Binge Watching
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Netflix has started a fairly new way to watch a new season of a TV show - the binge view.
Of course binging itself isn't new at all. If you owned all of the VHS cassettes of MASH in the 90's you could spend a Saturday watching episode after episode. My personal poison was Star Trek The Next Generation. I was a crazy 20 something in the mid 90's and bought the entire series on VHS, two episodes at a time (man, I don't want to think of the amount of money I spent on that).
Anyway, back on topic - So binging isn't new, but binging a new show is pretty new. Netflix now delivers entire seasons at once. This is awesome right? No more waiting a whole week for the next episode, no more cliff hangers, well expect for the end of season one of course. This is what we've always wanted, right?
I used to think so too. But now I'm starting to reconsider.
I recently finished watching Luke Cage. I knew nothing about the Marvel Universe character, and frankly didn't really care, but my wife wanted to watch, so we watched it. It took about 10 days to make it through the 13 episodes. In the end I didn't even realize it was over.
I saw a post this morning on Facebook talking about it, so I decided to toss my two cents about the show in, and I realized that these binge shows just don't seem to be sticking to me. In general I don't end up that excited about the show. When I realized that I decided to write this post and see what others think about binge watching new shows?I think the lack of common shared viewing time, something that was already shaken up by the DVR, has caused people in general to be out of sync with each other in relation to these shows. No longer can you go to work the next day and just assume that everyone watched the show the previous night. Now you have to tit toe around discussions to not spoil it for someone. In my office this has lead to almost no discussion about TV shows at all. The lack of discussion I think leads to a significantly lower impact that that show has on a person.
OK I've rambled enough to start this discussion - what do you think?
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I hadn't thought about it that way. I however have been one of those people that does tend to wait till a full season is out to watch it for the last few years. I only have so much time each week and tend to need a down day to really just watch stuff.
@gjacobse and I however tend to watch TWD at the same time and talk about it via skype either while watching or the next morning. And yes those shows do tend to stick with me more when I have someone to talk about them with.
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I like it. It allows me to watch the show on my schedule without having to worry, too much, about spoilers or people talking about it. I, however, am not one for water cooler talk and talking about new shows really never interested me even when I had to watch them once a week, which thankfully was only for a few years before we got a DVR.
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people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
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@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
Spoilers never bothered me too much. The enjoyment for me is the story as a whole not the one twist at the end.
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@coliver said in Binge Watching:
I like it. It allows me to watch the show on my schedule
This is very much true for my wife and I... We start the going to be process with our kiddo usually about the time the shows we want to watch start coming on.
Just add Hulu, et al, and we're good to watch it the next day.
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My wife and I generally binge watch shows we like together. Nurse Jackie was the last major one that we watched together. A few episodes a night for the better part of a month until it was over. Excellent show just got really depressing toward the end. Then she watches some shows on her own and I watch others on my own. If we had to wait for a specific time chances are there would be a conflict in there somewhere.
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@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
No longer can you go to work the next day and just assume that everyone watched the show the previous night.
We still get this in the UK. Every Thursday morning nearly half the country will be discussing the previous night's "Great British Bake-Off" episode.
But yeah, it is annoying when you desperately want to discuss the finale of Stranger Things and everyone's like "don't tell me, I'm only on episode 7"
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I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
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@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
I will disagree with you, mostly. Some spoilers are less important than others.
My friend ruined The Matrix for me by telling me it was a computer world - that was the whole big reveal of the movie! WTF! sure, the rest was fine, but not coming to that understanding as you're meant to by the director definitely takes something away from the viewing experience..
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@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
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@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
Calling people who don't dedicate their schedules to watching the one or two most popular shows are not extreme. That's one of the saddest comments on American life ever. You don't have to be "extreme" to not watch the lowest common denominator mindless entertainment.
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@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
Calling people who don't dedicate their schedules to watching the one or two most popular shows are not extreme. That's one of the saddest comments on American life ever. You don't have to be "extreme" to not watch the lowest common denominator mindless entertainment.
That is your opinion and not does nothing to dispute his point for anyone but you.
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I wonder what percentage of people have ever had the shared viewing phenomenon. I didn't have it ever, and I grew up in the era of just four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS.) If you watched television, chances are you saw the same things as other people. And it still wasn't a high enough percentage to create the effect. I wonder if it is actually a very small group that ever managed to have that effect and, for all intents and purposes, I would guess that it died with cable before DVR and Netflix. People were watching differently, at different times, for a very long time.
