Online Series: Binge or weekly episodes?

[Jussi]

Which model do you prefer? To release a whole season of episodes at the same time (like Netflix does) or one episode per week (Disney+, Amazon Prime etc.)?

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[LarKing]

Weekly. Binge creates such little discussion and often times I won’t enter a thread until I’ve completely finished a season because I don’t want to be spoiled.

I do enjoy when a whole season is released but afterward it’s such a long wait for the next season I’ve almost forgotten the show exists.

 

[PK Cronin]

Binge, I don't like not being able to continue a show on my own team. Even shows that come out weekly, I typically avoid them until the season is finished and will watch them then. It does create a longer wait time for the next season, but I like not having to remember that a show is on at a particular time or day.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Binge.

Too impatient to wait and whenever am the seasons over, by the time the next one comes out I’ve forgotten most of what’s happened already.

 

[SniperHF]

Weekly is better for business (at least for higher profile series) and I think that was always obvious despite the streaming services starting initially with binge releases.

I prefer binge releases even though I don't watch them that way. I watch more like 2 a week not a season's worth in 2 days. If it's weekly I'll let them build up for 3-4 weeks then by the last one I'm caught up.

 

[Osprey]

I went with weekly because I like reading about and discussing a show while waiting for the next episode. Perhaps the most fun that I've had doing that on this board was with Westworld Season 1. Imagine if that whole season had been dropped at once. All of the theorizing and connecting the dots would've been gone. Similar fun occurred with the Game of Thrones threads and, to a lesser extent, the Mandalorian thread.

I've missed that kind of discussion with shows like Stranger Things, The Dark Crystal and The Witcher. Few posters bothered going into those threads until they finished, for fear of having things spoiled or discussing things that might spoil them for others. With such shows, I feel like I need to hurry through them so that I can discuss them and read other people's thoughts, which hurts my enjoyment a little.

Weekly release makes more for an "event" than just a disposable show. It feels like you're watching a show with people, as opposed to watching it alone and then reporting back to those people with your thoughts on it.

Of course, I do like binging, but more so with shows that have already been out a while. If I've already missed the live discussions, then I might as well just binge. Also, if I'm not too high on a show that releases weekly and suspect that I wouldn't discuss it much, I'll just wait until the season has been fully released before binging it.

 

[Shareefruck]

It's binge for me.

I personally don't care for the whole "spending downtime speculating about/discussing where the show's going to go next and making predictions" thing at all, which seems to be a huge part of the appeal of week-to-week for people.

I also feel that "Previously on"s and "Next time on"s generally hurt the experience, so it's preferrable when a show doesn't feel the need to constantly catch you up and remind you of what you've forgotten. Things designed for the weekly experience also tend to try to use gimmicks to keep you on the hook from episode to episode, and I really really hate that.

In other words.... the GOT/Breaking Bad/West World formula/trend (which feels primed for week-to-week) really bugs me.

The best series experiences I've had tend to be things that are only around 11 episodes or so total, that don't make explicit attempts to hook you and keep you coming back for more, that don't have multiple arcs, and that you only really stop to think about and let the whole thing wash over you after the series is over. I like when a series feels more like a 5-10 hour movie broken up into chapters with brief intermissions in between, rather than some ongoing ritual that you never want to end. This might sound strange, but when a show (to a lesser extent, a season) is a cohesive 10-15 episodes long, the structure takes on a similar appeal to that of a 10-15 track album for me. It gives more of a poetic minimalism vibe or something, which I can't get enough of.

Going off on a tangent, in general for me, I tend to have an ideal length/format in mind for each medium:

• I love when movies are only about 90 minutes long but take their sweet time with a simple/uneventful idea (Wong Kar Wai is a master of this)
• I love when series' are just a single season of about 11 episodes, 30 minutes each (Masaaki Yuasa is a master of this-- BBC series' do something similar, although I prefer 11 straight through more than two rounds of six)
• I love when albums are only about 40 minutes long and only have 5-15 tracks
• I love when videogames are only about 10 hours long for the main run (with optional content padding out the rest of it)

 

[Jussi]

I voted both. For me it depends on the length of the season. 10+ episodes, I think whole season would be better. Under, a one per week is fine. I would like to see a service experiment with two episodes a week, released a few days apart.

