c/binge-worthy-shows

People keep calling old shows 'slow' but they just don't get the pacing

Tbh I was watching The Wire again last week and my buddy walked in and said 'this is too slow' after ten minutes. He's missing that the whole point is building up the neighborhood and characters over time before anything big happens.

My brother called me out for rewatching The Office for the 7th time and it got me thinking about comfort shows

Hot take: skipping the opening credits is ruining the show for you

I used to always skip the intro on every show I watched on Netflix. Thought I was saving time and getting to the good stuff faster. Then I binged The Crown season 4 last month and skipped the opening every time. My friend Sarah called me out on it and made me watch the intro on episode 6. I realized the music and visuals actually set the mood for the whole episode and foreshadow stuff I missed. Turns out I was robbing myself of the full experience for like 3 years of binge watching. Now I let every intro play unless it's super long. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were watching wrong?

Rant: That $30 streaming subscription bundle I bought has more ads than my free cable

I signed up for that Paramount+/Showtime deal last month thinking I'd save money, but every show has 4 minute ad breaks now. Anyone else feel like these services are just repackaging what we already hated about TV?

Spent 3 hours trying to fix my streaming quality on Roku before finding the real issue

I was trying to binge the latest season of The Bear and it kept buffering every 10 minutes. Turns out my Roku Stick was overheating because it was tucked behind the TV with zero airflow. Has anyone else run into a dumb tech issue that ruined their binge session for way longer than it should have?

That week I binged 3 full shows in 5 days and felt disgusted with myself

Last month I had a slow week at work and somehow watched the entire first season of The Bear in one Tuesday night. Then I crushed all of Beef in two days after that. By Friday I had started Severance and finished it by Sunday night. I barely ate real meals, my sleep schedule got wrecked, and I felt gross by Monday morning. Has anyone else hit a point where they just need to take a break from watching anything for a week?

Finally cracked the code on binge watching The Expanse without getting lost in all the space politics

I started taking 2 minutes between episodes to read the recap summary on Wikipedia and now I actually understand what the OPA is fighting about after 3 failed attempts to get past season 2.

Hot take: some people really don't get why we binge shows at all

My coworker Dave told me last Thursday that watching more than one episode of a show in a sitting is 'wasting time'. I asked him how many seasons of Breaking Bad he's seen and he said zero. Like, how can you even have an opinion on this if you've never done it?

Vent: My coworker made me rethink The Wire and I still disagree

A guy in my office, maybe 25 years old, said The Wire is "too slow and boring" compared to modern streaming shows. He compared it unfavorably to Ozark, and now I can't stop thinking about how different generations define what makes a show binge worthy. Has anyone else had their favorite show dismissed like that?

TIL about the 90s show that started the 24 hour race format

I was reading an article online about how "24" changed TV forever with that real time gimmick. It got me thinking about how shows used to just run episodes whenever with no big hooks. My dad still talks about watching "Dallas" on Friday nights with no way to catch up. Has anyone here ever tried going back and watching old classics like that without the modern binge format?

Showerthought: why does every hostel I visit think a TV lounge is binge-worthy?

I stayed at a hostel in Nashville last weekend and they had this big 'binge watching room' with a giant TV and all these pillows. But the shows they had on rotation were just the same three seasons of The Office over and over. I get it's a classic but don't you think they could mix it up with something newer or more local? Has anyone else noticed hostels just picking the safest shows ever?

Binged Succession in 4 days and saw a wild before and after in Kendall

I never really got into Succession until last month when I had a week off from the kitchen. My buddy kept saying it's the best show to binge because the characters change so much. So I started season 1 and by season 4 I swear Kendall Roy went from this awkward mess to almost a real threat. It was like watching a different person between episode 1 and the last episode. The way he handles his dad and the business shifts hard after the whole cruise scandal thing. I think the writers just slowly broke him down and rebuilt him into something colder. Has anyone else noticed how fast his personality flips once he decides to go against Logan for real?

I finally listened to my mom about skipping episodes

My mom always told me not to skip episodes of a show, even the boring ones. I thought I knew better and jumped ahead on Breaking Bad, missing like 3 episodes in season 2. Turned out I completely missed why Jesse gets so mad at Walter later on. Had to go back and rewatch those episodes after my friend called me out for not knowing a key plot point. Now I never skip anything, not even the filler episodes in old anime. Mom was right about that one and I still feel dumb about it. Anyone else gotten burnt from skipping around?

