Binge-watching and overconsumption of media.

[rogueslayer452]

I was directed to a a series of of tweets by James S.A. Corey (the authors of The Expanse series) that happened a little while ago where it's essentially responding to the decision to have the upcoming fifth season be weekly instead of dropping it for binge-watching. And I have to say, I completely agree with the sentiment they're saying here.

While in theory having an entire season released may seem good for people to get as much content as possible without waiting a week for something new, it has, unfortunately, altered the way some people view things in that they expect instant gratification and, sadly, it has affected the way streaming services hold value on said thing. There is a difference when you discover an old show that's already been finished and marathon it at your leisure versus having to binge-watch something in order for the algorithm to count it as something you watched and want more of. Once a season drops, nothing will be said about it for some time because people are still actively watching it, and then there will be reviews and reactions from people for a little while, but then it all but disappears because it's not a "hot topic" anymore. As opposed to weekly television where there is a built-in excitement and suspense every single week, lasting for months, and you don't have to wait around for over a year (or more) for another new season. This isn't really to say binge-watching on streaming services is always a bad thing, but it's definitely not a good measure of maintaining the longevity of a new show that barely gets enough traction because a.) nobody knows a season dropped and therefore b.) it took people too long to notice it, therefore the services deemed it a failure and it gets cancelled. Unless something takes off immediately and gains immense popularity, almost everything else will be swept under the rug, leaving a lot of amazing shows that show a lot of potential without much exposure or attention, and then just lost.

This is why I 100% agree with The Expanse going back to releasing episodes weekly, because while I loved and enjoyed the fourth season it really didn't get much attention as the previous seasons did, it took a while before anyone said anything about it to be honest. This is why The Mandalorian did so well, because people were confused by a streaming service would do weekly releases when they've been so used to binge-watching entire seasons at once, but it worked out well in their favor. People were so excited for upcoming episodes, talking about it online, getting more people interested, it became a success from that anticipation alone. Hell, that's how I got interested in watching because people were gushing about it and the season hadn't even concluded. And it was only eight episodes.

The concept of streaming services and such is still relatively new and we're still figuring things out, but there is something to be said of there being too much of a good thing. Instead of hastily consuming something, we need to pace it out and savor it.

(It's also kind of a way of examining the way our current culture and society is when it comes to fast-paced media, from social media to binge-watching, we're consuming too much at a time when we're not really designed to do that, our brains get overwhelmed by this overconsumption of information and I think we need to retrain ourselves to just calm down.)

Comments

[nemophilist.livejournal.com]

I actually agree. Instant gratification gotta chill on a lot of things. Or, rather, expectation of instant gratification. It makes it hard to get series picked up. So much is now cancelled in season three online. Probably a lot to do with the set up. (I love marathoning, too, but I prefer watching after everyone else generally anyways and go through it at my own pace.)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

When you consider that there's so much content, with so many episodes, and people only having so much time to consume it, it's really not good. So many people get burnt out from consuming that much in so little time. Weekly episodes were a way of spacing everything out, allowing us to breathe.

Indeed, streaming services allow more creative freedom with how a show is produced (i.e. not following the traditional network television formula), because let's face it some shows are better watched when you go from one episodes to another. With that being said, not every show needs to be this, and not every show on streaming services need to follow that example.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

The best thing about it is that it will reduce spoilers. There's no way I'm spending a whole weekend watching a show just to avoid spoilers, so sometimes I get spoiled about shows on streaming services.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, spoilers are definitely a huge issue, as well. It's kind of unavoidable on any online platform, really, but people tend to not be that mindful because people often are at different places when they're binging a show so you never know what is considered a spoiler or not when talking about it.

[valeria-sg-1.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree. I love that all the current Star Treks are doing the one episode per week format. It gives you time to digest and think about what you've seen, it fosters discussion online and creates expectation and an actual fanbase.

I usually try and pace myself because I don't want to binge shows and it's so annoying because people will watch the whole thing the day it's released, post spoilers EVERYWHERE, and forget about it by the following week.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've never been someone who binges a show, because that's far too many hours and there are definitely shows that I cannot watch more than a couple of episodes at a time because of their content and I get emotionally overloaded. I need to space things out.

And it's true that people will talk about something that dropped for, like, a week, but completely forget about it the next week as they focus on yet another show they'll be binging. It's just not really a good method of going about things, particularly since it loses all kinds of proper engagement since, unless you are deeply active within the fandomsphere, most people will not engage further beyond its initial hype and that's kind of a death sentence for any show that needs to be talked about to thrive.

And it's sad that this is the model these streaming services are relying on, because not only is it getting shows cancelled it's also burning people out.

