn President David Palmer, Tony, and Michelle 24 fans? It was great. That is the allure of television. The waiting and the anticipation of the next episode.
Some years in the future, the not too distant future the way technology develops, we will look at waiting seven days for the next episode as just plain crazy. Even now, it's starting to become a relic. With on demand television, you can miss an episode or two and still catch up on it. You can wait until the weekend and catch up on all the shows you would have to plan your evenings around. Is it only a matter of time before cable and network channels stop broadcasting new episodes on a weekly basis? At what point will we start to see whole seasons of sitcoms being released all at once? It doesn't feel like it's that far away. When that happens, that might just be the death of the television station. Or at the very least, the death of the television station as we know it. It will become something else. Something new. And what that is I am interested to see.
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