With more streaming services around today than you can shake a digital stick at, we have instant access to just about everything from classic box sets to the shiny new release from the tireless TV conveyor belt. Once drip-fed to audiences each week, entire seasons are now laid bare to viewers like an all-you-can-eat buffet. We no longer need to wait a week to continue the story - only a few seconds as the next episode plays itself.
But this neglects one key element of pop-culture: community.
Weekly releases have been the bedrock of television since serials began, turning ordinary weekdays into the day of the week. Days between episodes are filled with excited chatter about the latest plot twists and speculation (read: outlandish theories) as to what happens next. As one, we find our feet anxiously dangling over the same cliffhanger for the same six nights, before taking to group chats en masse to react in real time.
This is never truer than with season finales. Over ten-ish weeks, tension has built to fever pitch as the series approaches its climax; It has all come down to one hour-long segment. We invite our friends round, whip out the snacks, and it becomes the social event of the season.
You don’t get that with whole-series ‘dumps’, where more often than not everyone is at different points in the story and scared to talk for fear of spoilers. In other words, it is the days that separate the episodes that bring us together.
So, when it comes to the way we consume TV series, I prefer the journey of the ten-course experience over the buffet, and the conversations that prove good things come to those who wait.
