The Perils of Bingewatching

The Perils of Bingewatching

 

In my last post, I talked about the difference between watching TV and movies alone vs. with watching with other people.  Truly, community plays a role in how we respond to entertainment.  Now, I want to move on to another issue: bingewatching.  Bingewatching is the practice of watching seasons of television series extremely quickly, essentially watching one episode after another and completing a season in a very short time, sometimes in a single day or at least a weekend.

 

I cast no judgment upon people who bingewatch.  Goodness knows I’ve done my share of it.  And I think the practice works well for action and thriller series, which end on cliffhangers.  Instead of waiting a full week for a new episode, one can find out immediately what happens next.  The problem is diminishing returns.  You can only sit and watch for so long before one’s wits and memory are dulled.  Often, the later at night (or the earlier in the morning) it gets, fatigue may set in and affect one’s enjoyment of the series.  Sometimes you just have to sleep and come back fresh.

 

But while action and thrillers may be made for bingewatching, I have more reservations about comedy.  The problem with comedy is that you can get overloaded, and many comedy shows need to be savored to be enjoyed.  Sometimes being overexposed to a certain style of humor inoculates you against it, so after three or four episodes, one doesn’t laugh as much as one might otherwise.  I have a much higher opinion of the fourth and fifth seasons of Arrested Development than some outspoken critics and fans, and I think by bingewatching these seasons of the series alone, rather than one episode at a time weekly, often in a group, the humor was unfortunately dulled. 

 

Think of the series Seinfeld.  During the 1990’s, my friends and I always looked forward to watching the show on Thursday nights, often with family members.  We always had a topic of conversation of Fridays, discussing the show, and I’m sure that if entire seasons of Seinfeld were released all at once and devoured over a weekend, not only would responses to the humor be blunted, but many of the Seinfeld trademark lines and imagery, from “Yada, Yada, Yada,” to Festivus would never have made their way into the public mindset because it would have been too much, too quickly.  With no time to be absorbed and disseminated, Seinfeld’s mark on popular culture would have been far smaller than it was.

 

So what do you think?  Are there any other problems arising from bingewatching?  I mean, aside from lack of exercise and reading fewer books.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released on November 3^rd.  His book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books on September 7^th.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle  edition.