The 400 Project

My name is Bryan, and I am addicted to binge watching TV shows. OK that may have been a little dramatic but it is an accurate assessment of my day to day.

More often than not when starting a show I will consume as many episodes as I can, allowing the stream to just roll into the next episode without even considering taking a break. A lot of the time I will look up only to realize that 5 or more episodes of a show have flown by without me realizing. Shows that are 30 minutes in length can seem to fly by even faster. I usually only even notice I am binge watching when Netflix’s “Are you still watching?” warning pops up. DO NOT JUDGE ME NETFLIX!

Streaming services like Netflix make it so easy to binge shows. The episodes just flow into each other so easily that taking a break isn’t even a consideration. With a mere 15 second count down between, your next episode has likely started before you have time to think about stopping.

Is it a problem? I suppose it is not the greatest thing in the world to sit on the couch for hours. Certainly there are times I have neglected doing something more valuable to finish “just one more episode” of a show. I should probably get up, go outside and get some exercise, but it can be extremely hard to walk away from a really good show.

It says a lot about the types of entertainment being produced today. There are so many different types of shows cover all kinds of topics. Over the past few years we have see a resurgence in what television programming has to offer. Most series now watch more like movies with each episode flowing into the next more like chapters of the overall story rather than standalone stories on their own. Most shows have even cut down on their episode totals from 23 to 10-15, opting to throw away the clutter and focus on the main story. It is a great time to be a TV lover.

Season 1 of Daredevil we streamed in one weekend. Marking A Murderer we streamed over one Saturday night (until about 3 in the morning) and finished it up the following Sunday morning. Stranger Things was also streamed from start to finish in one weekend.

While it is amazing to indulge in a great show and not have to be left hanging, it does take out some of the fun of having to wait a week between episodes. Game of Thrones, for example, I watch from week to week. The 7 days between episodes are full of considering what could come next, engaging with theories on twists and turn, and an underlying feeling of excitement for the show that lasts for weeks rather than days (or hours).

I suppose there are pros and cons to watching in either way and at the end of the day there is no wrong way to watch TV. I can’t see my consumption patterns for shows changing at this point, I have accepted the binge life. I happily enjoy each and every show that I consume as fast as possible.