dvd marathon binging!

[schmerica]

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?

Comments

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Alias and Lost are definitely marathon shows, and I made the argument the other day that Deadwood is as well. With Alias and Lost, it's because you don't have time to stop and think about all of the absurdity. With Deadwood, the pace starts out kind of slow, and you're rewarded more quickly by watching several episodes in sequence.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, Deadwood is a good one! It definitely has that snowball effect in the beginning of season ones -- starts off quite slow, and then suddenly you're totally engrossed. Mmm.

[loz]

Oh, like you say - definitely Twitch City. I watched the entire series in 2 days. I also managed to do this well with Slings and Arrows and Angel, and Futurama.

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.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*nods* Slings and Arrows was definitely good for it, too! I don't know about Angel, though -- you certainly can, but I'm not sure it's actually better that way than it is serially.

[loz]

Well, I'm impatient - so I much preferred watching Angel on DVD. Especially the first two seasons, which I didn't watch when they aired.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I marathoned through BSG - miniseries and then a season and a half of eps - and on the one hand, it was awesome because I was so caught up in the world - immersed in it and wanted to know more about what happened next, but on the other, I think it was too much to absorb in too short a time, because people will talk about things and I'll be like, "Huh? Which episode was that?" because it's all kind of a blur to me now. I need to do a slower rewatching of the whole series, I think.

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.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heh. I probably would have done BSG in a marathon, but man, I got too bored by the second episode that I quit, so I have no opinion to offer!

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

I'm in total agreement about Twitch City. I remember sitting down at the computer one night meaning to watch the first episode or two, and the next thing I knew it was 3am and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard for six hours straight.

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.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Man, Twitch City. Seriously: ADDICTIVE.

[fialka.livejournal.com]

I'd agree, marathoning has its advantages in that you don't have time to think about the holes, or worry that this run of about 4 eps sucked, because you're getting them so quickly. It also tends to be a whonking-over-the head falling-in-love kind of experience, if it's really good - I'm thinking particularly of XF and Farscape here, which I came into midway, and mainlined until I was current with what was on air.

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*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

You know, I still have never seen the X-Files -- one of these days I'm going to have to sit down and decide if I want to make the effort, and then if I want to go slow or gulp it all down, too.

[fialka.livejournal.com]

Well, IMHO, you can leave out the last two seasons *G*. It is totally worth the effort for 1-7 though. And the fic is...endless. TONS of great fic in that fandom.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

We went through seasons 2 and three in like 4 days. We did actually start fast-forwarding through some of the fight scenes, but otherwise, I'm glad we watched it this way.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet met a show that I didn't prefer mainlining marathoning.

Although I have to admit, Alias is not growing on me yet.

[firefly-dreamer.livejournal.com]

The Wire is the first show that I watched that made me realize the full potential of TV on DVD. I mean, beyond the fact that the show is AWESOME, the whole season is one long story -- each episode runs from where the last one left off, and there aren't any stand alone episodes. So it's complete addictive and impossible to stop watching.

[bonspiel.livejournal.com]

I think Farscape would have improved on marathon watching for me, as would Alias, both of which I gave up on 3rd-season-ish when the plots got so convoluted. In contrast, I recently watched some of the old version of The Tomorrow People on DVD and I couldn't take more than an episode or two a day; it was just too much cheese and bad special effects at once.

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.