Summary
Weekly show releases feel like a partial return to the bad old days of broadcast television, where you had to conform to someone else’s schedule, or at least figure out how to program your VCR.
While some shows still drop entire seasons, streaming providers have realized that releasing their shows on a weekly basis extends subscription times, generates some free buzz among viewers, and generally works out better for them. The question is, should you slavishly watch these weekly episodes as they come hot off the assembly line, or should you wait until the entire season is released and watch on your own timetable?
The Point of On-Demand Streaming Is to Make Your Own Schedule
I understand why streaming services have started to drop their shows one episode at a time, but to some extent it does defeat the point of on-demand television. When Netflix started dropping entire seasons of shows, it was incredibly liberating.
This was how TV was meant to be, in my opinion. I didn’t have to live my life according to a TV schedule, but I could watch TV when I had the time or was in the mood. Netflix is the whole reason I started watching TV less regularly. I might not watch any TV at all during the week, and instead binge a season of TV over one or more weekends. My life didn’t revolve around my entertainment, my entertainment revolved around me.
This was such a stark contrast to when I tried to watch a series in the 90s. My family only got its first VCR in the year 2000, so if I missed an episode for any reason, I wouldn’t get another chance to see that episode for months or even years. Unless I could convince my parents to rent those shows on VHS at some point, along with a rental VHS machine of course. Netflix was the reason I finally got to see every episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
I never really had a situation where I was talking to kids at school, or later people at work, about the TV shows that came out that week, because honestly, we weren’t watching the same stuff. So, as a viewer, I am not a big fan of weekly drops, but I can appreciate the business case for it.
Some Shows Work Better With Weekly Drops
What I think is undeniable, is that some shows simply work better as a weekly release than others. Mystery, cliffhanger-prone shows like the excellentSeveranceare designed to take up mindspace in the time between episodes. Honestly, Apple TV+ shows in general are great at this, and I’d includeSiloand evenFoundationin that estimation.
However, I do not need Amazon’sRings of Powerdropping weekly, and I don’t think anyone is champing at the bit each week to see the latest episode. In fact, these shows have the opposite problem to something like Severance. The individual episodes lack the broader context or storyline of the program, so they end up feeling like nothing happens. As if someone has chopped up a movie into a series, without keeping in mind that true episodes have their own three-part structure. This can work if someone can see the next episode as soon as they want to, but if they have to wait a week they are just as likely to lose interest entirely.
Spoilers Can Make It Hard to Wait
The biggest problem with waiting is encountering online spoilers when other people are watching a show weekly, and so run the risk of ruining it for you. My answer to this has been manifold, and includes muting the name of the show on social media, or simply accepting the fact that I will accidentally see facts about a show that other people have already seen.
If people are very excited about a weekly show, that can give you FOMO, and that’s by design. Whether you may ignore it is of course up to you, but I’ve just taken the approach of sticking my fingers in my ears so I can watch a show when I’m good and ready.
It’s All About How You Value Your Time
There’s nothing wrong with watching a show weekly, but in the end, I value having control over my time and blocking off specific days or periods where I catch up with the TV shows that interest me the most. Right now, I have to who seasons ofInvincibleto binge, and all ofStranger Thingspast the first season. I swear, I will watch it at some point!
To me, watching shows one episode at a time isn’t time-efficient, and I know that being entertained isn’t about being efficient, but I’m not talking about the time actually spent watching the show. I’m talking about the time the show takes up when I’mnotwatching it. If I can get the answer to an episode’s cliffhanger immediately, I don’t have to spend a week wondering about the outcome.
Of course, your mileage may vary, but except for some shows that I watch with my significant other as a weekly date of sorts, I’ll keep waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger on the latest season of a show I like.
