14h ago

Informal Poll: Do you prefer to watch episodes as they're released or binge watch them all after the last episode drops?

I prefer to wait for an entire season to be released and binge watch it in one or two sittings. Most shows only get 10 episodes these days, and they tend to be highly serialized, so there's less catching up to do / remembering what happened last.

Only drawback is I have to avoid spoilers and can't do episode discussions until everyone else has already moved on.

23 comments

It really depends on the show, as some are better suited to binge watching than others. Season 2 of Severance is an example of one recently that suffered quite badly from its staggered release, because the story and setting jumped all over the place and the length of episodes was also quite inconsistent.
What I particularly don't like is the bait release schedule, where they frontload a show with a lot of action and release 2 - 4 episodes in a block, then drip feed the rest with glacial pacing to farm subscriptions.
Binge watch at my own pace. Might be 1 episode a day or 2. Or 3 episodes a week. But, I much prefer it to once a week watches where I end up forgetting stuff so episodes don't hit as hard, or I find it harder to enjoy an episode because it doesn't live up to the week long anticipation after some cliff hanger.
Wait for a show to finish so I can watch at my own pace.
Forget about the show and never watch it.
That's about how it goes for me.
- That is what I've been doing since time between seasons went from one year to two years to three years to indefinite. Forget way too much stuff.
I'm somewhere in between, a bit of a slow binger. If a show is available in bulk, I'll watch like, 1 episode a day. But if it's weekly releases I'll probably watch when it releases rather than waiting for the whole season.
Not a binger. I either watch as they come out or one episode a day for fully-released seasons (usually with a meal). It extends my enjoyment of the show and takes less time away from other things I could be doing.
I prefer to binge watch. If I have to do one episode a week I have trouble remembering plot points.
- Same. And with some shows having 1-2 years between ten-episode seasons, I often have to go back and re-watch the entire prior season before watching the current one. Otherwise, I'm totally lost.
  
  I’ve been doing recaps if I don’t feel like rewatching and I’m always glad I did.
i watch episodes as they air. I like being able to think about what happened for a week and discuss with others. i miss that communal aspect of TV.
- Glad you're able to make that work. I get that and do miss the communal aspect but it's been a real challenge for me in the streaming era.
  I don't think I've really had the communal feeling in recent memory except maybe when Game of Thrones was on its last few seasons, and that was only because I was late to the party and binged the first 4 lol. The rest of the time, it never feels like people around me are watching the same shows. And if we are, we're all at different points so it's a minefield of spoilers.
  
  Yeah that's the big problem with binge style watching with full season releases. It really kills the community and discussion aspect of TV. Otherwise having control of how much to watch & when is great.
Either, as long as it’s not this awful shit Netflix is doing where they release half the season at a time. Just pick one!
As they release
For 'event' television or shows where I am involved in the fandom and know there there will be post-episode discussion, I will watch as-released.
Otherwise, I would prefer to binge. However, my wife seldom does so, if I am watching with her, which I like to do, then it'll be one a week or so.
Binge.
I prefer to watch them at my own pace after the full set is released, I hate the word "binge" though because like, I feel it should be reserved for its traditional usage, IE drinking excessively, which is much more of a problem than watching TV.
- TV addiction is a real and harmful thing. We shouldn't downplay it, particularly since streaming services are known to design their apps using similar principles to social media (which, in turn, was based on casinos).
i can't binge because my adhd would never BUT i also love and miss the 2010s twitter and weekly episodic releases because it made the episodes more meaningful to talk about
I don't really binge watch, but I do prefer to wait till a show/season is finished. Then I can watch an episode or 2 per day without having to wait.
I won't pay for more than 1 streaming service at a time. Waiting for them to be released 1 at a time is just uneconomical.
- That makes sense! Wasn't even thinking of that angle.
I usually can't keep up and just wait and watch them one at a time but day to day
I don't often watch back to back episodes of anything, unless its the cliffhanger at the end of the season and you know, it can't wait

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