Binge-watching (sometimes called binge-viewing) is when you watch two or more episodes of the same show in one sitting. Watching episodes back to back is the best way to really become immersed in a show. Nobody wants to wait a week between episodes to find out what happens next. This is the MTV generation. We need instant gratification. The binge-watching trend started happening in the early to mid-2000s. TV shows started to become more cinematic. Productions costs went up, shooting in HD became the norm, and they started releasing full seasons of shows on DVD, all while Netflix began to popularize streaming. This was the perfect storm which lead brilliant writers, directors, and actors to realize that TV was the perhaps the best way to tell a story. The stories became longer, more complex, and more compelling for the viewer to keep on watching. And if you have access to a full season, why would you only watch one episode of Breaking Bad at a time if you can watch four episodes? Binge-watching isn’t going away. You sit on your ass for a few hours, watch an entire season of Mad Men, you feel like you accomplished something, and nobody can blame you because they’ve done the same exact thing.
Critically Rated at 14/17
Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young
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