August 1, 2023

When it's best to binge (and when it's not)

the true crime that's worth your time

I’ve always been curious about the decision to release a property all at once, versus portioning it out week by week. Sometimes, it’s seemed like a thoughtful and strategic decision to me, but given the recent revelations we’ve witnessed regarding how streaming platforms or podcast companies operate, I am starting to think that I’ve been giving everyone way too much credit.

That said, I do think that if a Pringles-like show1 like The Ashley Madison Affair had been a weekly offering, I wouldn’t have watched the whole thing — after that first episode, it would have been very hard to make myself come back.

And other shows, like Last Call, are series I wish I had watched every week along with everyone else. There was a conversation everyone else was having that I didn’t get to participate in (since I’d watched it all in advance via screeners), and ideas and an approach that benefited from that weekly opportunity to bloom.

Finally, I have to go back to Serial, a podcast I know has aged problematically BUT was still such a formative experience for a lot of us here. My understanding is that the ongoing reporting and approach meant spaced-out episodes that appeared as they did — but I still wonder if the show would have hit all of us the same way if, Wondery-like, every episode had been dumped into our ears at once. I don’t think it would have!

So now I want to ask you about this. What are some properties that suffered (in the discourse, or for you as a viewer) by being weekly offerings? What shows did better because of it? And what efforts only made it into your eyes and ears because they were bingable? Let’s hear it. — EB