20 million viewers would put it in the top ten going back to the '87-'88 season.
Dallas and the Cosby Show are the only shows that got higher than 30 million in the 80s.
However, your point is taken. And this was more because I thought I had looked it up and the numbers they were getting were huge compared to recent. Top 10, including BBT in #1 spot, in '17-'18 was 11.1.
To the OP. I’m torn.
One of the things I like about seeing all of the shows at once is that I remember more of the details. Sure, I took part in the Lost discussion from time to time but I had to look up details about what happened in the beginning by the end of season one. Except the numbers, I don’t remember the details.
When my wife and I watched Russian Doll, it felt like a long movie that was meant to be binged because every reset, the details of the differences were important. Not all shows do that, sure, but this one did. Waiting a week between episodes would have taken away from the experience, imo. Now, maybe that show, and others, are writing with that in mind. I don’t know.
Having said that, I do rush here for my communal talking about it and share it with my wife. Orville, BBT, SNL, and other weekly shows that I watch, I do like discussing it.
It’s a little confusing, but I think the “ratings” shown in that Wikipedia page are percentages of the total number of viewers watching TV at the same time. That’s different from total numbers of viewers.
One thing I don’t think I saw mentioned here was after we got FOX we soon got Summer seasons on major traditional networks. I had to work on two CBS shows that aired May through August. It was actually mind blowing to co workers. “It’s not RERUNS?? In the Summer??!?”
That was right around the time Netflix and Hulu began original programming. So the communal time I grew up with and loved was gone then. I remember calling friends on the phone right after a new episode aired, series finales discussed on the phone, etc.
But traditional networks started in with summer programming to sell some ads and promote new competition to the new streaming networks, who were already re-airing everyone’s favorite old shows.
On the positive side, VOD was my fave. Because I’d forget to tape something, so I’d just watch it at midnight.
But I WILL AGREE with OP on new streaming shows. It takes away memories from a season. I binged the new season of Santa Clarita Diet in three days. I remember MOST of it, but when a friend asks me, Oh, what about that??" I think, when was that? Who did that? Was that episode 3 or episode 8? Or the finale? And what a finale, with that thing… oh, shit I already forgot the ending. Guess what I’m streaming again later?
Just for the record, the Dukes of Hazzard regularly had 40 million weekly viewers in the early 80’s as the #2 show behind Dallas. Whereas *Game of Thrones *averages about 13 million weekly viewers now.
Even there, its hype has been somewhat diffuse- a whole lot of noise around the impending drop of the new season, and then… not much.
Why? Because everyone watched/is watching the new season at their own pace. Releasing episodes weekly is a pain in the ass sometimes, but it does allow producers to maintain a certain amount of interest/hype over time, and things like cliffhangers, etc… are actually valid.
In the season-at-once mode, it’s basically one big 10 (or however many) part episode. I’m actually a little surprised they don’t give the option to just view an entire season as a single large uninterrupted block that can be stopped and restarted without having to deal with credits and what not- it’s not like individual episodes count for much anymore if people are watching them 2-5 at a time (or more).
I want to point out, btw, that Breaking Bad which has been used as an example of water cooler show, never really had great ratings until it’s final season and even then Season 5, Part 1, never hit over 3mil viewers for an episode. Part 2 of Season 5 had around 5mil viewers an episode until it’s final 3, which even then were 6.37mil, 6.58mil, and then 10.28mil.
It’s not in the Top 30 shows of the 2013-14 TV year (Part 2’s season). Shows like Elementary, The Good Wife, The Blacklist, and Big Bang Theory had far higher viewership numbers.
So the question arises how much of that communal experience really existed for most shows? The only ones I can think of current running shows are Game of Thrones, Westworld, and This is Us (and, at least, Season 1 of Handmaid’s Tale - Season 2 didn’t have the same communal discussion experience, IMO). Sure one can find threads on message boards here or reddit to discuss various shows every week, but sometimes you really have to search in case you want that communal experience.
