Binge watching burnout ... pacing?

[buysmarter]

I don't like the slow pace and wait of watching week by week episodes,
so I prefer to watch all in one sitting...

BUT

I am getting burned out on binge watching great tv series.
Anyone pause a while between seasons? I was thinking of re-watching
Fringe to absorb any nuances I may have overlooked.
Do others here continuously watch all non-stop?


Finished all seasons
Breaking Bad
Fringe
Arrow
Bates Motel
AHS

..and so many more:new ones:
Game of Thrones
Persons of Interest
Deadwood
Band of Brothers/Pacific
Rome
BattleStar Galactica
....
...

So many good deals...

[jokerzwild]

I'll binge watch a whole series but I won't want another right after as I like to absorb it for a bit and also for burn out factor.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by buysmarter

I don't like the slow pace and wait of watching week by week episodes,
so I prefer to watch all in one sitting...

BUT

I am getting burned out on binge watching great tv series.

Doctor, it hurts when you do this? Then don't do it.
Try one episode on a regular, by the clock basis (one a night, or two on the same night every week but no more, if one a week is too "slow"), and you'll have something to look forward to. You'll enjoy a meal more when you're not still stuffed from the last one.
Y'know, it has the advantage of the old days, when a show would be at the same time every Tuesday night, only now you don't miss anything for tuning in late or going to the bathroom during commercials. After fifty years of TV, you've finally got the power, don't squander it on self-destructive indulgence.

I've binged-watched in the past (the days when we traded rare shows on VHS), but I don't understand the now default "But that's HOW you watch something!" mentality of today, and I never will.
And now that it's all arcs anyway, gotta take it chapter by chapter.

[buysmarter]

Originally Posted by EricJ

After fifty years of TV, you've finally got the power, don't squander it on self-destructive indulgence...:

Very profound statement there. Particularly for us old timers. I used to frown on television series vs movies, but I'm starting to realize many are like novels to comic books (ok, maybe films are higher form than comics, but these cable tv shows have progressed dramatically). And playing catch up can be overwhelming. But I find your statement to have much truth-- I've gone on quality dry spells for long periods and I'm not quite sure if the quality of television shows can keep pace with my appetite.. so waiting has its merits.

[LegacyCosts]

I think part of the brilliance of a show like Breaking Bad was the insanely long gaps between cliff hangers. The hyperbole from episode to episode and the complex theories people would novelize online. Sometimes waiting to watch a show too long can take away some of it's luster and the community for the show has kind of wandered off to other things. Plus you have an idea of who is still alive, who did what from seeing commericals/spoilers over the years.

Sometimes less is more as is the case with binging multiple seasons of a show.

[The_Donster]

I kind of bounce around. Like most of us who replied, I'm a middle aged guy. But with a 4 1/2 year old and family it is hard to sit down and watch something like I would like. So once everyone is asleep or runs errands I pop in a disc or stream an episode.

[djgeneral]

I like to watch a few episodes a night. For example, I started re-watching season 8 of How I Met Your Mother Christmas night and I am finishing the season later tonight. So, 9 days. There was a day or two I didn't watch any. But I normally like to watch 3-6 episodes of a show (half hour format) a day if possible.

[Samus Aran]

I binged the first four seasons of Dexter and also seasons 2-3 of The Walking Dead. There were a lot of awesome things to watch, but watching so many episodes in a row of these shows also showed me how laughably stupid a lot of the writing was because you'd see the same stupid stuff happen over and over again in such a short period of time.

I imagine binging 24 would be even more insane with all the moles, snipers, immunity pleas, supposedly important characters introduced who quickly die and unnecessary subplots you'd experience in just one sitting.

[ForEver Blu]

To prepare for the the airing of the final eppys of Breaking Bad, I binge watched

the previous seasons on blu over the summer.


Glad I did and was able to watched the remaining one live with friends.

But it was a major undertaking.

[Monterey Jack]

Binge-watching is basically the only way I can even get through a lot of TV on Blu...unless I power right through, I tend to lose focus and wander away and suddenly I forget my place. Especially for shows with a tight episode-to-episode continuity.