Netflix Dropping Seasons in One Day... Good or Bad?

[Guy Gardener]

Netflix's Original Programming is not necessarily as double plus good as the press proclaims, but eating 10 hours over a long weekend has a certain appeal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix

 

[JanewayRulz!]

I look at season long "drops" the way I look at novels. something to savor in one gulp or a long month, all at my discretion.

At least when netflix drops us a season, we KNOW we'll see it through, and not get hooked for half the run, just to have it pulled cuz the ratings don't stun the suits upstairs. (Yes, Fox, I'm thinking of Firefly. )

The interminable wait between seasons seems interminable only because we aren't used to it in TV, and yet we accept it in our literary world.

But hey... we've "Got Time".

Think of all the roads
Think of all their crossings
Taking steps is easy
Standing still is hard
Remember all their faces
Remember all their voices
Everything is different
The second time around

The animals, the animals
Trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full
The cage is full
Stay awake
In the dark, count mistakes
The light was off but now it's on
Searching the ground for a bitter song
The sun is out, the day is new
And everyone is waiting, waiting on you
And you've got time
And you've got time
And you've got time

Season Two of Orange Is The New Black begins JUNE 6th!!!!!!!!!

 

[Marten]

Netflix's Original Programming is not necessarily as double plus good as the press proclaims, but eating 10 hours over a long weekend has a certain appeal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix

We can still choose. The only problem för me is that it gets incredibly difficult to discuss shows with friends. No one has ever seen the same amount of episodes at the same time.

 

[clint g]

Greatest policy ever. Sometimes I have alot of free time. If I do, I can blow through a season. If I don't have free time I can spread it out.

 

[Brolan]

It would be more fun to drop them in a measured way. So people can discuss the shows together. For instance I don't dare go into the House of Cards thread because I'm watching the Olympics and haven't seen a single episode, while some of the people there have already seen the entire season.

 

[Shanndee]

I love being able to marathon a show I enjoy. I agree with JanewayRulz!...there is a certain comfort to knowing that I will be able to finish a full season without a network pulling the plug!

It does make discussing shows more difficult, but that is something I'm more than happy to deal with.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I'm at least a year ahead of my entire country with most shows.

It's alienating, when they talk about fresh crap I fangasmed over 16 months ago.

My life is how telepaths who can see the future feel when they are slumming it with mundanes.

 

[bigdaddy]

Netflix's Original Programming is not necessarily as double plus good as the press proclaims, but eating 10 hours over a long weekend has a certain appeal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix

We can still choose. The only problem för me is that it gets incredibly difficult to discuss shows with friends. No one has ever seen the same amount of episodes at the same time.

This is why I don't like it. I can't watch 12 episodes in a day like some people with way too much free time. Then there are spoilers for a whole season. I'd do two episodes a week, maybe 3 and that would be best.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think it's good for Netflix, but I wouldn't want all tv to be this way.

The discuss as it goes along dynamic is harder, but I'm used to LOST and The Wire, where more people watched on DVDs than live. For LOST, I can comment both ways since many of my friends caught up through DVDs, but were there to watch the last season live. It's nice to have everyone react at the same time, but I've done the "where are you now" conversation and it works too.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Has someone who lives in a very noisy flat it is really good for me to be able to stick my headphones on a blitz though a show instead of walking around town in this cold,wet and windy weather we are having in the UK at the moment.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Giving the viewer control is a good thing.

i agree, there is something fun about being teased week to week and having that whole week to anticipate what happens next and to discuss it with your friends.

But on the other hand, it sucks when writers take advantage of that week delay to create unearned tension and drama. I'm more than happy to take that tool away from them.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'm not entirely sure it's unearned. It's a convention, but it's one that's existed for a long time so the writers have structured their script to take advantage of it. But it still takes a good writer to truly take advantage of it.

Interestingly, there was a study that found commercial breaks makes shows more enjoyable of the pause.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Some good arguments on both sides but I like having full seasons all at once. The only reason I watch some shows live is so I can discuss them. With shows I don't discuss, I usually save up a full season before I watch.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

With season six of the Clone Wars dropping in one fell swoop a few weeks from now, I considered portioning the 13 episodes out -- one a week -- as if they were on a traditional TV network, to better stretch my enjoyment of said episodes to the fullest...

BUT my own self-awareness set in and quickly dispelled that whimsical notion. It's been nearly a year since I've gotten my Clone War fix and I will marathon the hell out of that show when it arrives. I've already written off the days following March 7 as a lost weekend.

Netflix is changing television shows from Advent calendars into Christmas morning.

I vote Good.

 

[JWPlatt]

I'd like to discuss slang like "drop" that arises with the opposite meaning of what it used to mean. A 1969 article that might have read, "NBC drops Star Trek" meant something very much more tragic. Similar to "drop," some people use "street" as a verb for new product releases. Kicked to the curb used to mean something else entirely. "Street" is less confusing than "drop," despite my pet peeve of people verbing nouns like "Google." But I suppose "street" is not really accurate for downloadable product. It's more accurate for physical product you have to walk down the "street" to buy from the local huckster. That said, it's still quite an annoying term.

But why I'm really here is that I read the title of this thread as meaning "Netflix Will No Longer Release Seasons in One Day... Good or Bad?" I thought it would be another complaint about Netflix taking away something people really want. I had to read on to understand that "drop" really means make available. So I'm relieved they're not doing another dumb corporate thing. But "drop" sounds like one of those words Marketing makes up because it sounds cool or something. Like "street." It sounds so "big city," like you're in some black and white film noir movie. "Drop 'im, Bugsy and let's hit the street."

 

[Agent Richard07]

^

"google" became a verb in 2006.

Carry on.

 

[Guy Gardener]

This is what made me laugh...

Janewrulez seyz

I look at season long "drops" the way I look at novels. something to savor in one gulp or a long month, all at my discretion.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=long drop

(It's another would for outside toilet.)

 

[Starbreaker]

I don't see a problem with it. I've always had fun finding new shows to watch and binging on multiple episodes in a weekend. As soon as Orange is the New Black show up again, you'd better believe I'll be glued to the TV all day.

 

[tomalak301]

Glad OITNB has a return date. Can't wait to binge watch season 2.

 

[FPAlpha]

I think it's a very good approach because it gives control to the viewer.

Viewing habits have changed when recording technology became available, something the TV stations and the Nielsen rating systems were very slow to adapt to.

People just sometimes don't have the time to sit in front of the TV at an exact hour for various reasons but that doesn't mean the show is dead because viewers are not tuning in. Viewing just became delayed and this is another method that has adapted to it.

If you have nothing else to do you can blow through it in one weekend (or even one day) or spread it out as you have the time. Additionally i absolutely hate it when shows pick up momentum (especially when they have arc storytelling such as Game of Thrones for example) only to make extended breaks for holidays, other events etc which can last for weeks.

With Netflix' approach you don't have that, at the worst you'll be stuck with the season finale cliffhanger but that's ok i guess.

Now i don't know if that can be applied to every show and what that would mean for regular shows and the TV landscape in general but this change can happen quick especially if "big" Pay TV producers like HBO start doing it like that too.