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What’s the best way to watch TV shows: binge watching or weekly watching? Podcast hosts Greta Johnsen and Anna Sale square off this week. Greta says that binge watching is inherently superior because she believes in full unfettered access to information when you want it. Anna counters that weekly watching is the platonic ideal of TV watching and is what the TV gods intended when they created TV. After considering these well-crafted arguments, which side will Ronald Young Jr. pick in the battle between binge watching and weekly watching?

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Greta Johnsen, Ronald Young Jr., Anna Sale

Ronald Young Jr.  00:00

If you’re old enough to remember commercial television and or grew up with cable, then you probably remember marathons. Maybe you watched the Twilight Zone on Sci Fi on New Year’s Day, or any of the law and order marathons on TVs and USA, there’s certainly a sense of comfort continuously watching episodes of your favorite shows back to back. Maybe that’s why, when they started putting shows on DVD and blu ray, people loved watching them straight through, whether it was the office or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Binge watching, as it came to be called, was here to stay. It was bolstered with the onset of streaming platforms like Netflix, which meant you could throw your bulky discs in the trash and binge your favorite shows on your couch for days on end. But also there was appointment viewing. Maybe you watched er on Thursday nights on NBC, just one episode at a time until the season finale. Or maybe it was Game of Thrones on Sunday nights, or even Xena Warrior Princess on Saturday afternoons. Something about knowing you were experiencing a show at the same time as other fans all across the country, or in some cases, all over the world, felt right. You could engage the think pieces in the comments and compare notes with other fans when the show ended week after week and between seasons. Binge watching or weekly episodic viewing. Which is better? We decide once and for all right here and right now on Pop Culture Debate Club.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  02:54

Welcome back to PCDC. I’m your host, Ronald Young Jr. So let’s meet our panelists for the day, representing binge watching. Is a book person and pop culture nerd who hosts the Official Game of Thrones podcast for HBO. She also writes the Gretagram newsletter on sub stack. Please welcome Greta Johnsen.

 

Greta Johnsen  03:13

Hello, hey, Ronald.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  03:15

Hello, you host that Official Game of Thrones podcast with friend of the show, Jason Conception.

 

Greta Johnsen  03:22

He’s the best.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  03:22

Yes, he is. I think his record on this show is one and two so.

 

Greta Johnsen  03:26

Okay, good to know.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  03:29

So if you, if you win, you, you can go back and brag your record perfect. Also joining us, representing episodic viewing, is a veteran reporter who is the creator, just kidding, sorry. Also joining us, representing episodic viewing, is a veteran reporter who is the creator and host of the hit podcast Death Sex and Money that you can find on all podcast platforms. You can also find her fun digital zine esque newsletter at Annasale.substack.com, hello and welcome to the great and good Anna Sale.

 

Anna Sale  04:08

Thank you, Ronald, I heard what you did there. I am a veteran journalist, which means I am representing the old, proud, 44 year old over here. Come on, anybody who relates, who feels a little bit like old, come to my side.

 

Greta Johnsen  04:25

Oh, Anna, I’ll be, I will be 40 next month, so I’m, I’m excited to to enter the new channel on in. I’m ready.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  04:34

And I am 41 so I feel, truly neutral here. Let me ask. We’re talking about episodic versus binge viewing Greta. Let me ask you, first, what are you watching right now? Anything good? There’s a lot of good television out right now. What do you? What do you? What’s your what’s your jam?

 

Greta Johnsen  04:48

Oh my gosh, there is a lot of really good television out there. I was fully obsessed with the pit. I’m devastated that season one has ended. That’s on max 15 episodes. It’s 50 nominal. I know a good batch north of North I’m really enjoying I think that one is such a delight. I’m super excited to check out Murder Bot. I haven’t seen it yet, but that comes out in May, and it’s based on a it’s on Apple TV plus, and it’s based on a series of sci fi novels by Martha wells, and I love those books very much. So I’m super curious to see how the adaptation works.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  05:27

I love that you named some of the hits the pit, which is on max and north of North, which is on Netflix, both excellent shows, Anna, what about you? What are you watching right now?

 

Anna Sale  05:39

I also completed The Pit. It was during a very intense period of it was the pit. It was the White Lotus. It was righteous gemstones. It was also adolescence.

 

Greta Johnsen  05:50

So we really went for it.

 

Anna Sale  05:54

I am recovering right now by watching John Hughes movies with my children and reading novels.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  06:03

All right. Well, with all that being said, Are y’all ready to fight? Let’s do it.

 

Greta Johnsen  06:06

I mean, yes, though, Anna, I love you. I feel like I have to say that.

 

Anna Sale  06:11

The most Greta.

 

Greta Johnsen  06:15

Okay, well, let’s go.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  06:17

I love this. Okay, well, let’s start with opening arguments, and we’ll start with you Greta, binge watching is better than episodic viewing and why?

 

Greta Johnsen  06:31

Binge water,  binge watching is better than episodic viewing because it is inherently superior. This probably has a lot to do with my PTSD from the blockbuster days, when, you know, you maybe finished the DVD you had been watching, and then you had to go back and like, hope to God, they had season two, Disc four of whatever it is that you need next. But also, ultimately, I fully believe in full unfettered access to information when you want it. And I believe that that is what you get when you are able to binge televised content.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  07:10

Ooh, I like that concise. That’s good. You know, the opening arguments on here will go, they’ll go for a while. That was great. You got right to.

