Binge-Watching

[nudge]

Inspired by @Tommy

 

Do you binge-watch? Why/why not?

Do you prefer binge watching whole season(s), weekly releases, or do you like to make your own custom watching schedule?

How many episodes do you usually watch in one sitting?

What was your longest binge watching session so far? 

Which show have you found to be the most binge worthy?

[Tommy]

If it's a 20-25 minute comedy series, I sometimes binge-watch 3-4 or maybe even 5 episodes. 

If it's a 60 minute long drama series, and with a lot going on, I usually only watch 1-2 episodes, because I need to process what just happened. Also if it's a series I have waited for for several months, I like to take my time with it, and don't want it to be over in just a few hours. 

Most binge worthy show for me is definitely It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 

[Bluewolf]

Depends.. 

If I am off and there is a whole series to watch and it's gripping then I will tend to watch the whole thing but if the releases are weekly then just the one a week as released.. Working 4 on and 4 off allows me a lot of spare time and also I still can't get out of the habit of being a bit of a night owl which comes from 10 years of working nights... never seem to have broken the habit 

Most I have probably watched in one sitting would be maybe 6 or even 7 at an hour long if it meant finishing it with the most recent one being Ozark.. If I am working I would probably watch 1 or 2 if my schedule is up to date and sends me the correct notifications as required.. 

There seems to be a malfunction with it and I am falling behind on what might be considered my normal viewing habits... 

[nudge]

Personally, I like binge-watching in general, but rarely find enough time for it these days. I'd usually watch 2-3 episodes if it's 45-60 minutes long; maybe more if it's shorter ones. If a story is good and immersive, I am usually eager to see how it develops, and thus it's easy to lose track of time sometimes. That said, I also like weekly airings, as it's a bit of a nostalgic blast from the past of how television used to be, and it's nice to have some story to look forward to every week! 

My longest session was watching LOST Season 1; I just couldn't stop and I don't recall exact time, but I think I binge-watched the whole season in 3 or 4 nights  

[CaaC (John)+]

The wife is bad for watching a serial movie from start to finish, I can sit there watching say around 3 episodes then head off to bed, I guarantee you I will get up in the morning and she will say she watched the whole series and that will be me doing catch up.

I am watching Picard at the moment but the good thing about it is it's shown every Friday, so, as we have wee Kaiden for the night on a sleepover I will wait until he goes to bed and the wife too and watch episode 9.

[CaaC (John)+]

I will binge watch movies when the wife goes around our daughters for a visit, if she stays the night then I tend to sit up until all the hours with a bottle of wine or 2, I love them nights as the wife does not like some movies that I like. 

[nudge]

3 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

I will binge watch movies when the wife goes around our daughters for a visit, if she stays the night then I tend to sit up until all the hours with a bottle of wine or 2, I love them nights as the wife does not like some movies that I like. 

I generally prefer watching movies alone, both at the cinema and at home. That way, it's much easier to focus on the story without any distractions. 

[RandoEFC+]

Yes to be honest because most stuff gets released all at once now. I still quite like it when something gets released weekly though as having the time in between feels like it gives you more of an appreciation of the story you're being told, looking forward to it each week, etc.

[Stan]

Depends on the show surely.

Some I can binge more so than others. I used to binge at uni and end up staying up til about 2-3am and it was not healthy

 

Don't really binge much anymore anyway purely in interests of time and needing sleep. I do miss the days of having to wait a week for the next episode. You lose that anticipation of the next episode these days with all episodes pretty much available instantly. 

[nudge]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

I used to binge at uni and end up staying up til about 2-3am and it was not healthy

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

I do miss the days of having to wait a week for the next episode. You lose that anticipation of the next episode these days with all episodes pretty much available instantly. 

That 

I hate it nowadays when they show any show on tv 7 days a week, I loved the days years ago when they put a show on weekly, looked forward to the following week when it was shown again.

When the first Dallas started it was always on a Saturday night I think it was and when JR Ewing got shot the whole week the media were giving out their choices who shot him and even me and the family sat down all week giving our choices and reasons who shot him, we looked forward to when it was on again to see if we were right or wrong.

Dallas, Dynasty, Notts Landing, Falcons Crest, The Colbys, The Big Valley, always on once a week at the weekends, we miss them days.   

[nudge]

To be honest, there are still plenty of series that air weekly, even on streaming platformy. I think Disney choosing weekly release model for the latest Star Wars series (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett) was a very good strategy to build anticipation.

[Stan]

15 minutes ago, nudge said:

To be honest, there are still plenty of series that air weekly, even on streaming platformy. I think Disney choosing weekly release model for the latest Star Wars series (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett) was a very good strategy to build anticipation.

Yeah it is - Peaky Blinders on BBC a recent example too.

I know Netflix still do 'Limited Series' or release an episode each week on some programmes too.

[RandoEFC+]

12 minutes ago, nudge said:

To be honest, there are still plenty of series that air weekly, even on streaming platformy. I think Disney choosing weekly release model for the latest Star Wars series (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett) was a very good strategy to build anticipation.

I find it surprising that more streaming services don't do it this way. The fanfare around stuff that comes out all in one go is quite limited. In a world where social media interactions and Google analytics showing people talking about their stuff meaning everything to commercial entities, you'd think more of them would go down the old-fashioned route of building the suspense for a week between new content so it gets talked about for 10 weeks instead of just a few days. You've seen shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and others really milk things by even having a weekly talk/reaction show after their new episodes.

