Written by Emma

Binge-watching, a cultural phenomenon that gained immense popularity when Netflix decided to change the game of streaming forever and dropped the entirety of a series in one batch instead of following the standard weekly release format of TV.

Each format has its pros and cons, and there is no way to know why the executives of any given direct-to-streaming show decided to release their episodes in their specifically chosen format. That is why I decided to ask the question: Which format is superior? I’ve binged my fair share of shows and kept up with plenty week-by-week, so what conclusion can I draw from my own experience?

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The Last of Us (2023)

I watched Max’s The Last of Us with my dad and my older brother, who is a long-time fan of the video game series of the same name. We enjoyed the show thoroughly, and my brother thought it was a solid film adaptation. Max released the show in a weekly format, and I definitely think that was a great executive decision.

Waiting for a new episode each week was riveting. We found ourselves on the edges of our seats at the end of each one. In the moment we wanted more to watch, but we’d usually be grateful in the end that we had to wait. About the only time I’d say we weren’t, was when we were unable to watch on release day. We’d end up waiting even longer to watch the next episode, which definitely got on our nerves.

Most of the episodes ended in a cliffhanger, which is what made having to wait so thrilling. We got the privilege of getting to discuss what we thought would happen without the risk of spoilers. We were free to look up whatever we wanted to help us form our opinions, and, since no one online had seen more than we had, we had no reason to be cautious as we searched around online.

While this isn’t a perfect example given it’s a video game adaption, existing fans were respectful to new fans in regard to spoilers when discussing anything related to the show. Plus, there was the added factor of not knowing whether or not the adaptation would take liberties or follow the game closely, meaning even if you did come across a spoiler related to the games, you were able to take what it said with a grain of salt.

In the end, me and my family had such a good time watching the show weekly that we wished more shows would be released in this format.

Squid Game (2021-2025)

Netflix’s Squid Game is yet another series I watched with my dad, and the both of us loved it. The first season was so good that we couldn’t wait to see how season two would play out. Both seasons of the show were dropped in one big batch, in typical Netflix fashion.

One of the biggest benefits of binge-watching is getting to watch a show at whatever pace you want. For me and my dad, that meant watching two to three episodes in one sitting each evening. While I certainly think getting to divide the episodes up however we wanted made our watching experience more enjoyable, it also made it impossible for us to look up anything in relation to the show online.

To most people, that may not be a big deal. To us, it was. We’re the kind of people who watch a show then look up what other people are saying online. When a show drops all of its episodes in one batch, it is impossible to look up anything without getting a spoiler. Someone out there has watched the show in full already, and, oh boy, they’ve got a lot to say about that guy who died in that episode you have yet to reach.

Despite my complaining, I wouldn’t make the claim that the potential of getting spoilers completely ruins binge-watching for me. The benefit of getting to watch as many episodes as you want in that specific moment outweighs the detriment of being unable to look up what other people have to say.

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Ultimately, I find myself unsure if I prefer watching a show one way or the other. Clearly, they each have their pros and cons.

In the end, it doesn’t seem to matter which format a show’s executives decide to follow when releasing their episodes. It’s up to the viewer to decide which method they prefer, meaning there is no way to satisfy everyone. Deciding between which format they use will most definitely stay a staple discussion point among direct-to-streaming TV show executives in the future.