The other thing is that DVRs have already somewhat killed off the communal viewing experience, even without Netflix’s one at a time drops. My friend and I both watch SyFy’s The Magicians, but invariably, we have to wait to discuss it because one or the other of us are “not fully caught up yet”.
I agree that the wiki page wasn’t clear. I do apologize about that. I couldn’t find a good summary with number of viewers. I did have to click through to see the numbers.
I can at least say I was ratings to ratings, so they are comparable.
This is not true.
That page has millions of viewers and tops out at 21.81 for its #2 in '80-'81. Further Games of Thrones only got 10.26 million viewers average for last season. The opener was listed at 11.76.
Please note, looking at the page for viewers, it started at less than three and overall is at a 6.14 for seven seasons.
I know in EW they used to delay ratings of TV shows to account for TiVo/DVR ratings, which were counted if viewed within a week of airing. I don’t know if they do that now or not.
True, but only on one “side” of the timeline- he can only get so far behind you, as the episodes are being released weekly. If your friend is maybe 2-3 episodes behind, they can catch up relatively quickly. That’s been around since VCRs- people used to time-shift all the time back in the day; DVRs just make that easier and more convenient.
But with the Netflix season-at-a-time style, you could binge the whole thing in a weekend, and have to wait while your friend catches up to you… however long that may take.
I completely disagree with the OP for many reasons but first and foremost is the notion that communal TV watching is important or is somehow the glue that holds together our communal and societal pursuits.
Here is a recent article from Time Magazine that talks about Game of Thrones as the “last true water-cooler show”. Among other things, it points out that it started before the streaming explosion.
Can you agree that shared experiences and discussing those shared experiences are part of what forms a cohesive community, a culture?
For several decades television viewing, just TV as it is, was a major shared experience in America, and one that was shared across many American sub-cultures, by those of different faiths and those of no specific faith, by various different ethnic groups who otherwise had few commonalities.It created shared reference points and even shared myths. Watching shows at the same time is not quite the same as a bunch of people across the country of one cultural group all going to Easter Sunday services, or having a Seder meal, all at the same time, but it was of the same type.
What, in our increasingly heterogenous society, is replacing it as a shared experience? And if nothing does, is there an impact to having fewer shared communal experiences?
Yes, a friend can catch up if 2-3 weeks behind. OTOH, the friend could remain perpetually 2-3 eps behind over the season as you continue to watch week by week episodes. Or the friend could drop to 5 behind, etc. Plenty of other people may wait to stack 10 eps and binge the season - something that is far more done in the age of 10-13 episode seasons.
So really it’s not all the different. Once someone gets used to time shifting the vast majority of their viewing (and aside from live sports and Game of Thrones, I timeshift everything - and the only reason I don’t timeshift GoT is to avoid spoilers), that sort of dynamic will happen sooner or later.
It certainly isn’t for me or for most people. But for the OP and others, one particular thing that they used to enjoy very much is becoming quaint. They miss it.
My reality is that my friends and I share that more through streaming and bingeing than I ever had during my 3 network TV years *. The big difference is that I can enjoy this experience with shows that are more to my taste and I can enjoy them at my convenience. IMO, it is a better TV world today.
Those years were admittedly short, as I came of age when the VCR was in wide use and a 4th network was just around the corner.
Right- it’s not a negative, just a change that to some, is unwelcome.
I’m personally kind of ambivalent; on one hand, it’s nice to be able to chug through the new season of a show in say… three or four multiple hour viewings. We’ve done that with a few shows- The Crown, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and GLOW are ones that come immediately to mind.
But at the same time, I really like the discussions that happen after each episode’s release, whether we’re talking about my old workplace’s Monday morning BSG meeting (we had a standing on-the-Outlook-calendar meeting to geek out about the prior Friday’s episode), or even the present day “The Orville” discussion threads here on the SDMB.
I note that there isn’t anything comparable to that on here for Stranger Things, or any of the other Netflix shows that drop at once, and I kind of feel like we’re all the poorer for it- fans don’t get the opportunity to discuss, which for some shows, is half the fun.
