How do you take your TV? It was only a few years ago that the only option was to watch a show week to week, setting your VCR when you weren't going to be home, or hoping to catch reruns during summer hiatus. Now thanks to the rise of TV-on-DVD and websites like Hulu (not to mention the fact that you can find a torrent of almost any TV show ever made), it's easier than ever to be a television fan, a completist, a purist. I am all of these things. If I miss an episode of a show I'm a fan of, I won't watch subsequent episodes until I'm caught up. This separates me from the ranks of the casual TV viewers, and probably irritates my roommates, as our DVR fills up with episode after episode of 30 Rock, just because I missed the third show of the season.
But what's the ideal way to view a season of television, anyway? Watching it week to week has its merits: the anticipation builds, and you get seven days to mull over details and wonder where plotlines are headed. And don't forget the fact that week-to-week is how television is intended to be watched-- the writers plan storylines around hiatuses and sweeps months, and write cliffhangers specifically to build up that anticipation and create suspense.
But it's sometimes so nice to have an unwatched, pristine season of television waiting for you in your Netflix queue, or on a borrowed DVD set. You can lose track of the hours as you watch episode after episode. If one is less than stellar? Who cares! It's not like you waited longer to watch it than the time it took to change the disc. You can forgive a lot more flaws if you view something all in one go, which means you might be left with a better impression of a show. Case in point: Veronica Mars season 3, generally hated by fans, wasn't so bad for me when I watched it in one two-day bender. It's not the best season of television ever, and it pales in comparison to the near-flawless season 1, but I still generally enjoy it. Had I watched it week by week when it was still on the air, I might not feel so generous.
But still I'm torn. Friday Night Lights (the other best-show-you've-probably-never-seen) has just returned to NBC's lineup. The entire fourth season already aired on DirecTV, thanks to a dual-sponsorship situation, so I could easily torrent all the episodes and devour them at once. I even started to-- I watched the first three or four earlier this spring on my computer. But then I decided that maybe such a high-quality show deserves to be watched as intended. My plan is to view it weekly, savoring both the episodes and the in-between. Maybe that's the way television should be watched.
But more likely, I'll let the shows pile up on my DVR and stay up 'til 6 a.m. one night late in the season, each time promising myself just one...more...episode before sleep. Will I enjoy it any less? Probably not. But then, it's Friday Night Lights. Clear eyes; full hearts; can't lose.
Any arguments either way? I suppose the only conclusion I've reached for myself is that I love really excellent TV, and I'll take it however I can get it. Is there a right way and a wrong way to watch TV for you?
i prefer to watch all my shows on Hulu. there are two reasons for this.
ReplyDelete1. we don't have cable
2. i don't have to sit through as many commercials
in the past few years i've come to understand about myself that if i am watching a show i really like on regular network TV, within a few weeks i will be sick of it because the commercials make me angry. if i watch the same show on Hulu, i'm fine. no anger and i still like the show. i also feel that good shows are even better with fewer commercial breaks. likewise, bad shows are even worse.
i know that i'm missing out on a lot of shows that aren't put up on Hulu, but i'm ok with that.
I didn't even take commercials into consideration! But you're so right. I guess because I DVR everything, I'm used to fast-forwarding through them anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have much of a preference.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the big con for week-to-week watching for me is that I forget to tune in.... which is no fault of the programming