6 ms·

But nobody talks about Netflix shows because there's no shared progress, so you can't even begin to discuss it with your friends until everyone is completely fi

by larrik 3y ago

But nobody talks about Netflix shows because there's no shared progress, so you can't even begin to discuss it with your friends until everyone is completely finished with. Then at that point, it's finished, why bother?

sitkack 3y ago
? Shows come out weekly for lots of programs
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
the_gastropod 3y ago
Not sure this is true. Breaking Bad, which blew up because of its availability on Netflix, seems like a decent counter-example.
- autoexec 3y ago
  Stranger things too.
  - bee_rider 3y ago
    Stranger Things is generally a much better show than Game of Thrones (in my opinion of course, but I’m pretty sure I’m objectively correct). But Game of Thrones seemed to make a much bigger cultural splash. Stranger Things—a season comes out, and then we all binge it, talk about that season, and it it all done in a month or so. Game of Thrones had weekly episode-by-episode articles written about it.
    - autoexec 3y ago
      Stretching out the advertising is a huge reason why they want to delay releasing episodes. I value my time and setting my own schedule higher. I think that as long as the shows are good they'll find an audience and sustain cultural relevancy long after the ads have moved on to shoving the next thing in our faces.
      - bee_rider 3y ago
        Stretching out the subscription time seems like another big deal. Disney+ seems to have worked out a magnificently infuriating cadence of one interesting episode per week. There’s always just enough around the corner to not cancel the subscription…
        andsoitis 3y ago
        That feels very user hostile.
- jaredsohn 3y ago
  But new episodes were coming out weekly after the first few seasons were released on Netflix. Wikipedia: "It had fair viewership in its first three seasons, but the fourth and fifth seasons saw a moderate rise in viewership when it was made available on Netflix just before the fourth season premiere." "Breaking Bad's viewership grew greatly as viewers binged the series on Netflix, helping to assure that a fifth season could be made. The fifth-season premiere had more than double the viewership compared to the fourth season premiere, attributed to the Netflix availability"
autoexec 3y ago
If you want to time gate your episodes with your friends you're still welcome to coordinate that with them. Lots of couples do this too ("Don't watch until we can do it together") but personally, no matter how excited I am for a show, if a streaming platform withholds episodes so that they can better manage social media and stretch out advertising I'll just wait until the whole thing is out before I even start watching. I'm totally done letting media companies dictate my time and letting them make me feel like I'm missing out somehow if I don't jump when they tell me to. I'll watch things on my schedule, when it's convenient for me, and I'll do it at my own pace. If a platform doesn't want to let me do that, I've got plenty of other things competing for my attention that will.
- afavour 3y ago
  > If you want to time gate your episodes with your friends you're still welcome to coordinate that with them. That feels somewhat naive. People don't only belong to one friendship group. > if a streaming platform withholds episodes so that they can better manage social media and stretch out advertising I'll just wait until the whole thing is out before I even start watching. Sounds like it works out for everyone, then: those that want to watch and discuss week-to-week can, those that don't can wait until the end of the season and watch all at once.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    > That feels somewhat naive. People don't only belong to one friendship group. We did exactly that during pandemic lockdowns. We used a browser extension that let us sync our netflix viewing while we had a live chat running during the show. It meant we could all talk about the last episode during the week and people had something to look forward to. It's perfectly do-able unless you're actually trying to keep your friend groups segregated for some reason, like you've got friends that won't do anything with some of your other friends. > Sounds like it works out for everyone, then: It might, except that streaming companies are too stupid to take a long view on ratings. Amazon for example canceled The Tick because they didn't get enough views in the weeks immediately following release. By the time I (and many many others) got around to watching and enjoying it, they'd already made up their mind that it was a failure. When platforms withhold episodes I'm moving on to something else and it could be a long time before I make it back around to them. If they chase me away from a show and I have to find one that respects my time and that one has got 5-6 seasons, or if instead I pick up a video game that I'll put 150+ hours into it could easily be months before I get back to whatever they are heavily promoting and tracking this instant, assuming something new doesn't catch my interest and take priority. Release whole seasons at once, and people who want to time gate can start right away and take longer to finish, while people who binge can finish in a weekend and everyone else can go at their own pace, but in any case it's more eyeballs within the same timeframe.
strunz 3y ago
Because you can still watch something that is highly recommended? You think people only discuss shows that are week to week? Plenty of people won't even watch something unless they can binge at least a season.
- afavour 3y ago
  It's definitely a thing. I remember when Lost first aired I had lengthy discussions every week with friends, I even logged into Lostpedia to browse, exchange theories etc. By comparison, the first Netflix show I remember really watching was House of Cards. Tried to have conversations with friends about it but inevitably you'd start with "oh, what episode are you on? Is that the one with the...? So you haven't seen...?". Discussing an entire season when it's complete is definitely less fulfilling than discussing each episode. Depending on the show, of course.
  - watwut 3y ago
    On the other hand, watching episode a week sux. By the end of a season, you don't remember what happened 3 months ago. The series got much better writing over time - but the consequence is that I actually want to see it as a whole instead of little by little with mandatory breaks.
    - genewitch 3y ago
      and for you we have the likes of Naruto, which is 30-60% flashbacks to the prior episodes.
      - propogandist 3y ago
        this was especially bad when there were ads sprinkled throughout during cable broadcasts A typical show went like this: last time on dragonBallZ… 12 minutes of content… next time on dragonBallZ
      - watwut 3y ago
        I am not sure it is for me, because I did not watched Naruto and being forced to rewatch same scenes does not exactly sound like fun to me. I do not remember stuff from three months ago, but also it is not complete amnesia. I like a lot how modern series are written and done. I find it to be massive improvement over what movies and series used to be when I was young. I like the one long story aspect of it all. I just do not want to watch it in one episode a week schedule.

