Binge Watching
-
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
Sorry, but to expand on my last point--I'm more than willing to discuss shows I've already watched, especially if someone has just finished it. I like hearing about their flash reactions and how they're processing the story and compare it to what I think.
What I'm trying to say is: I got a really good theory that Mike's dad from Stranger Things is up to something nefarious and I want to discuss it.
I watched 1.5 episodes of that show and had to get out... bored me to near death.
It does start slow, I'll give you that, but it seriously ramps up once things start falling into place. I'd say give it to at least the 4th or 5th episode. For me, it hit that "what if this was me and my friends" nostalgia spot so maybe I'm biased.
That's HORRIBLE! I have to sit through 3 hours of shoot me in the face before I'd care about it? The writers should be fired - well the whole project team should be canned. I give most shows 2 episodes to hook me. The first one is generally so busy giving you character background and the actors are learning to work together, but if you don't have a compelling story by the end of EP2, you've failed.
I might give it another go just because I keep hearing "how bloodly awesome it is", but under any normal metric, that show would never get another eye grab from me.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
That's HORRIBLE! I have to sit through 3 hours of shoot me in the face before I'd care about it? The writers should be fired - well the whole project team should be canned. I give most shows 2 episodes to hook me.
I was thinking the opposite, it's horrible that show writers feel the need to hit people with all of the hooks and interest in the first few minutes or risk the short attention spans causing people to not keep watching. This is why shows and movies keep moving towards the more and more banal - people don't get engaged in the stories. They need constant action or they don't stick with it.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
...but if you
don'tneed to have a compelling story by the end of EP2, you've failed....... as a viewer.
FTFY
Try reading some classic literature, how often is the story gripping and intense in the first chapter? How often does this happen in the best books or even the best movies?
-
Look at Asimov's writings, arguably the greatest science fiction writer of all time.... zero action for forever. Or Lewis or Tolkien in the fantasy genres, nothing "compelling" up front. They trust their audience to hang in there.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
That's HORRIBLE! I have to sit through 3 hours of shoot me in the face before I'd care about it? The writers should be fired - well the whole project team should be canned. I give most shows 2 episodes to hook me.
I was thinking the opposite, it's horrible that show writers feel the need to hit people with all of the hooks and interest in the first few minutes or risk the short attention spans causing people to not keep watching. This is why shows and movies keep moving towards the more and more banal - people don't get engaged in the stories. They need constant action or they don't stick with it.
Especially with Stranger Things, which was likely written as one cohesive story and then broken up into "episodes". You gotta build the foundation before you add the slick whirpool jacuzzi, @Dashrender
-
@ChrisL
Yes, that show was like an extra long episode of the XFiles, I enjoyed it.
I just watched The Wire (all 5 seasons) in the last 2 weeks. Never ever had cable (still don't) so it was new to me. That was pretty good too. -
@momurda said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL
Yes, that show was like an extra long episode of the XFiles, I enjoyed it.
I just watched The Wire (all 5 seasons) in the last 2 weeks. Never ever had cable (still don't) so it was new to me. That was pretty good too.I've heard of that show a few times but don't know what it is or when it was from. Several people call it the best show ever, but I never heard about it when it was new.
-
@momurda said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL
Yes, that show was like an extra long episode of the XFiles, I enjoyed it.
I just watched The Wire (all 5 seasons) in the last 2 weeks. Never ever had cable (still don't) so it was new to me. That was pretty good too.Love The Wire.
It gets better every time you watch it.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
Look at Asimov's writings, arguably the greatest science fiction writer of all time.... zero action for forever. Or Lewis or Tolkien in the fantasy genres, nothing "compelling" up front. They trust their audience to hang in there.
A book is entirely different, But personally, yeah if the book doesn't have my attention within the first 30 pages or so - well frankly I can't say that, I've don't recall ever starting a fiction book and stopped reading it because I didn't like it, I just trudged through.
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Heck, the only reason I even watched it in the first place is because other people were raving about it. But after 1.5 episodes.. I was done, ready to just crawl into my grave and die.
I don't need things to have laser beams and atom bombs in the first 10 mins (although it's fun when we do
- Designated Survivor anyone?) But I need to be drawn to something, I need to care about the characters in some way, and I simply didn't.
I think that tossed in with the fact that it had a semi-horror film feeling (personally I don't watch horror, I just don't like it at all), so that was a one two punch for me.What's weird is that my wife rather likes horror/psychological type stuff (she reads that stuff all the time), and even she didn't care about the show.
And it's not like she won't watch it because I didn't like it. I didn't care about nurse Jackie either, but watched that whole thing without me.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
-
@momurda said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL
Yes, that show was like an extra long episode of the XFiles, I enjoyed it.
I just watched The Wire (all 5 seasons) in the last 2 weeks. Never ever had cable (still don't) so it was new to me. That was pretty good too.Aww, well there you go, I was definitely NOT a fan of XFiles - to horrorie like, just not my cup of tea.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
TV is usually episodic, Books aren't.
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
Especially with Stranger Things, which was likely written as one cohesive story and then broken up into "episodes".
This, this is probably another thing that did it in for me. But maybe not. It was just so slow.