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@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
Calling people who don't dedicate their schedules to watching the one or two most popular shows are not extreme. That's one of the saddest comments on American life ever. You don't have to be "extreme" to not watch the lowest common denominator mindless entertainment.
That is your opinion and not does nothing to dispute his point for anyone but you.
Does it? How many people here watch the same shows, even at different times?
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@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
I will disagree with you, mostly. Some spoilers are less important than others.
My friend ruined The Matrix for me by telling me it was a computer world - that was the whole big reveal of the movie! WTF! sure, the rest was fine, but not coming to that understanding as you're meant to by the director definitely takes something away from the viewing experience..
That's a great example. That movie was terrible and depended solely on you being surprised there. If you rewatch the movie without the surprise, it's pretty bad.
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@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
Calling people who don't dedicate their schedules to watching the one or two most popular shows are not extreme. That's one of the saddest comments on American life ever. You don't have to be "extreme" to not watch the lowest common denominator mindless entertainment.
That is your opinion and not does nothing to dispute his point for anyone but you.
Does it? How many people here watch the same shows, even at different times?
Today is different than the 80's. You claim to be a special snowflake in this case. Fine, be one, I will not argue it. But be aware that it is what you are.
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@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
I will disagree with you, mostly. Some spoilers are less important than others.
My friend ruined The Matrix for me by telling me it was a computer world - that was the whole big reveal of the movie! WTF! sure, the rest was fine, but not coming to that understanding as you're meant to by the director definitely takes something away from the viewing experience..
That's a great example. That movie was terrible and depended solely on you being surprised there. If you rewatch the movie without the surprise, it's pretty bad.
That reveal happened at the beginning of the movie and has nothing to do with making the point of the movie. @Dashrender is wrong on this. If knowing that the movie was a computer world ruined the entire remaining movie then you simply never liked the movie to begin with.
As for @scottalanmiller opinion that the movie is bad, that is again his opinion, not an immutable fact. -
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
I've never had "shared viewing" with other people. That only works if you are into the two or three most mainstream pop culture shows. Luke Cage works for this, for example, because it's specifically the top show right now. But the moment you get to less obscure viewing, even slightly, there was never the "shared viewing" concept, not even thirty years ago.
People on the extremes will always have this issue. But these are more fringe and not the focus of my post.
Calling people who don't dedicate their schedules to watching the one or two most popular shows are not extreme. That's one of the saddest comments on American life ever. You don't have to be "extreme" to not watch the lowest common denominator mindless entertainment.
That is your opinion and not does nothing to dispute his point for anyone but you.
Does it? How many people here watch the same shows, even at different times?
Today is different than the 80's. You claim to be a special snowflake in this case. Fine, be one, I will not argue it. But be aware that it is what you are.
I'm not arguing that I'm a special snowflake, I'm arguing that he is. It's not that I didn't have this effect, it's that other people didn't either. No one discussed shows, because people weren't watching the same things (or anything in some cases, of course.)
I'm asking... did other people really witness this effect? (Outside of special case things, like a big news event or a special episode of something - of regular shows.)
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@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@JaredBusch said in Binge Watching:
people are stupid when it comes to spoilers. I mean fuck, just because someone tells you Han dies, does not ruin the entire movie.
Or that some walking dead person did something does not ruin the entire episode because you still have the entire show to see the detail and context.
I will disagree with you, mostly. Some spoilers are less important than others.
My friend ruined The Matrix for me by telling me it was a computer world - that was the whole big reveal of the movie! WTF! sure, the rest was fine, but not coming to that understanding as you're meant to by the director definitely takes something away from the viewing experience..
That's a great example. That movie was terrible and depended solely on you being surprised there. If you rewatch the movie without the surprise, it's pretty bad.
That reveal happened at the beginning of the movie and has nothing to do with making the point of the movie. @Dashrender is wrong on this. If knowing that the movie was a computer world ruined the entire remaining movie then you simply never liked the movie to begin with.
As for @scottalanmiller opinion that the movie is bad, that is again his opinion, not an immutable fact.Sure, but that makes your opinion that the spoiler wasn't significant just your opinion.