by larrik 3y ago

sitkack 3y ago

? Shows come out weekly for lots of programs

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

the_gastropod 3y ago

Not sure this is true. Breaking Bad, which blew up because of its availability on Netflix, seems like a decent counter-example.

autoexec 3y ago
Stranger things too.
- bee_rider 3y ago
  Stranger Things is generally a much better show than Game of Thrones (in my opinion of course, but I’m pretty sure I’m objectively correct). But Game of Thrones seemed to make a much bigger cultural splash. Stranger Things—a season comes out, and then we all binge it, talk about that season, and it it all done in a month or so. Game of Thrones had weekly episode-by-episode articles written about it.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    Stretching out the advertising is a huge reason why they want to delay releasing episodes. I value my time and setting my own schedule higher. I think that as long as the shows are good they'll find an audience and sustain cultural relevancy long after the ads have moved on to shoving the next thing in our faces.
    - bee_rider 3y ago
      Stretching out the subscription time seems like another big deal. Disney+ seems to have worked out a magnificently infuriating cadence of one interesting episode per week. There’s always just enough around the corner to not cancel the subscription…
      - andsoitis 3y ago
        That feels very user hostile.
jaredsohn 3y ago
But new episodes were coming out weekly after the first few seasons were released on Netflix. Wikipedia: "It had fair viewership in its first three seasons, but the fourth and fifth seasons saw a moderate rise in viewership when it was made available on Netflix just before the fourth season premiere." "Breaking Bad's viewership grew greatly as viewers binged the series on Netflix, helping to assure that a fifth season could be made. The fifth-season premiere had more than double the viewership compared to the fourth season premiere, attributed to the Netflix availability"

autoexec 3y ago

If you want to time gate your episodes with your friends you're still welcome to coordinate that with them. Lots of couples do this too ("Don't watch until we can do it together") but personally, no matter how excited I am for a show, if a streaming platform withholds episodes so that they can better manage social media and stretch out advertising I'll just wait until the whole thing is out before I even start watching. I'm totally done letting media companies dictate my time and letting them make me feel like I'm missing out somehow if I don't jump when they tell me to. I'll watch things on my schedule, when it's convenient for me, and I'll do it at my own pace. If a platform doesn't want to let me do that, I've got plenty of other things competing for my attention that will.

afavour 3y ago
> If you want to time gate your episodes with your friends you're still welcome to coordinate that with them. That feels somewhat naive. People don't only belong to one friendship group. > if a streaming platform withholds episodes so that they can better manage social media and stretch out advertising I'll just wait until the whole thing is out before I even start watching. Sounds like it works out for everyone, then: those that want to watch and discuss week-to-week can, those that don't can wait until the end of the season and watch all at once.
- autoexec 3y ago
  > That feels somewhat naive. People don't only belong to one friendship group. We did exactly that during pandemic lockdowns. We used a browser extension that let us sync our netflix viewing while we had a live chat running during the show. It meant we could all talk about the last episode during the week and people had something to look forward to. It's perfectly do-able unless you're actually trying to keep your friend groups segregated for some reason, like you've got friends that won't do anything with some of your other friends. > Sounds like it works out for everyone, then: It might, except that streaming companies are too stupid to take a long view on ratings. Amazon for example canceled The Tick because they didn't get enough views in the weeks immediately following release. By the time I (and many many others) got around to watching and enjoying it, they'd already made up their mind that it was a failure. When platforms withhold episodes I'm moving on to something else and it could be a long time before I make it back around to them. If they chase me away from a show and I have to find one that respects my time and that one has got 5-6 seasons, or if instead I pick up a video game that I'll put 150+ hours into it could easily be months before I get back to whatever they are heavily promoting and tracking this instant, assuming something new doesn't catch my interest and take priority. Release whole seasons at once, and people who want to time gate can start right away and take longer to finish, while people who binge can finish in a weekend and everyone else can go at their own pace, but in any case it's more eyeballs within the same timeframe.

strunz 3y ago

Because you can still watch something that is highly recommended? You think people only discuss shows that are week to week? Plenty of people won't even watch something unless they can binge at least a season.

afavour 3y ago
It's definitely a thing. I remember when Lost first aired I had lengthy discussions every week with friends, I even logged into Lostpedia to browse, exchange theories etc. By comparison, the first Netflix show I remember really watching was House of Cards. Tried to have conversations with friends about it but inevitably you'd start with "oh, what episode are you on? Is that the one with the...? So you haven't seen...?". Discussing an entire season when it's complete is definitely less fulfilling than discussing each episode. Depending on the show, of course.
- watwut 3y ago
  On the other hand, watching episode a week sux. By the end of a season, you don't remember what happened 3 months ago. The series got much better writing over time - but the consequence is that I actually want to see it as a whole instead of little by little with mandatory breaks.
  - genewitch 3y ago
    and for you we have the likes of Naruto, which is 30-60% flashbacks to the prior episodes.
    - propogandist 3y ago
      this was especially bad when there were ads sprinkled throughout during cable broadcasts A typical show went like this: last time on dragonBallZ… 12 minutes of content… next time on dragonBallZ
    - watwut 3y ago
      I am not sure it is for me, because I did not watched Naruto and being forced to rewatch same scenes does not exactly sound like fun to me. I do not remember stuff from three months ago, but also it is not complete amnesia. I like a lot how modern series are written and done. I find it to be massive improvement over what movies and series used to be when I was young. I like the one long story aspect of it all. I just do not want to watch it in one episode a week schedule.