Hi all. I hope you’ve all been well. Sorry for keeping you all waiting. But, you see, today’s subject is all about waiting. Like a server who gives out complimentary snacks and brings you your bill without having to be asked, I’m a good waiter. Leaving the messy analogy there, what I mean is that, generally speaking, I’m a patient person. I’m happy to wait for most things, but there’s one thing I struggle waiting for. Let’s get into it. Enjoy:
Television: it’s a beautiful thing. So says Homer Simpson, and who am I to argue? I love television. Watching TV series is genuinely one of my favourite things to do. I find it even more enjoyable than watching films. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good film, too. But, I think what I like about episodic entertainment is that there is more time to delve into different characters or aspects of a story. And, at the same time, it is broken down into little segments, which can often make you feel like the story is moving at a decent pace.
I saw one meme online that basically said, “Ask me to watch a 10-hour film, and it’s not going to happen. But give me 10 one-hour episodes to binge, and I’ll watch it all in one day. ” I totally get that mindset.
How we watch TV has changed now. 50+ years ago, there were very few channels to choose from (three, in the UK, up until the launch of Channel 4 in 1982), and there was no real way to record programmes. If you wanted to watch something, you had to make sure you were sitting in front of the TV on time. It was what is known as ‘appointment viewing’.
As time progressed, further channels became available. Either via new terrestrial channel launches or as viewers started signing up to satellite or cable packages. Recording television became possible as well, first with VCR technology (ask your parents, kids), and then with digital recordings. I believe Sky might have been the first in the UK to offer this technology with their Sky+ boxes, which must have first come out around the turn of the millennium. Tivo seemed to be the biggest in America. That ability to record programmes to watch later – very easily, at the touch of a button – was an absolute game-changer.
But, it didn’t fundamentally change how people watched. It must have had an impact on live viewing figures, but people still more or less watched things week by week. Things drastically changed about 10-15 years ago.
The introduction of online streaming services and their subsequent popularity helped usher in a new era of television viewing. Not just with the ability to watch virtually anything you want at any time, but it also birthed what we now refer to as binge watching.
I think Netflix may have been the first to dip their toe into the binge pool, making all episodes available for most of their new seasons at the same time. I’m thinking that they probably did this with their most popular shows at the time. House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc. And it wasn’t long until other streaming services offered the same.
To be fair, Apple TV has never, to my knowledge, bowed to the binge pressure. All of their new shows seem to release one episode a week, which is almost nostalgic. But, because there is so much content available everywhere, it’s easy enough to let Apple episodes build up before you start watching. As in, wait until the final episode of a season is available before you start watching that season. Ingenious, as long as you don’t care about potentially seeing spoilers.
Binge watching, though, has somewhat ruined TV viewing for me. I’ve developed something of a problem with certain shows. Waiting for a new season now feels like torture. But only sometimes. Let me try to explain.
Let’s say that my wife and I are browsing for something new to watch. We happen across a show on Netflix, which seems to be a few years old. There are two seasons of it available. We start watching it, and I’m hooked straight away. It’s exciting, interesting, and funny. I look forward to watching more every evening. We get through all the episodes within a couple of weeks.
Fast forward a few months, and I see that a third season for the show will be coming out soon. I suddenly don’t care one little bit about the show! I can’t be bothered to watch it anymore. I don’t care what happens to the characters.
What happened? Maybe I never really liked it. No, I definitely remember enjoying it. It must be the break from watching it. I guess that while I was watching, I was invested. Now that I’ve stopped, I would need to re-commit time to it. Some people say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, not for this guy, apparently.
I feel like there needs to be a specific word for this phenomenon. You know how dictionaries often have to add new words to keep up with modern times and trends. Words like ‘Contactless’ or ‘Wokery’, which would have looked ridiculous in a dictionary 20 years ago.
What should my word be? I’ve given it an unhealthy amount of thought. And I think I’m going to go with ‘Indifferabsence’. Definition: an indifference that forms in the absence of something, i.e., a new season of a television show.
It’s not perfect, but it’ll do for me. To be clear, I’m not saying this applies to every show I’ve ever binge watched. The very best shows hold my intrigue, no matter how long I have to wait. And, in a way, despite it seeming like I may have a problem, I actually think my indifferabsence is kind of handy. It helps me to understand which shows I love and which ones I sort of just endure.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you’re going to have a weird character trait, you might as well make it a useful one.
Thanks for reading. And, if you thought this was good, check out my follow-up to this blog, coming out in October 2025… In all seriousness, if reading about TV is your thing, keep your eyes open for my next instalment, where I’ll be talking about common plot points that you see over and over again across different shows. It should be a bit different, which will hopefully be vaguely interesting if nothing else. Until then, take care.
Rob Recommends
The Residence – TV – 9/10
This is one of those shows that is very easy for me to recommend. It’s a murder mystery (available on Netflix), so if you like murder mysteries, this is a must watch. If you don’t like murder mysteries, this is one to avoid. I don’t personally see what’s not to like about them, but to each their own, I guess.
This show is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. It has all the right ingredients for a good murder mystery: interesting characters, a compelling story, and loads of characters with a good motive to kill the victim. Throw in a world-famous detective and a location as opulent and mysterious as the White House, and you have a recipe for a really fun show.
The story moves at a real pace, which removes the chance of viewers getting bored. The plot is so well crafted, with no obvious indications of who the real killer is. You literally don’t find out until the final 15 minutes. The red herrings feel natural rather than shoehorned in willy nilly. You’re kept guessing the whole way through. It’s also very funny. I’d urge everyone to watch this.
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