To binge watch/read or to wait weeks, months, years… Is one better than the other?
Do you remember the wait in 2005 after reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and it was two more years until Order of the Phoenix would be out? or two more years after that for Half Blood Prince? Those were the day. The awful, long, days.
I got onto Hunger Games late. Mockingjay came out and I bought all three books and read them in less than a week. I didn’t have to wait to find out what happened to Katniss… It did mess up my sleep schedule and my dreams were wicked crazy after being so steeped in Panem happenings. Nightmares about orangutans with metal teeth chasing me through Diagon Alley… don’t ask. I dream about Diagon Alley often, scary often.
On the other hand, Netflix releases entire seasons of Arrested Development, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black on one day so people can binge watch and not have to wait each week. With streaming services now, it’s no big deal to binge watch. In fact, Netflix said they had a large percentage of users consume all 13 episodes of Orange is the New black immediately in the first 13 hours of release. Even Entertainment Weekly now has a “Binge Watch” Calendar and helps people catch up on shows they missed the first time around.
Do you let tv shows stack up in your DVR, avoiding all spoilers and curl up one weekend and watch 10 episodes straight? This all comes to light as I had to wait between episodes of Outlander. I didn’t read the books, so I don’t know what’s coming. After the season premiere, I was left wanting a LOT more. Now, I have months to wait for more. I’m not sure if I’ll watch in real time.
But, does binge watching allow for that natural conversation of “Did you see what happened on X show last night?” Now, it’s “what episode are you on?” And only when someone catches up with you can you talk about what happened.
Fall TV
Now that the fall season of TV is here – are the things piling up in your DVR so you don’t have to wait? Is there too much good tv on to watch it all? Are there shows that are in season 10 that you feel you have to watch out of loyalty since you’ve given it so much of your life? Ahem, Grey’s Anatomy? Anyone?
There are nights that there is “nothing” on and shows I didn’t watch the first time around just waiting for me, so I’ve been binge watching those. Like you know, Arrow.
How did I miss this and not get on that bandwagon when Stephen Amell came into our lives? I’m trying to get through season two this week so I can start season three this weekend.
But to be honest, this summer I also jumped on the Friday Night Lights bandwagon… late. I’m now in the middle of season 3.
What to Watch
In doing an unscientific poll (informal Facebook poll anyone?) of what shows are the best for binge watching, I started a list, in no particular order…
Lost
Gilmore Girls
Supernatural
West Wing
Downton Abbey
Chuck
Veronica Mars
Arrested Development
The Wire
Game of Thrones
Parenthood
What did we miss? Add yours in the comments! Don’t know what to watch right now? Check out Buzzfeed’s quiz What You Should Binge Watch to see where you should go next.
Also, this by no means warrants an intervention. I don’t watch that much tv! Do I?
Who else out there is binge watching TV? Tell me more stuff that we should all add to our queues on Netflix and Hulu!
All gifs from GIPHY
