For the first time, I am writing for you - and myself - in this community: The Pub.
Kinda interesting since I am NOT a Pub person. I like places more where the bar is surrounded by music, where there are no walls and ceilings. Some call those places Festivals. I sometimes call them: Home. In recent months, I have been feeling at home more than a few times. BUT ... I won't bore you with that right now ... That's for some other to-be-created write-ups. Owww ... darn ... did I give myself some tasks just yet?
I haven't the faintest idea what you guys and girls like around here, so bear with me. Be frank, be tough, be fierce, be .. hoping you will be quite the opposite 🙂
After this somewhat lengthy nothingness, let's get into a topic that fascinates me: The appetite for (binge-able) TV series.
As usual, I was late to understand what binge-watching in fact is. For long, my goto was movies. Renting DVDs, roaming my extensive 100+ channel cable subscription, recording (when possible, multiple at the same time). And yes, downloading using the - early bird - p2p platforms back in the early 00's and later, from newsgroups. Much of the stuff I like, I burned to DVDs. Much I burned, I stored and never watched; Something to do with my urge for collecting, leaving me little time to watch.
Binge-watching I did rarely. On occasion - mostly when I got the flu and felt I was too ill to execute office work - I re-watched series such as Twin Peaks and sitcom Family Ties. Though I could spend hours and hours, sometimes half a day and more watching, I was drawn to movies way more. Not sure why. Perhaps because movies (mostly) had a higher level of quality? Perhaps because movies absorb somewhere between 90 minutes and a few hours only? Perhaps because I didn't had a good setup for binge-watching series?
Although I learned about Hulu back in 2007 when it emerged, I never tried it. I learned about Netflix only years later. And even then, when everybody was falling in love with 'House of Cards', it never drove me to get myself a Netflix subscription. Perhaps because I still had this enormous backlog of movies? Perhaps because the daily selection of higher quality movies in my TV cable box was much more than I could eat?
Image: Two Black Hats
What I do know is that last year I mostly watched series. Since early last year, I became the owner of a Netflix subscription after I downgraded my cable TV package. Since then, I have been watching series. Mostly binge-mode. Heavy binge periods (a few weeks), alternating with no screen at all for a month or more. Addictive and Rehab behaviours, I would say. The no screen periods are usually not a conscious decision to stay away. Much of the time, life directs me. When life isn't giving me binge time, I do not seem to start a TV series.
The feeling, the need to watch yet another episode every time one ends, lies at the heart of the popularity of TV series, I think. I never executed a survey, though; It is my logic only as well as my own experience. Sure ok, the quality of series increased as well; The setup of a series changed from episodes with a beginning and an end to a story from the first to the last episode; The characters and story depth increased; All characteristics that may drive us to series instead of movies.
How is it with you? Are you binge-watching? If so, what drives you?
In recent weeks, I've seen myself binging three series. Well, in fact, two while I just started the third one last night. After no screen time for like two months, 'The Marvellous Mrs Maisel' [imdb] pulled me into the zombie pit again, with an average of just 5 hours of sleep a night during the week. Weekends mostly away from the screen, enjoying my outdoor pub encapsulated with mucho music. For those who like standup comedy and a bit of drama, I can advise you to watch. It is on Amazon Prime.
Next up was: 'Upload' [imdb]. On Prime as well. Loved the title. Uploading brains is something that will be possible some time from now, whether that be a few decades, or a century or more, I do believe technology will be able to store us, to digitise us and to give us eternal life with or without a biological body. After an ok start of season one, the quality fell - much - below par, though I continued watching. The AI guy was and stayed super funny. The quick pace of the story was cool (though I usually like slow TV). The acting of the leads was ok to good-ish. The script, the lines ... Darn, they became quite bad, the more the series progressed.
Finally, yesterday I finished that one and had to find (and start) a new one, to compensate. 'Mr and Mrs Smith' [imdb]. I liked the movie. "Perhaps I like the series as well", was my thinking. I was happily surprised the series didn't simply follow the movie storyline, but altered it quite a bit. Without giving to much spoilers, a kinda Tinder setup for people looking for jobs brought a woman and a man together to form a couple, living in a fancy apartment, executing hitman-like jobs. Now, three episodes in, I can conclude this will not be a waste of quality time: Slow mostly, funny to some extent, interesting stories (a start-to-finish story per episode next to a storyline spanning the entire series), good acting, great filming and locations. Though still plenty of episodes to go, I can recommend this one.
For some reason, I felt I had to write this one, perhaps because I picked up curation again a few days ago after a month of complete silence in our HIVE community. It surely broke my day spent in front of the TV screen. Next up, away from the big screen, is office work I wasn't able to finish last week. I suppose Mr and Mrs Smith need to stay paused for some time. Perhaps I shall try and push for the Rehab period?