[CaaC (John)+]

18 minutes ago, nudge said:

To be honest, there are still plenty of series that air weekly, even on streaming platformy.

As I said, Picard, you can only get on a Friday and the other show you put me onto 1883 was not on 7 days a week, you had to wait for the next episode which was far better for me.

[nudge]

43 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I find it surprising that more streaming services don't do it this way. The fanfare around stuff that comes out all in one go is quite limited. In a world where social media interactions and Google analytics showing people talking about their stuff meaning everything to commercial entities, you'd think more of them would go down the old-fashioned route of building the suspense for a week between new content so it gets talked about for 10 weeks instead of just a few days. You've seen shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and others really milk things by even having a weekly talk/reaction show after their new episodes.

I think the reluctance to release episodes weekly can at least partially be explained by the fact that originally, the key advantage and main selling point of streaming services was the concept of "watch what you want, when you want, whenever you want", and the assumption that going back to the old TV model of weekly airings could potentially make them lose that advantage and piss many customers off. Also, I think that new series from popular established franchises and cinematic universes (like Star Wars, Marvel, etc) as well as those based on other popular source material such as video games or book series are already highly anticipated and have massive following, so weekly releases only add to the hype that's already there, but I'm not sure if the same works for new, unknown (or relatively unknown) series that have to earn viewers first; especially in such an oversaturated market. Releasing the whole season or at least several episodes at once might be better for getting people invested in the characters and the story. It would actually be interesting to see some research on both strategies

[CaaC (John)+]

The easiest thing to do nowadays is to record any shows if they are on more than a weekly basis, I don't like a lot of the soap operas (EastEnders etc) but the wife does, if she goes out for the day or evening she will set up her shows to record because she knows that I won't watch them if I have to.

I can remember when Video Recorders came out in 1971, I would head off to Blockbusters and rent around 4-5 movies to binge-watch, nowadays that is obsolete as you have Netflix, YouTube, Amazon etc to buy or rent a movie plus I have a load of movies on my Amazon ' Your Stuff' free viewing, we also have a Firestick in the tv but we hardly use it. 

[nudge]

8 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

The easiest thing to do nowadays is to record any shows if they are on more than a weekly basis, I don't like a lot of the soap operas (EastEnders etc) but the wife does, if she goes out for the day or evening she will set up her shows to record because she knows that I won't watch them if I have to.

I can remember when Video Recorders came out in 1971, I would head off to Blockbusters and rent around 4-5 movies to binge-watch, nowadays that is obsolete as you have Netflix, YouTube, Amazon etc to buy or rent a movie plus I have a load of movies on my Amazon ' Your Stuff' free viewing, we also have a Firestick in the tv but we hardly use it. 

I loved renting VHS movies would go to a video rental store after school on Friday afternoon, get 3 movies as that was a special offer, then buy a big bag of crisps and a large bottle of coke, and run home to binge watch it with my sister. They even gave you a small discount if you returned the tapes rewound  watched most of the classics that way. Good memories.

 

[CaaC (John)+]

16 minutes ago, nudge said:

I loved renting VHS movies would go to a video rental store after school on Friday afternoon, get 3 movies as that was a special offer, then buy a big bag of crisps and a large bottle of coke, and run home to binge watch it with my sister. They even gave you a small discount if you returned the tapes rewound  watched most of the classics that way. Good memories.

 

I loved going into a Blockbusters shop and seeing loads of movies all on racks and under headings like Romance, Thrillers, Horror etc 

I would spend a bomb getting movies that I liked and ones Liz liked and as our kids were young then, get a load for them, you could get them from a Friday night until Monday morning under special deals.

I can remember getting the thriller The Hills have Eyes, the original one from 1977 and watching that and the wife was freaking out, hiding her eyes at some parts and nearly peeing herself, them days are gone nowadays with Netflix etc 

[Rucksackfranzose]

32 minutes ago, nudge said:

I loved renting VHS movies would go to a video rental store after school on Friday afternoon, get 3 movies as that was a special offer, then buy a big bag of crisps and a large bottle of coke, and run home to binge watch it with my sister. They even gave you a small discount if you returned the tapes rewound  watched most of the classics that way. Good memories.

 

Shows the difference in cultures: in Germany you had to pay a penalty fee, if you didn't return them rewound.

[nudge]

20 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Shows the difference in cultures: in Germany you had to pay a penalty fee, if you didn't return them rewound.

Why doesn't it surprise me...

[Bluewolf]

29 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Shows the difference in cultures: in Germany you had to pay a penalty fee, if you didn't return them rewound.

Not sure why that was ever important... It's not like the next customer had to rewind the things by hand is it.. 

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Not sure why that was ever important... It's not like the next customer had to rewind the things by hand is it.. 

I mean, it was slightly annoying to have to rewind the tape before watching the movie because some inconsiderate barbarian couldn't be arsed to do it before returning it to the store

 

[Tommy]

35 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Shows the difference in cultures: in Germany you had to pay a penalty fee, if you didn't return them rewound.

[Bluewolf]

9 minutes ago, nudge said:

I mean, it was slightly annoying to have to rewind the tape before watching the movie because some inconsiderate barbarian couldn't be arsed to do it before returning it to the store

 

They always moaned about it or reminded you but never took it further with fines etc... now that's barbaric