Binge watching is like oversleeping. Too much of a good thing.
I’ll go against the flow and say that I prefer binge watching and am annoyed at series that come out a week at a time now–especially ones from streaming services.
To us, binge-watching is choosing one series, watching 1 or maybe 2 episodes every day or two, and watching no other shows.
We don’t pay for any streaming service, but my family gets us Amazon Prime for Christmas every year. We will watch DVDs (our own or from the library) as well as Prime or a website that streams for free.
Right now it’s Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Mr. Celtic Knot says he’s not interested in starting a new series with a long story arc at all, so I’m debating watching one myself. I have plenty of time on my hands, so I could easily watch anything.
Reading this thread I am not sure I am correctly defining “binge watching.” To me, like **CelticKnot, **watching 1-2 episodes almost every day is binging. That’s as far as I go. Does it count?
Sounds from this thread like some people will watch more than that - like, 3 or 4 or 5 or more? - episodes at once. Now that WOULD be binging! (The one time I came kind of close to that level of continuous watching was when I was bedridden with dengue fever and I managed to watch all of Six Feet Under in about a week.)
Well, as an example, when season 1 of Stranger Things came out, I stayed up later than even my usual (I think to around 4 AM) watching the entire season non-stop. For me a “binge” is around 4-6 hours (or more) if one show in one day.
For all but the last season of Game of Thrones, I waited for the DVDs. So instead of waiting a week between episodes, I could watch them all at once.
I tended to watch two episodes a night – and not every night.
For TV shows on Netflix, I think two episodes is about right for me, maybe 3 (at most 4) if it is a half hour (really 22 minute) show.
Brian
If it’s an older show on DVD, the most I could handle would be one disc per day (4 eps) Works good for something like “The Wire” or “Babylon 5”.
My max is 2, one hour shows or 3, half hour shows. I just think that the creator of the show didn’t want it to be watched that way. All things being equal, I’d rather see a movie at the theater, not at home.
I never binge. I want to live with the characters for a little while before finding out how their story ends. It is kind of a drag, though, coming to this site and seeing how whatever thread that might have been started about the show has risen, fallen and been pretty much forgotten by the time I might want to chime in, with all of the cleverest observations generally already having been observed. If only everyone would simply understand that the rate at which I watch shows is the very best rate and follow accordingly.
A binged show is a different experience than one watched weekly. Some shows binge well (and were often made with binging in mind) but some … do not.
I binge as time allows if the show is both good and bingeable, just like I read straight through the books that are page turners. Some are and some very good ones are not.
About 2-3 episodes per day is a good spot for me
More than that and I get sick of it, plus I don’t have time to really process the episodes.
I binge watched an entire TV series on a month doing that once.
Here’s a related thing I find annoying. If I watch a couple of episode of something and then go to bed, the next day Netflix sends me an email saying “Don’t forget to finish watching [whatever show].” As if by not binge watching they think I’ll “forget” to finish. No, Netflix, I haven’t forgotten to finish watching. I have plans to watch more episodes next week.
Yes, I know I can (and probably should) unsubscribe from those emails.
My wife just finished all four seasons of Workin’ Moms in less than a week. She really enjoyed it, but now it’s gone from her entertainment life. If she’d had spaced it out more, it could have been months or even years of watching pleasure.
Yes, that is a good point. A lot of these event shows are now taking longer than a year to return, sometimes as much as two or even three years between seasons, so to wait that long then binge them all in a few days leaves a seriously disappointing after-taste.