Aug 21, 2007
Media consumption: little & often or feast & famine?
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:
…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
…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:
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.
It’s clear you’ve been watching a lot of Seinfeld. This post is so very Seinfeldian or -esque.
I have exactly the same problem and so am most sympathetic.
Man I thought it was only me. I get all my DVDs from the public library, and I now refuse to watch TV series on TV because either the library will get them in about six months all by themselves, or I can ask and they’ll get them. This is a Flemish public library, by the way, and all top US and UK shows are shown on Flemish and Dutch TV.
Then just like you I watch them at my own pace, which always includes binge-viewing of like three hours at a time until I’m gagging and falling over. Right now it’s Season Three of Six Feet Under. I’ve watched a total of 18 episodes since last Saturday 11 August.
The big drawback is what you might call “watercooler TV” — I’m always behind the rest of the world, so there’s nobody to talk to about episodes by the time I get around to seeing them. The international TV viewing sequence now goes: US audiences, UK audiences, Flemish audiences, me.
But at least we have blogs. I’ve blogged asynchronously about The Sopranos, and I’ll do the same with SFU. And I may even do it this evening, with your inspiration.
Sorry to go on. Fast-forward the boring bits.
J – Consumer episodes 12-20 at hyperspeed
I loved to see that consumer ….
This is where Sky Plus is great as you can rack them up.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when iTunes UK starts doing TV shows. I think you’ll get a lot more people storing them up. And a lot less TV watching.
24 is probably the only show I can only watch on DVD. The rest having them on Sky Plus gives me the mix of watching how I want to, but not ruining my life by never leaving the house.
Thanks Adrian – fixed. That’ll teach me to write posts on my BlackBerry….
Yeah but if you are doing the graphs on your blackberry I’m twice as impressed.
And in fairness my typos, spelling and issues with their/there where/were type words, doesn’t leave me much room to criticise.
Is this because we are ‘technical people’ (I refuse to use the other word), or does it apply to ‘normals’ as well?
I’m with ‘Sour Grapes’ on this, in that, when it comes to ‘entertainment’, there are so many episodes and so many series I frankly don’t have time to watch them on a regular basis on TV anyway, so I often miss them completely, and, if I subsequently find they were worth watching, rent or buy the DVDs later.
There is no “watercooler moment” missed for me because I am self-employed and have no friends anyway.
I find podcast consumption tends to go in binges too – currently I have nearly 600 unheard podcasts, and, rather than listen to a nice selection, I’ll binge on multiple episodes of the same podcast in one sitting or over a few days, depending on the length, until I’ve caught up.
Ironically I started watching Seinfeld again a few days ago. Someone got me the DVD of seasons 1-3, I watched a few then left in a draw. I am now addicted.
Converting them to Ipod must have been a right hassle, but I suppose if you have to commute to work…
Your favourite Seinfeld character? (George for me, but they are all very likeable.)
@williamt I think this behaviour applies to ‘normals’ as well, not just technical people – at least, the DVD series boxset does, I’m not sure about the “grabbing by other alternative means”.
And as for the iTunes UK TV store, I’m not sure I can wait until they’re (inevitably) allowed to start selling the shows after they’ve aired on UK TV (whether terrestrial or other) – I want to see them now, damnit.
Whaaat? They’re only going to sell the episodes after they’ve been shown already? So it’s like Sky but paid? Sheesh.
The whole point of paying is so that I wouldn’t have to wait, dammit. Money is a substitute for time, in this equation.
Unless you offset by one.
So you are always watching a previous series that you know is good, because everyone has watched it.
So for example you would be watching Heroes right now. Because it’s all aired. Then you could watch House (which finishes tonight). etc etc. As long as you are always watching the last finished series you will be fine.
Or you can BitTorrent it. And then buy it on iTunes to appease any guilt you might have (and make it legal)
I’m with you on this one. I’ve recently done this with The Wire, and am now half way through Season 3. Horrifyingly, season 4 doesn’t seem to be out on DVD yet.
My normal “other way of getting hold of the dvd” is to rent it from lovefilm or somesuch dvd library – this has a different graph, as you would expect, with two/three episodes watched in an evening, and then the two day wait for the dvd to turn round. Rinse and repeat.
Whatever the case, it would appear that you are chronically addicted to TV.
I would prescribe an intense course of videogaming to remedy your problem.
@Matt: You think? I don’t think I’m addicted at all – I think I’m compulsive, which is different, but I don’t watch any old shit, and I never sit down and just watch telly – it’s always planned viewing or DVD.
You know, apart from my DS, the last console I owned was a Nintendo SNES. What would you recommend, then? And which games?
It’d be interesting to compare that timeline to the ‘traditional’ US season run, with repeats interspersed between new episodes, especially in the last half of the season, in order to pad things out till the sweeps.
I managed to miss Seinfeld altogether when it was first shown on UK TV.
Ah, that’s famously because of the shitty scheduling on BBC2. The same applied to Larry Sanders, the DVD set of which I gorged on last weekend. It’s an incomplete set, but it’s been selected by Shandling to have a story arc of its own for new viewers, or those who only watched a few episodes.
(That’s another weird phenomenon: plenty of Americans simply don’t know about Larry Sanders, because HBO existed in a parallel TV universe, and it never made it to syndication.)
On a slight tangent, there’s also the issue of leaked pilots for the American shows set to start next month. If they’re deliberately leaked, then it’s a fascinating strategy, since there’s just too much damn new stuff to absorb, even if you can record one channel and watch another. You might lose out in the premiere ratings war, but get people in at ep. 2; or you might get people setting the season pass in advance. Of course, if the leaks aren’t even tacitly encouraged, that’s all moot.
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