Binge watching TV

[Queersetti]

When the first season of the US version of House of Cards was released by Netflix, they specifically advised viewers not to binge watch it. Now, with the second season, they seem to be encouraging it.

I have friends who have already finished the season, less than a full day after it was released.

Do you binge watch TV series? Do you think you gain or lose anything by watching a program in large blocks of episodes rather than week by week?

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

Binge watching allows you to waste more time faster.

 

[yossi]

I've done it for Parks and Recreation as well as Freaks and Geeks, but I was in such a fog afterward that I promised myself not to do it again.

I don't think anything is really lost watching it in chunks but it certainly does take a toll on other areas of your life.

 

[Beco]

When the first season of the US version of House of Cards was released by Netflix, they specifically advised viewers not to binge watch it. Now, with the second season, they seem to be encouraging it.

I have friends who have already finished the season, less than a full day after it was released.

Do you binge watch TV series? Do you think you gain or lose anything by watching a program in large blocks of episodes rather than week by week?

I'm already on show 5 or 6.....can't stop

 

[JohnnySavage]

I tend to do it before a new season starts. I watched all of last season's Walking Dead before the new season started last week so I could keep the flow.

I'll do the same with GOT... whenever that show finally starts again.


There are some shows that I like, but never know when they are on and will go back and watch a whole series. I did that with Californication and Shameless.

 

[Beco]

I finished up Lilyhammer in two snowbound days, then Cards started its new season....I heard Arrow is good. Love orignal programing the non-traditional way, off TV....go Netflix, put these cable bastards out of business

 

[Queersetti]

I've done it for Parks and Recreation as well as Freaks and Geeks, but I was in such a fog afterward that I promised myself not to do it again.

I don't think anything is really lost watching it in chunks but it certainly does take a toll on other areas of your life.

The only comedy I have binge watched was the new version of Arrested Development. Afterwards it did all seem to blur together, and I scarcely remembered what I had seen.

For me, I don't think binge watching comedies works well at all.

 

[Queersetti]

I tend to do it before a new season starts. I watched all of last season's Walking Dead before the new season started last week so I could keep the flow.

I'll do the same with GOT... whenever that show finally starts again.


There are some shows that I like, but never know when they are on and will go back and watch a whole series. I did that with Californication and Shameless.

With a show like GOT or House of Cards, with their complex plots, binge watching makes sense.


I watched all but the last season of Breaking Bad in about a week. There are some ways in which I would have appreciated taking it slower and mulling over some of the implications of what was going on, but it was like uh, meth or something, I just could not stop.

 

[Sinny]

It's exactly like cramming for a test in college. Remember that? No absorption, but plenty of little details clutter your mind afterward. I did that with 24 because there were so many damn episodes, I thought I never would finish that series. Never again!

I am much more measured in my viewing. I might watch two episodes in a row, but never more than that.

I haven't started season two of House of Cards. I might wait. The final episodes of Breaking Bad load this Friday. It will take a lot of effort not to binge watch. Love that show.

 

[Killswitch]

I watched Shipping Wars for four hours last night. I love that show.

 

[Queersetti]

It's exactly like cramming for a test in college. Remember that? No absorption, but plenty of little details clutter your mind afterward. I did that with 24 because there were so many damn episodes, I thought I never would finish that series. Never again!

I am much more measured in my viewing. I might watch two episodes in a row, but never more than that.

I haven't started season two of House of Cards. I might wait. The final episodes of Breaking Bad load this Friday. It will take a lot of effort not to binge watch. Love that show.

I think that when you binge watch it is easy to get carried away with following the plot. breaking bad is a good example. You fly from episode to episode just because you can't wait to find out what is going to happen, and if you aren't careful, you find how loaded the show is with detail.

 

[Queersetti]

I watched Shipping Wars for four hours last night. I love that show.

Reality shows make good binging. I think I watched all of North Woods Law in one sitting, but to be fair, I was hoping I might recognize someone.

 

[Sinny]

Reality shows make good binging. I think I watched all of North Woods Law in one sitting, but to be fair, I was hoping I might recognize someone.

That is an exception to the drama television binge rule, for sure. Reality television is so vapid and one dimensional, it is intended to be tv candy. Eaten quickly and forgotten.

 

[marshalt]

I haven't watched the new season of House of Cards because I'm wondering if I should binge it or maybe just watch an episode a day or something.

 

[pink]

My daughter loves that show, "Bad Ink" and made me binge watch it the last time she was home.

 

[patient1]

I watched Shipping Wars for four hours last night. I love that show.

We enjoy that one, too.

Who is your favorite hauler?

 

[neci]

i binge watched the last season of downton abbey, but to be fair, i did laundry/dishes/floors at the same time, so i didn't feel like i'd wasted a day.

 

[Sean]

I'll do the same with GOT... whenever that show finally starts again.

April 6th.

And I binge watch shows all the time. Breaking Bad, All the Start Treks, Deadwood, Firefly, all watched in massive marathon chunks over the course of a weekend.

 

[patient1]

We don't do Netflix.

We do travel and have a DVR. A lot of shows watch better in sequence, even if they don't have developing plots. Sometimes it's just good to get into a mindset to watch murder mysteries or chef competitions or whatever, as opposed to mixing the two.

 

[Mischka]

I binge watched Twilight Zone episodes as a kid, when they'd run the marathons on TV. Man, that would fuel the most bizarre dreams.

These days, we watch Netflix and Amazon (almost exclusively Prime, as it's free). We turned off cable half a decade ago, which means we've saved almost $4,500 in the last five years by not relying on live television. Lets us focus on a single series at a time, and normally we'll watch two episodes per sitting. Sometimes I'll get nostalgic for a certain show and re-watch several episodes at once, always while I'm doing something else (organizing stuff, crafts, that sort of thing).

 

[Fata Morgana]

Oh yes, I prefer to watch it that way than suffer the adverts or wait a week. I think the biggest binge I ever did was Prison Break when I watched it til my eyes bled. Got so into it I was slopping out and fashioning a shank out of emery boards.

Bloody loved that show.

 

[doctor_insanus]

Other than Archer and Justified, I rarely watch any scheduled TV. I binge watch everything. I'm binging on the X-Files right now.

 

[Lorilei]

I'll do marathons or binge watch comedies or reality shows (which for me are mostly travel, cooking, HGTV type shows), because they're sort of "mindless" TV and I can do other things at the same time, but with dramas I try to pace myself and limit them to 2 or 3 episodes at a time, at the most.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

I'm re-binge watching Torchwood. 11 episodes today.

 

[Beco]

House of Cards, now on Chapter 25