But The more I think about it.. the more it has to do with the fact that it was horror like and I'm simply not a fan. Call it X-Files like, and I will just tune out, again, not a fan.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
I mostly read episodic books. They have chapters. Very much the same thing.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
Especially with Stranger Things, which was likely written as one cohesive story and then broken up into "episodes".
This, this is probably another thing that did it in for me. But maybe not. It was just so slow.
That's one of the things that I like about non-comedy television is when it is not very episodic. Sitcoms, sure, episodes are fine. But something good, I want it to be one storyline.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
I mostly read episodic books. They have chapters. Very much the same thing.
I suppose every Star Trek, Star Wars, etc novel ever written are episodic. I guess I consider them different because a TV episode takes me 30-60 mins to watch, a single Star Wars novel takes me 8-20 hours of reading to complete on average. I'm definitely not a speed reader. So if you can knock out one of those 200 page books in an hour, I guess that would explain why you don't see a difference.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
I mostly read episodic books. They have chapters. Very much the same thing.
I suppose every Star Trek, Star Wars, etc novel ever written are episodic. I guess I consider them different because a TV episode takes me 30-60 mins to watch, a single Star Wars novel takes me 8-20 hours of reading to complete on average. I'm definitely not a speed reader. So if you can knock out one of those 200 page books in an hour, I guess that would explain why you don't see a difference.
No, it's that each chapter in those books is an "episode." Each novel is a "season."
-
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
Especially with Stranger Things, which was likely written as one cohesive story and then broken up into "episodes".
This, this is probably another thing that did it in for me. But maybe not. It was just so slow.
That's one of the things that I like about non-comedy television is when it is not very episodic. Sitcoms, sure, episodes are fine. But something good, I want it to be one storyline.
I'll agree with that in general, So yeah I just stepped in with my earlier comment about being episodic - again, didn't like that show because of the horror aspect - Actually, I really do prefer non episodic Sci Fi shows, I'm not sure I'd enjoy a Star Trek series any more that was mostly episodic and not advancing an arching story line. I don't know if DS9 just didn't interest people when it was episodic, but viewership seemed to pickup after they started the Dominion war.
Babylon 5 was pretty good for the day, great story arches. -
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
I mostly read episodic books. They have chapters. Very much the same thing.
I suppose every Star Trek, Star Wars, etc novel ever written are episodic. I guess I consider them different because a TV episode takes me 30-60 mins to watch, a single Star Wars novel takes me 8-20 hours of reading to complete on average. I'm definitely not a speed reader. So if you can knock out one of those 200 page books in an hour, I guess that would explain why you don't see a difference.
No, it's that each chapter in those books is an "episode." Each novel is a "season."
oh, I've never read anything like that.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@ChrisL said in Binge Watching:
Especially with Stranger Things, which was likely written as one cohesive story and then broken up into "episodes".
This, this is probably another thing that did it in for me. But maybe not. It was just so slow.
That's one of the things that I like about non-comedy television is when it is not very episodic. Sitcoms, sure, episodes are fine. But something good, I want it to be one storyline.
I'll agree with that in general, So yeah I just stepped in with my earlier comment about being episodic - again, didn't like that show because of the horror aspect - Actually, I really do prefer non episodic Sci Fi shows, I'm not sure I'd enjoy a Star Trek series any more that was mostly episodic and not advancing an arching story line. I don't know if DS9 just didn't interest people when it was episodic, but viewership seemed to pickup after they started the Dominion war.
Babylon 5 was pretty good for the day, great story arches.I was wary because of the horror aspect too, not my thing. But I ended up really liking it.
-
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
@scottalanmiller said in Binge Watching:
@Dashrender said in Binge Watching:
But TV is completely different. There is so much out there to entertain ourselves with, why would you spend time trudging through something that bores the hell out of you for two solid episodes? Seriously, I practically wanted to off myself after the first one it was that bad - and clearly I wasn't alone, cause JB didn't even make it past one episode.
Why do you say that about TV but not books?
I mostly read episodic books. They have chapters. Very much the same thing.
I suppose every Star Trek, Star Wars, etc novel ever written are episodic. I guess I consider them different because a TV episode takes me 30-60 mins to watch, a single Star Wars novel takes me 8-20 hours of reading to complete on average. I'm definitely not a speed reader. So if you can knock out one of those 200 page books in an hour, I guess that would explain why you don't see a difference.
No, it's that each chapter in those books is an "episode." Each novel is a "season."
oh, I've never read anything like that.
no one generally does as most books are not wrote like that. Chapters are break points or narrative changes along the way. but in no way are considered able to stand on their own.
you are both generalizing too much. a good TV series can be episodic, story arc, or both. most are both to some degree or another.
Star Trek (the original series) was generally episodic with a little story over all.
The 100 is generally story arc per season with a little episodic design in each episode to wrap things in the typical 40 minute time slot.
Most novels are story arc per book with chapters being simple pauses or scene change or some other artifice of the author that makes a good spot to mark a change.
Some novels do have chapters with enough heft that they can almost be a story to themselves (an episode), but very rarely.
TV shows and novels are horrible comparisons in the way you are both using them.
