I could see the combination of missing out on talking about it by being weeks late, and having to dodge spoilers left and right adding some pressure to finish things off quick.
yep 100% so glad this is a week to week thing. i like to watch episodes, sit with them, re-watch them, discuss them in places like this more than i like sitting on a couch for 9 hours and watching an entire season and rush online to talk about everything.
also fwiw i cannot access my account/log in at all right now. chalking it up to launch day server issues but by the time i get home later i really hope its sorted out.
It's not really just about the pressure I feel, but there are a few reasons why I dislike the binge model: First of all, mainly, is spoilers. I (and many others obviously) don't have the ability to sit and binge an entire season's worth of episodes in one session. But the people who do have that ability then like to go on social media and spoil stuff either through outright saying what happens or (the hardest thing to avoid these days) making stuff into memes. Twitter filters and things like that only go so far, and it's just unrealistic to expect someone to completely avoid the internet until they're done watching a show in 2019. So I worry that if I don't finish as quickly as possible I'll stumble upon something that spoils a show for me no matter how careful I try to be. Then there's the discussion angle. When pretty much everyone is on the same schedule, it makes the discussion so much better. I can't have a productive conversation with friends about a Netflix show when they've already finished it but I'm still on episode 5/13. Also, connected to the spoilers problem, not knowing how far someone is in a show can lead to you inadvertently spoiling something for them, or having them spoil something for you. This fear almost always just results in discussions outright ending because people can't always keep track of what specifically happened in each specific episode, especially while binging. Stuff can tend to blur together. So instead of risking accidentally spoiling something that you forgot happens in episode 6 when the person you're talking to is only up to 5, it's safer to just not talk about it. That sucks. When everyone is on the same schedule, if you fall behind after having a week to watch just one episode that's more the individual's fault. But also, still on discussion, it's just more fun to have everyone wondering what's going to happen next all at the same time. Those kinds of discussions are so much better, it's exciting and it makes you feel like you're part of a community all experiencing the story at the same pace. I love that. The weekly model helps build fanbases better than the binge model too, in my opinion; when a season is spread out over several weeks it keeps the show in the conversation and maybe helps more people get into the show than otherwise would have. When a show gets bingedumped, it stays relevant for what, like, a week? And then it disappears from the public consciousness for a year or more. If it doesn't build all the hype it needs to create a fanbase and get enough streams to justify its continued existence in that short amount of time then it's already too late, another new season or series (or two) is going up the following Friday. Not every show can be a Stranger Things-style instant megahit. That's a harsh landscape to launch new shows into and can't be good for the morale of the creatives working on these shows. Further, I think that the rise of instant gratification and the binge model has helped make TV more disposable at a time when, from a quality standpoint, TV is arguably better than it has ever been in history. I have to say that I do feel like I retain information less when I binge a show than when I watch it weekly and have a few days afterward to think about and discuss each episode. It makes me feel like I'm checking boxes off a list as opposed to enjoying a leisure activity. It makes it feel like work. So idk that's just my opinion on the matter. People are free to disagree, I'm not trying to convince anyone I'm right. I'm just glad this is going to be a weekly series.
Granted the weekly model doesn't solve all those problems perfectly either! I woke up early to watch the episode before getting ready for work because I knew there was supposed to be a big reveal of something in it and didn't want to risk being spoiled, but my brother (who wasn't able to watch yet) literally just texted me and said he happened to open upTwitter and like one of the first things he saw on his feed was someone talking about the Yoda baby! That sucks! But it helps, is all I'm saying.
I just wanted to join in to say I am also anti-binge. The first Netflix show I've gotten into was Stranger Things and it bums me out that the discussion/discourse about the show only lasts like 2-3 weeks after its released.
If that. I feel like in most cases it's literally moved on within a weekend to a week, especially if something else big comes out the following week.
Maybe the week to week discussion isn't important to EVERY show but I'm trying to imagine watching like, Game of Thrones, or The Leftovers, as a binge. All the weekly questions and theorizing and shit really added to the experience of watching them
I love having access to the entire season and was planning on waiting until this finished to watch but after watching I'm definitely sticking with it each week. I loved it and can't wait to see where it goes.
Watchmen is one where I was planning on watching it weekly but I've already fallen off, ha. I just want to wait until I can watch it all. Honestly I usually forget about things happening weekly.
If at 18:30 that isn’t Boba Fett then A)someone took his armor or B)Filoni and Favreau are fucking with us.