TV series viewing -- fascinating discussion (in the comments)...

[Darren Dirt]

...about "taking your time" vs. "binge watching"
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/07/09/binge_watching_tv_why_you_need_to_stop_.html


(obviously "must", "need", and "should" do not belong in an article that is dealing with such a SUBJECTIVE issue as viewing of lengthy TV series ... but the comments were pretty interesting so I'm glad this Slate author made that mistake. My recent decision to "binge" on a half-dozen Doctor Who episodes certainly came to mind.)

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, inflammatory headline much!

Anyway, it's all a load of bollocks really, it used to be that TV series had an episode a day, only the bigger productions were weekly.

I actually like watching tv shows with arcs contiguously BECAUSE I'm not mulling it over for protracted periods. Even now I queue up new stuff like Mad Men or Walking Dead so I can watch a few episodes back to back, absorb it as a whole and appreciate it, vs have my mind constantly wandering around during the week wondering if they find that girl or if Don is going to have another breakdown.

I can see from a creator perspective that you'd want to maintain a certain pacing and showmanship by relying on the frequency your works are broadcast but the reality is (as in any creative work) once it's out the door you no longer own it, so people will enjoy your stuff differently.

Either way, it's YOUR free time and you use it accordingly...

On a side note I'm really starting to dislike serial cliffhangers, it's the oldest (and cheapest) way of creating dramatic tension (i.e. anticipation vs actual storytelling)

I think what I liked the most out of the first season of The Walking Dead was each episode was sort of a new adventure all its own, the second season was more of an arc and got boring (to me), and now that I know the ending it's less interesting as a whole.

Kinda like watching old Flash Gordon or Rocky Jones Space Ranger serials, eventually a story gets told but it's a bit fuzzy thanks to the drawn out nature.

what WILL happen NEXT!

[Darren Dirt]

On a side note I'm really starting to dislike serial cliffhangers, it's the oldest (and cheapest) way of creating dramatic tension (i.e. anticipation vs actual storytelling)

imo, that is what was initially awesome about, and then quickly annoying about, Heroes. Oh wait, I think I may have interpreted "serial cliffhangers" incorrectly.

[Mr. Analog]

HO HO HO

*slaps Darren with fish*

[Thorin]

Just another example of someone telling someone else what to do.

[Mr. Analog]

Just another example of someone telling someone else what to do.

Exactly...