Finally got through The Wire after 3 failed attempts

I used to quit around episode 4 every time, couldn't keep the characters straight. This time I turned on closed captions and actually paid attention to the dialogue - finished the whole series in 2 weeks. Anyone else need a specific setup to get into a dense show?

Can we talk about shows that jump the shark in season 2?

I noticed a pattern where I love season 1 of a series, then season 2 comes along and everything feels forced. Tried a trick my friend suggested, skip episodes 4-6 of season 2 on most shows and see if it gets better. Worked for me on two different streaming shows last month. Has anyone else found a specific episode range that kills a season for them?

My buddy said I only liked flashy sci-fi shows and it made me rewatch something from 1995

He pointed out every new show I binged was all big explosions and dramatic twists, so I sat down and watched the entire run of Sliders (the first three seasons anyway) and realized he was right about missing the slower character stuff, has anyone else had someone call out your taste and it actually made you like different shows?

I used to skip every second episode of The Office and it drove my friend crazy

For years I thought I was being efficient by skipping the 'boring' episodes of The Office. My friend Sarah caught me doing it during a rewatch last Sunday at her apartment and she lost it. She made me sit through the whole Scott's Tots episode without skipping and I actually laughed at parts I always fast forwarded. Then we did the Dinner Party episode and I finally got why people love that cringe humor. Her point was that skipping episodes ruins the character buildup and inside jokes that make the show special. Now I'm going back and watching every single episode from season 2 onward. Has anyone else had a friend call them out for skipping parts of a show and make you change your mind about how to watch?

Appreciation post: the 2 episode rule that changed how I watch shows

I used to drop a show after 20 minutes if it didn't grab me. Then I forced myself to stick with one for at least 2 episodes, and I ended up loving it by episode 5. Has anyone else found a show that took a few episodes to really hit its stride?

The 180 degree turn my show recs took after a bad breakup

I used to only watch light comedies and reality TV. After my girlfriend left me in March, I binged The Wire and Chernobyl back to back over three weeks. Now I'm stuck on gritty crime dramas and anything bleak. Has anyone else's taste flip like that after a life change?

A 12 hour marathon of Dark ruined my sleep schedule for a week

I work a 6 AM crew start, so I usually crash by 9. But I started Dark last Saturday at like 8 PM and could not stop. Next thing I know, the sun is coming up and I have to be on a jobsite in two hours. Had to drag myself through painting a whole living room on basically no sleep. Has anyone else had a show completely mess up their work week like that?

Started a Korean drama called Crash Landing on You at 9pm...

I figured I'd watch one episode before bed. Six episodes later at 4am I realized I had work in three hours. Has anyone else had a show completely wreck their sleep schedule like that?

My buddy swore I'd hate "Pachinko" after the first 3 episodes

He said the time jumps were too confusing and I'd give up, but I stuck with it and now I'm 8 episodes deep crying over a single bowl of rice. Anyone else have a show that took a bit to click but ended up being incredible?

My brother insisted I watch Dark on Netflix and I almost quit after 3 episodes

He kept telling me it pays off if you stick with it. I was so lost with the timelines and characters I wanted to drop it. But he made me promise to get through episode 5. Man, once that twist hit I was hooked. Now I've rewatched the whole thing twice. Has anyone else had a show that felt like homework at first but turned into something amazing?

Friend told me I was choosing the wrong shows and it wrecked my system

I used to just pick whatever was popular on Netflix and power through it, no matter how slow. My buddy Mike finally called me out and said I was wasting time on stuff with terrible pacing. He pointed out I dropped on episode 3 of Dark Matter even though everyone loved it, just because the first two episodes dragged. Now I actually check if a show has good reviews for its middle episodes before I commit. Anybody else have a friend who ruined your binge routine by being too honest?

Tried to binge The Wire in a weekend and totally crashed by season 3

I thought I could power through all 5 seasons of The Wire in one weekend because I had nothing going on. By Saturday night I was already on season 3 but my brain felt like mush and I couldn't even tell you what was happening. I kept mixing up the characters because there's like 50 of them and they all talk in that slow Baltimore way. Ended up falling asleep during episode 4 of season 3 and woke up to the credits rolling. Learned that you can't just marathon a show that's that dense and detailed, you gotta take breaks. Has anyone else tried to binge a super complex show too fast and ended up lost?