 

[Kcb12345]

Binge although I always hate how fast I'll finish something

 

[Osprey]

I voted both. For me it depends on the length of the season. 10+ episodes, I think whole season would be better. Under, a one per week is fine. I would like to see a service experiment with two episodes a week, released a few days apart.

I had planned to suggest the same thing and forgot to. That could be ideal for me. You really don't need a whole week to digest and discuss an episode. By the 3rd or 4th day, everything that could be discovered or discussed has already been and people are just twiddling their thumbs waiting for the next episode. I'd be down for, say, new episodes each Sunday and Wednesday.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Weekly. Lets you digest the ep and talk about it. Binging is annoying because all the spoilers come out the day it's released so you have to avoid everything until you finish watching.

 

[DynamiteKid]

Weekly. The discussion is more in-depth and prolonged when you are talking about a single show you just watched.

Hard to remember as many details when you binge 8+ shows and talk about it after.

Shows exactly that in the number of pages here for shows (granted a small sample size):

Stranger Things - 29 pages over three seasons
The Witcher - 13 pages
The Mandalorian - 50 pages

 

[LarKing]

I think the two episodes a week idea could be a good one as well. That would probably be the sweet spot for me. The problem with weekly is when it’s moreso a filler/character building episode it’s really frustrating.

The binge method has an advantage with this. When these kind of episodes come out it’s not annoying because you can just move right on and not wait another week.

 

[MadDevil]

Both models are fine, but I do think some shows are better suited for binging than others.

 

[frisco]

I sort of binge cause I still buy DVD's. They are cheap and you get additional features, commentary, etc., that makes it worthwhile. But I still only watch 2-3 eps a week tops. Just don't have the time.

Also, waiting/binging means you don't have to wait for the next episode if it is a killer Breaking Bad cliffhanger or something.

My Best-Carey

 

[John Price]

binge

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I prefer weekly, but don't mind binge so long as the show is either episodic or was made to be binged. The pacing of binging a show that was clearly meant to be weekly is off at times.

 

[peate]

Weekly for never before seen stuff. Binge for re-watching, but not more than one a day.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

I think it also depends on the show. Some are better suited for binge. But as far as the higher profile ones, weekly is definitely the better business model.

 

[glovesave_35]

I voted both are fine, but I think there are real benefits to the once-a-week model. For example, when Game of Thrones was ruling the TV universe, it did so largely because the ability to talk with friends and coworkers about the most recent episode. Discuss its meaning, what may happen next, etc.

The conversation with someone about a show that drops all at once is:

1. "Have you seen ________ yet?" (And they mean the entire season)

2. If the answer is No or "a few episodes" then that is basically the end of it.

3. If both have seen the whole season, they usually discuss overall impressions and opinions, but without as much depth about specific episodes as they are not as fresh as with a weekly episode.

I prefer binging shows that have a few seasons in the can and I can dig in. Or shows that aren't super popular and thus don't have to worry about spoilers very much.

 

[Daisy Jane]

both. I don't mind either.

 

[kihei]

Binge. When it comes to tv and streaming sites, I have no patience for anything else.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Weekly allows for discussions, but I prefer to be presented with the Binge option, so I can take the series at my own pace. I would rarely actually binge watch a Netflix series, but it was nice to be able to watch a couple episodes at a time, and then come back to it a few days later when I got back in the mood for it and watch a couple more.

 

[McOilers97]

Binge works for dumb shows or fast-paced shows, but weekly is far better for the denser shows that have subtext and more quiet story-telling. Something like Mad Men on AMC or The Americans on FX were perfect weekly release type shows, and thankfully they both were released that way. On the other hand, I wish Netflix would do weekly releases for shows like Mindhunter and Dark.

I just like sitting with an episode and thinking about it for longer than a few minutes before the next one, as well as engaging in discussion. I know some people don't care about that and would rather binge everything, but it takes something away from the experience when you just blast through 5+ hours at a time of a really brilliantly written show. If I try to talk to my friends about a show that I watched weekly, and they binged, I always remember far more details about what happened than they do.

 

[Legionnaire]

Once a week? Huh? Some of you must really like to be told what to do and when. The anticipation does not lessen due to the next episodes availability.

PS. For those who choose the other option - Don't be a jerk. Let us who choose to watch, watch.

I only say this because "they" are deciding these things based on these types of preferences.