It’s safe to say that my crush on Queer as Folk’s Gale Harold is on. I clicked through four of QAF’s five seasons on YouTube over the weekend. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. I phoned my friend Sheila and told her that I needed an intervention: I couldn’t stop watching, and that was a problem considering I actually had to read and review a book. She suggested I turn the viewing of episodes into a reward. Like read a 100 pages, watch an episode. That sounded so sane… but so beyond my level of will power. I am a binge viewer. If you give me access to 22 episodes of a show that I like, I will watch 10 of them in one sitting. Having them at my fingertips feels decadent, like they were created just to entertain me. And that’s a high that lasts right up until the moment that I realize I only have one season of the show left to watch, and that maybe, after all I invested, I won’t like the ending.
So, are you a binge viewer like me? (If so, tell me about your longest binge.) Are you a reward viewer like Sheila? (If so, tell me how you do it.) Or, are you a complete mystery like my friend Robb, who says he’s never watched TV on DVD because the idea of having 22 episodes waiting for him is too overwhelming? ("I can’t commit.")
Comments (1-30) of 119 Add your comment
I am definitely a binge viewer. I have had days off where I’ll do nothing but watch TV on DVD. My longest binge of one series was 10 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the first season. My longest binge where I mixed up the series was 12 episodes, a mixture of Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls if I remember correctly.
Binge viewer to the Nth degree…watched 30 some episodes of The Office on NetFlix Watch Instantly in just over 18 hours. Watched Gilmore Girls Season 1 & 2 in one weekend (and repeated the effort subsequent weekends with seasons 3 & 4, 5 & 6, but still haven’t finished season 7 yet!) Slight case of OCD here.
Anytime I get a DVD set, I end up watching the whole thing right away, sometimes all at once. Just last weekend I watched all of the Tudors season one.
Binge viewer for Dexter. Found it on my OnDemand feature and watched both seasons in a week. My husband had to put a limit on my watching – only one episode a night because I was becoming addicted.
My roommates and I watched the entire first season of The Sopranos in one sitting/day. No joke. It was over the summer and quite pathetic…
Last summer I watched the first three seasons of “Rescue Me” in a week in a half so I could watch the fourth season when it aired on FX
Earlier this year, I watched the first four seasons of “The Wire” and two and half weeks ahead of the final season.
Definitely good times and I would’ve finished each even quicker if I didn’t have inconveniences like a job and stuff getting in my way.
i’m a binge viewer when i have the chance. like on a sunday morning when there’s a 6 hour degrassi marathon. thank you!
I missed getting on the “Buffy” bandwagon years ago and decided to start watching it during the TV Strike. I watched one disc a night for weeks in a row until I got to season five. Then I took a breather. I watched the end of season 5, and all of seasons 6 and 7 in a little over a week. In some ways, I think you see more of the cohesive storylnes when you watch them like that. But it can get intense. I expected to run into Buffy or Xander at the coffee shop they seemed so real after watching them so much all at once.
Before TWIN PEAKS was released on DVD, I’d purchsed the entire series on a six-tape VHS set and spent the entire weekend watching it all.
Also, every New Year’s Day, I find myself in front of the TV watching the “Honeymooners Marathon” on Channel 11 (New York). This, despite the fact that I own all 39 episodes on DVD already. It’s just an unavoidable tradition.
While I’m at school, I’m a reward viewer because that was the only way I could get through my Psych reading. I would watch Bones online, and then read five or six pages (they were really long pages), then watch a segment of Bones and continue. I didn’t get done with my reading very fast, but it’s not like I had anything else to do… except for all of my other homework.
I am such a binge viewer! It only took me two days to watch every Freaks and Geeks episode, and a week to watch Doctor Who seasons 1-3. That week was Spring break- I work at a school, so I had nothing to do but binge.
I, like you Mandi, totally binged on Queer as Folk with one of my friends. I kid you not, we planned weekends around watching a particular season on DVD. When the whole thing was over, we both felt totally oversexed and worn out.
I was a binge reader before I was a binge viewer. The online tv viewers (hulu.com, sidereel.com, tudou.com) have made it even easier to get my fix of tv shows without leaving the house – or spending money. Not to trivialize drug addiction, but I imagine my compulsion to watch is akin to other’s compulsions to use. I can’t stop myself! And 90% of what I record on Tivo is watched within a day of recording. If I’m binging on all of this TV content – do I need to purge at some point? I know we only use a small percentage of our brains, but I think mine might get full soon.
