File under: Culture & Entertainment, Life, Television

Media consumption: little & often or feast & famine?

08.21.07 | 15 Comments

I recently came to the realisation that I’m a media-glutton. I’m impatient at the best of times, and this unfortunate characteristic seems to come into sharp focus when it comes to watching TV series.

The way the TV companies want you to watch a normal 24-episode series goes something like this:

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…with all episodes being watched at regular intervals, neatly scheduled into a particular programme slot. Real “appointment to view” TV stuff.

But unfortunately (for them), my inate media consumption burnrate urge looks more like this

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…watching the first few episodes as intended and then gorging myself on the subsequent ones.

In fact, as with all pleasant things, after the initial hook, I want to gorge myself on it until I can’t take any more or the supply runs out, whichever comes first. And, thanks to DVD sales and various other marvellous technologies, it’s now possible to do exactly that.

However, it’s not quite that straightforward.

In recent months I’ve had this experience with two shows - Seinfeld and Heroes. Unlikely bedfellows, I’ll agree, but they have this, at least, in common.

The first: I managed to miss Seinfeld altogether when it was first shown on UK TV. I think I must have been living in Spain or Bolivia, and so I never quite got into it on my return - the show was already into its fourth series or so, and was too well-established and full of in-jokes for me to *get*.

But last year, lots of transatlantic travel with Chris L meant that he was able to persuade me that watching all of Seinfeld would be a very good idea indeed. So, in for a penny, in for a pound: I got hold of the first six series, translated them into ipod-friendly format and have been watching them on my commute.

The second: I only started watching Heroes a few weeks ago, when it came on BBC2, and I very quickly became addicted. As a result, the idea of waiting a whole WEEK for the next episode seemed physically impossible. Sure, I could watch the next episode on BBC Three, but that double-header only works for a week, and then you’re back to long waits. I’ve never been particularly good at restraint anyway, and as a result, I had to find another way to deliver fixes, to feed the addiction.

With both of these shows recently (and previously with The West Wing, Greys Anatomy (don’t laugh), House, Huff, M*A*S*H and Studio 60), I’ve noticed that, once all the available episodes of a thing are clutched in my sweaty paws, rather than follow the steep pace set out above, my consumption of a 24-episode series actually looks more like this:

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A – Watch first episode
B – Watch second episode
C – Wonder when the next episode is on
D – Watch third episode
E – Watch fourth episode
F – Impatiently wait for firth episode
G – Watch fifth episode after what seems like a decade
H – Snap and get DVD/resort to other method of getting hold of episodes
I – Consume episodes 6-11 at an accelerated pace
J – Consume episodes 12-20 at hyperspeed
K – Realise that I’m approaching the end and force myself to wait a bit before watching episode 21.
L – Watch episode 21 after will-power snaps after whole minutes
M – Forcibly restrain myself from watching episode 22 until a modest period has elapsed
N – Feel acutely aware that the series is coming to an end and ration out viewing of episodes 22 and 23 to make it last a bit longer
O – Put off watching the final episode of the series until I can’t bear it any longer.
P – Crack and watch episode 24 in an orgy of indulgence, feeling slightly sad that it’ll be over in less than 50 minutes and once it’s over, it’s OVER.

Which just goes to show that while there’s no such thing as “too much of a good thing”, sometimes the anticipation of the end of something is enough to slow the consumption rate down.

I doubt that the pattern would work if something was infinite - like a soap, for example. I think knowing that there’s a finite resource means that I’m able to vary the pace to accommodate both gluttony and delicious anticipation.

Incidentally, I also do this with nice meals, podcasts and books.

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