dvd marathon binging!
8/6/06 14:14![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So one of the interesting things about watching Alias is that now, after watching four seasons in a couple weeks, I am fairly certain about two things: first, that I love this show LIKE WHOA; and second, that I don't think I ever would have stuck with it at all if I had started watching while it was still airing.
There are some shows that definitely benefit from DVDs or marathon watching sessions. I got through Arrested Development in record time, and
fox1013 did it even faster -- with that much continuity and that many injokes, it really works to have it all at once. Twitch City is incredibly addictive; I don't know anybody who hasn't sat down to watch it and found themselves dazed and confused in front of the TV hours later.
I think Farscape was great for me in binging format (partly because I'm just that impatient, but partly because it makes the arcs so clear). But there are other shows that are probably better when watched for the first time spaced out -- I would put Grey's Anatomy in this category, as much fun as binging rewatching is, and even though the DVDs are tons of fun, I would put Buffy there, too; sometimes you just need the space and time.
What do you think? What shows benefit most from this, and which don't, really?
There are some shows that definitely benefit from DVDs or marathon watching sessions. I got through Arrested Development in record time, and
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I think Farscape was great for me in binging format (partly because I'm just that impatient, but partly because it makes the arcs so clear). But there are other shows that are probably better when watched for the first time spaced out -- I would put Grey's Anatomy in this category, as much fun as binging rewatching is, and even though the DVDs are tons of fun, I would put Buffy there, too; sometimes you just need the space and time.
What do you think? What shows benefit most from this, and which don't, really?
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(no subject)
8/6/06 21:19 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 00:10 (UTC)(no subject)
8/6/06 21:20 (UTC)One series I wouldn't recommend doing it with is Band of Brothers. I don't think you can go over three episodes a day of old british comedy shows like Only Fools and Horses or Porridge, because you notice the rehashings of an old joke or technique quicker.
(no subject)
9/6/06 00:10 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 07:49 (UTC)(no subject)
8/6/06 21:35 (UTC)I also marathoned through the first season of House pretty quickly, which was fun, but as it's not really an arc-heavy show, I don't think it mattered as much.
I'm told that the latter (lesser, imo) seasons of BtVS hold up really well if you watch them in quick succession, but I was so unimpressed by them the first time around I haven't even bought the dvds for seasons 5-7.
(no subject)
9/6/06 00:13 (UTC)(no subject)
8/6/06 21:43 (UTC)I watched the entire first season of The West Wing in a single weekend, my introduction to the show, and it was one of the most powerful media experiences of my life. I felt... what's a big enough word?... transformed. Exalted.
I don't think the new Battlestar Galactica would lend itself well to marathon viewing, though. Too intense, too much happening. Exhausting. Mini-marathons, maybe, two or three or at most four episodes at one time, then I'd need a break to absorb it all and let it digest.
(no subject)
9/6/06 00:14 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 00:12 (UTC)Reruns can have that effect too, though. I watched Xena stripped, 5 eps a week, and I have to say I'm sure I wouldn't have stuck with it in real time further than about 6 eps into season one. Normally, I give a show 3 eps to catch me, but since it was in the morning slot where I was watching it having coffee and waking up, I gave it three weeks, which allowed me to see the camp and the fun, enough to stick with it till S4, by which time I was seriously hooked. (But god, I'm glad the fifth season was over in about a month *g*.) And then I learned the bad thing about stripped reruns is that by the time you go looking for the fandom, it's pretty much gone. *sigh* Same thing happened with Nikita, too.
Some things you should take more time with though...Once, years ago, I watched the entirety of Twin Peaks over a bank holiday weekend with a couple of friends. The kind of marathon where all you do is eat, watch and sleep (and not much of the sleep). By the time it was over and we were sitting in N's garden watching the sunset I think we were all slightly psychotic. *G*
(no subject)
9/6/06 00:14 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 23:35 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 02:21 (UTC)(no subject)
9/6/06 04:50 (UTC)mainliningmarathoning.Although I have to admit, Alias is not growing on me yet.
(no subject)
10/6/06 00:00 (UTC)(no subject)
11/6/06 21:41 (UTC)I mainlined ReGenesis when I got it and would have hated to wait a week for each new episode, mainly because the whole season is so much of a piece, and I would have preferred seeing each Slings & Arrows season in one shot too. Due South, on the other hand, I spaced out when I got the DVDs, not only to make them last longer, but because there was so much ancillary stuff to do after watching an episode - (re)read the ep-related fics, read the meta, write some meta, whatever... Of course, I'd seen most of the episodes before; I don't know what kind of difference that made.