A new report suggests Netflix viewers aren’t sticking around for Season 2. The bigger issue may be that binge-watching itself is no longer the advantage it once was.
I mean, they didn’t invent it. They made it easier and cheaper, at least at first.
Before I unsubbed, it felt like they hired old-school tv execs to start running things. Season cancellations, weekly episode releases, floating the idea of commercials.
It used to be like the Napster of TV, without the legal trouble. Now it’s more like the Apple Music of TV, but where new music is hard to find and only lasts a few months before it’s removed.
I think weekly releases are a good thing even when I’m frustrated finishing this week’s episode of XYZ still wanting more.
With how long it takes to produce some shows, being able to finish an entire season in a single afternoon that took two years to make feels like such a let down. I often completely forget about a show that I’ve binged since I dont have any time to sit with it. I don’t really discuss these shows with others since people can be anywhere in the story and I don’t want to spoil it, and even if they’re finished as well you’re probably not going to discuss it more than a few days after watching.
That said, certain types of storytelling work better with one model versus the other. If you just chop a 7-hour movie into ten parts, many of the episodes will end in spots that are anticlimactic, if they make any sense at all. This leaves the audience with a bad taste in their mouths that they stew over all week. Those are better binged until the viewer chooses to take a break.
On the flip side, some shows will have a repeating rhythm to the structure that starts to feel monotonous if you just watch them back to back to back. Of course you can’t control how people engage once everything’s out, but ever was it thus in the era of home media, and when done well the original audience will be there to advocate for the show.
If nothing else, showrunners should be told which way the original release will be done during the writing process.
I mean, they didn’t invent it. They made it easier and cheaper, at least at first.
Before I unsubbed, it felt like they hired old-school tv execs to start running things. Season cancellations, weekly episode releases, floating the idea of commercials.
It used to be like the Napster of TV, without the legal trouble. Now it’s more like the Apple Music of TV, but where new music is hard to find and only lasts a few months before it’s removed.
I think weekly releases are a good thing even when I’m frustrated finishing this week’s episode of XYZ still wanting more.
With how long it takes to produce some shows, being able to finish an entire season in a single afternoon that took two years to make feels like such a let down. I often completely forget about a show that I’ve binged since I dont have any time to sit with it. I don’t really discuss these shows with others since people can be anywhere in the story and I don’t want to spoil it, and even if they’re finished as well you’re probably not going to discuss it more than a few days after watching.
That said, certain types of storytelling work better with one model versus the other. If you just chop a 7-hour movie into ten parts, many of the episodes will end in spots that are anticlimactic, if they make any sense at all. This leaves the audience with a bad taste in their mouths that they stew over all week. Those are better binged until the viewer chooses to take a break.
On the flip side, some shows will have a repeating rhythm to the structure that starts to feel monotonous if you just watch them back to back to back. Of course you can’t control how people engage once everything’s out, but ever was it thus in the era of home media, and when done well the original audience will be there to advocate for the show.
If nothing else, showrunners should be told which way the original release will be done during the writing process.
It’s nice to just not have it sometimes. It’s gives me more time to doom scroll. I can’t even pay attention to shows or movies anymore.
The Napster of TV is streamio