Oh, and I’m currently binge-viewing Season 1 of 30 Rock- eight episodes in one day!
Binge viewer! Right here! Sundays are a good day for binge viewing. In between laundry, I’ll either watch DVDs or find episodes online. My new obsession is surfthechannel.com. Right now I’m watching Dark Angel and soaking in some Jensen Ackles action.
I’m totally a binge viewer. I guess my longest binge would be watching all 3 seasons of Veronica Mars in about a week (even though I was working full time AND had already seen all of the episodes at least once).
There was one day at the end of last year where I had a ton of episodes left to watch on the third season of Desperate Housewives, first season oh Heroes, and third season of 24 and had actually organized the whole weekend after final exams to finish them all up in two 9-episode watching blocks. I felt both accomplished and ashamed.
Binge viewer! ::waves::
I’ve been binging on shows since I started watching Buffy a few years ago. Now, I will wait a whole year for shows (Lost & Heroes for ex.) to come out on DVD because I don’t have the patience to go week to week anymore. I actually think this helps when the shows are in spells that upset fans. For me, Lorelai and Rory were only not speaking to each other for 2 days because that’s how long it took me to get through those episodes and so I never got as worked up about it as some of my friends for whom it lasted half a season.
I am such the binge viewer. After watching the SATC movie I came home and watched up to Season Six Part 2 for basically 2 and a half days straight. If I didn’t have to work I would be home finishing season six this minute.
I usually watch my shows as they air. But before we had HBO or Showtime we would rent or buy the DVDs and marathon them. I think my quickest viewing was a day and half for one Sex and the City season.
I am pretty much an out of control binge viewer. Exhibit A: I watched all 3 SEASONS of Supernatural in 5 days last week. While going to grad school and working. Obviously, no work was actually done for school. But Jensen Ackles made it totally worth it.
I am a reward viewer. I choose my pop culture reward and also choose my required activity. It is usually cleaning or exercise. I concoct a completely unscientific ratio. Walk for 15 minutes, watch 45 minutes of pop culture. Clean during commercials in order to make it through the Chuck DVR backlog. I also try not to get sucked into marathons of anything during the daylight. That’s playtime.
Lyn, Denver.
I’m such a binge viewer. I’ve have been known to get a one or two discs of a TV show through Netflix, burn through them and then go out and purchase the rest of the season because I can’t wait two days to get another one. I really can’t stop myself. I’m like that with most things in life though, which is why I don’t drink. *rimshot*
I’m TOTALLY a binge viewer…when I first discovered QAF about a year and a half ago (found it in the Library at the University where I work) I began watching it on Saturday morning of Easter weekend….but Sunday at 1 I had completed season one. I was NEVER before so grateful that our Univ Library was open on Sundays as I rushed to the University to check out Season 2 (had to find out what was going to happen with our beautiful Sunshine)!!!
I beleive that by the time I went to bed on Easter Monday I was pretty much finished with season two and for once anxious to get back to work after a long weekend…just so I could check out season 3….
Now a year and a half later…I own ALL 5 seasons and still watch at LEAST 2-3 episodes a week…more if I’m doing a cooking marathon on the weekend…”My” boys keep me company while I create….
Cheers
a “truly” addicted QAF fan and fag hag extrodinaire!!!
Totally a binge viewer here! My first binge was finishing the first season of Veronica Mars at 5 in the morning. My longest binge probably was when I decided I should probably watch Buffy, about a year ago. I think I went through all seven seasons in a month. The thing is when I decide I’m going to get into a new TV series, I binge. Hard.
QAF??? Yes, the US one is great, but please please please, watch the original British one. Gale Harold is scrumptious, but his British counterpart will make you sweat!!!!
Oh God yes. This is why show marathons are so bad for my health. When USA does one of their marathon weekends, I never leave my house. It’s awful!
I am currently re-watching Season 5 of 24 at the rate of one disc per night. Man, I love this show and after Season 6 (mind numbing) I had forgotten how good S5 was!
I rewatched the entire SATC series during the writers strike since there was nothing else on.
And I watch Season One of 30 Rock whenever I am bored. But I can’t wait for Season 2 to come out on DVD.
I’m a binge viewer. I once watched the whole first season of ‘Veronica Mars’ in one sitting!!
Absolutely! I started watching “Queer As Folk” during Season 3. I ordered the discs from Netflix and watched Seasons 1 thru 3 in about 2 days! That’s 56 1-hour episodes! Gale is worth it!