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[OPINION] – Old Fashioned – The Wait for the Next Episode...
The thrill of anticipation combined with the torture of waiting a week to see a new episode of your favorite TV show. I still love it! Am I really in the minority?
I wonder if I'm the only one?! Growing up I always LOVED TV. I still do. I was the one who figured out how to put my two VCRs on a splitter so I could record two shows at once. And in the early 1990s, that was no small feat but instead a major accomplishment. Now I can record five shows at once, more actually since I automatically record Prime Time Shows on ABC, NBC, ABC, and FOX. Now, they supposedly have a DVR that can record 16 shows at once. I might have to upgrade.
So when I say I LOVE TV, you can see what I've gone through over the years to record and watch my favorite TV Shows. Plus I enjoy re-watching certain shows.
So anyway, I think I might be old-fashioned or even a dinosaur. See I've tried binge watching where you get comfortable in front of the TV and watch and watch and watch till your eyes close on their own and you hit the end of the season. And don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching a whole season all at once, one episode after the other. Enjoying the story arc of a season.
But my problem is at the end of day three after the credits roll for the last episode of that season....then what?
If I just watched season three of my favorite show on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday... What do I do now come Monday? Ahhhh! For the shows exclusively online, it's not like that when they post season three that they tell me when season four will be available to watch.
The Black Void of Nothingness. I think The Neverending Story has come to life.
The wait is tortuously bearable. What?! So any given day I know what shows come on at what time and channel. Minus the shows I don't watch obviously.
So it's the beginning of a New Season of TV... And today is the day that my favorite show starts airing new episodes and a new season starts. I check to make sure my show is scheduled to record, I have enough memory available on my DVR and my show is scheduled to record one minute early and three minutes late. At 8:10 pm I start watching my show (I need a buffer so I can fast forward through the boring commercials).
OMG did that just happen I screamed aloud in my living room, yelling at the TV. I smile cause I know this is going to be a freaking awesome season of TV. Oh no, the end of the episode has arrived. It's 8:57 pm and now I am glued to the TV waiting for a preview of the next episode. Wow! It looks awesome.
Now the tortuous wait begins. I need to wait 168 hours before the next episode airs. Torture! Days drag, anticipation builds, I look for spoilers... A sneak peak of photos of the new episode shows up online. My friends want to go out for dinner tomorrow. What? No, I can't it's too close to 8:00 pm. (Though realistically I do have a DVR) I have survived 7 days of NOTHINGNESS, but the light is about to appear. 8:00 pm has come and wow see I knew this episode would be great!
Stop, wait, watch and repeat and so goes the cycle of every new season of TV. During dry spells when my favorite show has their mid-season finale or the end of the season. You hope and pray the mid-season/offseason replacement shows suck you into their universe too.
That is was great Television does for you. And though it's a torturous cycle, the anticipation and excitement of the next week's episode can't be artificially reproduced.
Simply cause I get 12-22 weeks of pleasure waiting, anticipating and ultimately fulfillment out of the experience of watching New TV Episodes every week.
How can you compare that with instant gratification that lasts maybe three days? If you binge watch a TV show season online it is a fleeting sense of elation. If you watch a TV Show season Live every week it can last for 3-5 months of living life.
Like I said, I think I'm a dinosaur. Old fashioned. I need that fix every week. So, while I enjoy binge-watching on occasion, I'd much prefer the experience of watching and participating in Live TV. The anticipation...the emotion...the experience...
Am I the only one? Or do you also enjoy watching TV every week? Please take the poll below. Leave a comment. I'm intrigued to see if I'm really the only one.