[violateraindrop]

I agree, even though I was a little skeptical at first. It worked so well for The Mandalorian. There are so many shows I don't mind watching on a weekly schedule. The Boys is probably the only show where it didn't work for me and that was right when Amazon made the announcement for The Expanse. That is probably where my initial rejection came from ;)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

And I don't blame you for having that initial reaction, because streaming services often do just drop entire seasons with only some exceptions. I think that is why most tend to think that weekly episodes are going to kill something on a streaming service, when in fact it might actually be more beneficial. True, not all streaming shows are filmed for that particular release format, but not all shows are meant to be watched that way.

I trust The Expanse to provide us amazing content, regardless of however they release it. I just want it to gain more attention and recognition because it deserves it.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Same! I look forward to being able to have conversations with people between episodes and not have to play the "wait, what episode are you on? What happened? Did the X happen? OH I MEAN NEVERMIND!" because people binge and the whole series melts together so it is impossible to talk and then you rush to watch it and miss things.

For awhile, my stepdaughter was only watching an episode every few days of 'Bly Manor' and it was great to catch up with her and then talk about it. Then one weekend she watched the last five episodes and now I'm not really motivated to watch anymore and annoyed that I have two episodes left before I can really talk to her.

But, yeah, I've been missing the way TV used to be. I like being able to watch on my own terms, but the pressure to binge watch things annoys me.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

because people binge and the whole series melts together so it is impossible to talk and then you rush to watch it and miss things.

Exactly. I remember when I used to do episode reviews of shows I watched many years ago and it was just fun to engage with excited fans over what we'd just seen, speculating what was going to happen next, etc. You can't do that anymore when shows just release an entire season at once. It sounds amazing at first, but then you realize you lose something valuable when you take away the weekly releases. The fan engagement, the reviews that particular sites do to hype it up for people unaware of what it is so they can catch up, etc.

And people tend to binge-watch at different times, and having to press "pause" when you're watching something because someone isn't caught up? That can be annoying. I haven't done any of that because I don't binge-watch, my brain cannot handle that since I need breathers no matter what show I'm watching, but I can imagine it can be really frustrating. It's why I see people saying that they just watch the show ahead of everyone else anyway because they don't want to wait around. At least with weekly episodes you could do that, but not with streaming.

Being pressured to binge-watch something in a short amount of time just so you're part of the conversation when it's still "relevant" before quickly moving onto something else is just....really bad, and sad for many shows that rely on long-lasting conversations and engagement.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why Infinity Train's showrunner asked HBO Max to release Book Three over three weeks instead of just two, with the final two episodes on the last week. I hope that enough people watch it for it to get renewed for Book Four, like I mentioned previously.
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[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

It's a tough balance. I think shows are often designed more for streaming these days in that they're less episodic and more one overarching plot for a season. When shows are like that I prefer to watch all of one show before starting another because that helps me not lose track of the plot.

For shows that drop weekly I'll usually avoid spoilers and wait until they're done before I start watching. I can't binge as much as I used to though so that still means I may watch 1-2 episodes a night until I'm done.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I don't have that issue. If I'm watching something that is less episodic and more plot-heavy, I'm still able to understand what is going on even if I'm not watching the episodes back-to-back. Granted, this is also something I learned a long time ago when I used to record shows on VHS tapes, because I can just rewatch the previous episode before the newest episode the following week. Plus, there's always someone online doing episode recaps of what happened previously, in case you forgot some key elements, which was always nice to have to refresh your memory getting into a new episode.

(But this is just a me thing I guess, because it's the same with books, I can read a few pages of something, leave it alone for a while, but then pick up right where I left off and still remember what was happening.)

Some shows are filmed in a way that you have to pay attention to the plot, especially when it comes to streaming services where the temptation is there to basically film your show like a long movie and just release it. But I do find that it can lose traction quickly that way, too.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I think I used to be better at remembering all of the stuff but also the shows I watched back in the 90's when I was taping them were still quite episodic. Things like Buffy or Xfiles had a lot of monster of the week episodes. There's an overarching plot or mythology there but it was often easy enough to catch up on it because the shows weren't designed for a time when everyone had access to all of the episodes at any time.

I'll still watch things like Law and Order SVU or Criminal Minds weekly because they're mostly episodic and the bigger plots are recapped enough that they're easy to remember.

I do see that when things are filmed essentially as a 10 hour movie there are issues with that too. It's an evolution of the medium, I'm not sure exactly where we'll go from here but as a TV fan I'm game for most anything :)

[impala-chick.livejournal.com]

Yay, this is great!