Are you still trying to adjust to the way we watch shows and movies today? So many options to choose from, and even more changes in the way we socialize it.

For many years, during the 90’s, I rarely ever watched television shows. I watched sports and movies. That was it. But then in the early 2000’s everyone I worked with was talking about some show called “Lost”. I felt so out of the loop, when they were all talking about their theories and all the “I can’t believe that happened” moments. It seemed as if everyone was watching this show but me.

Finally, one of my friends from work brought me in the first 2 seasons that he recorded on DVD. I became hooked in no time, and experienced my first “Binge Watch”, or at the time, it was referred to as “mainlining”. I caught up as quickly as I could, and then I was no longer a social outcast during our lunch break. Lost, if I remember correctly, was the first show since JR got shot in 1980 to have everyone engaged and talking about it.

It was also a time for the new medium of podcasting to act a companion guide and help provide theories and additional news about the show. Podcasts about Lost appealed to a whole new subculture that would pick apart a show scene by scene. I became fully immersed, and looked forward to the podcasts, almost as much as the show itself. I went on to the same thing with the show “Fringe”, and then more recently with Game of Thrones and now Westworld, and The Expanse. The common thread on these shows, beyond the fact that the content itself supports deeper discussion, is that all these shows get released on a weekly basis, and then have at least a year before they return.

Podcasting, online articles from bloggers, and the office watercooler are excellent ways to stay connected to your favorite show long after the episode aired. It’s a great way to share theories and keep the buzz going about a show. In the case of Westworld, if you didn’t listen to a couple of podcasts or track down articles online, you would not have understood the second season at all, unless you watched each episode several times looking for clues.

Herein lies the problem in our new world of streaming services where all the shows get released a season at a time. We end up binging on a show. I may watch a whole season over the course of a few days, and you may watch that same show, but perhaps your schedule only allows you to watch one episode every couple of days. Now, our conversation has changed from “OMG, can you believe what happened on Game of Thrones last night?” to “Hey did you see The Witcher yet?”, and you quickly cut me off and  shout, “Yes but I’m only up the 2^nd episode, so don’t spoil anything!” End of conversation. We have very quickly lost the ability share our own opinions and theories on shows.

Binging has also hurt the podcast medium. Podcasters are trying to figure out how to deal with this, but truthfully, it’s been a bit clumsy, and I have forgone listening to most recaps of shows that stream on Netflix or Amazon.

One example of a show being hurt by this method, could be “Dark” on Netflix. It is a German science fiction story that is very complex and deals with time travel. It’s tricky to follow and if I get distracted while watching, I end up rewinding to help me get back on track. I feel disappointed, that I don’t have anyone to talk about with this after an episode is over. This is a perfect show to be supported on a weekly basis by podcasters and fans who search scenes for clues and speculate on the storyline. Stranger Things also comes to mind, because we all watched the latest season as soon as we could, but we didn’t have an outlet after each episode to get more engaged.

In my opinion, this is a bad marketing set up. They would do better to have timed releases of episodes. This way they can create a buzz around a good show and take advantage of the momentum that word of mouth, podcasts and online blogs can generate on behalf of the show. They could release an episode once a week the way we are used to, or maybe even every couple of days. Those that prefer to binge still can, they just need to wait until the show is fully released. The folks that prefer to binge, obviously don’t care about the other mediums that pop up to support good shows. They just want to enjoy the show on its own merit, and that’s fine too.

 I am also a big fan of the science fiction show The Expanse. It is based on the novels by James S.A. Corey. This show was originally shown on the Syfy channel which didn’t renew it because of the ‘expense’. It was picked up by Amazon, partially because Jeff Bezos was a big fan. There is a very loyal group of followers that nerd out weekly online on Reddit, through several podcasts, and other blog outlets. The fan base had a huge role to play in it’s renewal.

Now , since the new season was just released, I couldn’t wait to binge on it. But I must admit, the folks that normally do podcasts on the show have been caught flat -footed and most have not been able to release an effective podcast for the fan base. If most people binge watch over a couple of days, you have a hard time using a podcast to complement viewing of the show. I’ve listened to a few, but you can tell this has had a major impact on the style of covering it episode by episode. I’ve noticed several of the podcasts that covered the first three seasons haven’t even tried to put out anything new for the 4th season.

I haven’t had a chance to watch Disney’s “The Mandalorian” yet, but I understand they have stuck with the traditional weekly release…and the show is no doubt going to take advantage of the additional outlets to keep the word of mouth marketing doing it’s work for them, free of charge.

Binging can be a great way to catch up on a series, but I’m having a hard time adjusting to it as the main way to digest all the new shows that streaming media offers. We watch at different paces… perhaps the current model should be reviewed. This is just one example of how rapidly technology is changing our culture. Would you change any of this if you could, or are you adjusting to this better than I am? Maybe we need to start Book Clubs for TV shows.