 

Greta Johnsen  07:19

I mean, I figure we can get into the bullet points, but generally, that’s that’s where I stand.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  07:24

Okay, full and feathered access to information, and inherently superior were the two bullet points I heard from you and a sale opening argument, episodic viewing is superior to binge watching.

 

Anna Sale  07:35

Have you ever been scrolling through trying to choose what to watch, and then you see that very interesting kind of eye catching little thumbnail for something to watch, and it says, 13 hours, do you click on that? I don’t think you do. I think you look for the 37 minute, maybe the 70 minute, if it’s a season finale, I feel like episodes are packaged this way for a reason, because it’s what we can take in. It gives us time to reflect afterwards. It’s how the director, the screenwriter, intended. It’s basically what the TV Gods intended when they created TV is episodes. And I feel like binging is undoing that natural order of things, and it diminishes the art, because you become a less conscious viewer the longer you watch, you may fall asleep. Halfway through, you may be like, let’s just watch the next episode. Because I’m not quite drooling on my keyboard on my laptop and falling asleep, let’s just watch one more episode. And so I feel like episodic is a sort of a way to watch that really respects the art form, and it is the platonic ideal of TV watching clearly.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  09:08

Okay, these are both solid arguments. I like both. I want you to know that I’m truly neutral on this. I’m randomly convinced, hopefully, yeah, that’s ready to be convinced. I really the fact that neither of you, believe me, I don’t know if that’s better or worse for either of you, but I’m going to be convinced. Greta, I’ll start with you. You mentioned a full unfettered access to information. Talk to me a little bit about how binge viewing helps you with that.

 

Greta Johnsen  09:38

Well, I think for me, it’s a lot like, this is such a weird analogy, but just bear with me. It’s a lot like, if you just have a Xanax in your pocket, and like, you don’t even have to take the Xanax, but often just knowing you have the Xanax can be the consolation you need, right? And like, I mean, I think the pit, since we all saw it, is a great example. Like, I literally. Really waited four weeks so that I could watch four episodes in a row of the pit because it was so good, I wanted to be able to consume a great amount of it at one time. And I think that’s what I mean when I say full unfettered access to information in this context, to be able to have all of it at once and decide how you want to watch it. I think it’s truly empowering. And, you know, I mean, Anna, you mentioned that you like to read novels. What is the novel like? You think about it. Back in the day, Dickens was giving you installments, right? Like, that was how that worked. Was like, you’d get little bits. And that’s why, when you look at Charles Dickens now, it’s this, like, bloated. I mean, there’s the word Dickensian, right, but a novel is when you are able to create the entire thing at once and then thusly consume it that way as well.

 

Anna Sale  10:51

You just land a little point there. Debate team member, I heard that. However, can I jump in? Ronald, you said, my turn

 

Ronald Young Jr.  11:01

Go right ahead.

 

Anna Sale  11:04

I don’t disagree that having the Xanax in the pocket is right. I mean, that’s a nice way to move through the world. However, this is not about whether binge information should be available. It’s how you should experience the television so you can fully watch with your Xanax in your pocket knowing that there’s another episode. And say, You know what? It’s a Monday night. I’m gonna stop after this one episode. I’m gonna leave that next episode for Tuesday or maybe even Thursday. So I’ve had some time to reflect on what I’ve just seen, because for me, for example, with the pit, I might have quit the pit if it was a binge situation, because it was there was, you know, you got into, like, Episode 910, 11. It felt like children were dying everywhere. And as a parent, I was like, I don’t know if I need to watch children dying so much.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  11:59

Let’s actually dig into The Pit a little bit Greta, because I think Anna brings up a good point. Here. It is like it’s something that’s set in real time viewing, which means it’s 15 hours, which means it’s 15 episodes of television. Shout out for a 15 hour shift. Yes, shout out to 24 which started the first real time viewing revolution, if you will. And people are watching full DVD box sets of 24 in 24 hours, which is something that definitely is that you can do.

 

Anna Sale  12:28

It’s a choice. We can all agree on your side, Greta, just to be clear.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  12:34

Yeah.

 

Greta Johnsen  12:34

Listen, I think there is moderation and everything, including moderation, which means I’m not necessarily advocating for 24 straight hours like, you know, I’m not saying we should quit our jobs here, you know.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  12:44

Yes, but in the case of the binge 15, would you for someone that’s watching it now, would you recommend them to just binge through the whole thing, in this case, for 15, not necessarily for 15 hours, but for 15 hours.

 

Greta Johnsen  13:00

Man, no. I mean, listen, I like to sleep on average, 10 hours a night. So, like, No, I’m not advocating for 15 straight hours of it. Like, I think you should still, like, adhere to your normal, like circadian rhythms as much as you can. However, I do think there is, I mean, do y’all remember your first binges?

 

Ronald Young Jr.  13:19

Yes.

 

Greta Johnsen  13:22

I think that, like, can you tell me about them? I would love to hear. I feel like there. It’s such an era for us in our it.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  13:28

Was the Twilight Zone marathon on television. Oh, not any marathon.

 

Anna Sale  13:32

Programmed binge. I don’t know if that counts, Ronald.

 

Greta Johnsen  13:36

Interesting, when I got well, so for me, the first time I binged something was when I got the DVD box set of my so called Life for Christmas in 2002 it had just been released on DVD. Until then, it, you know, had just on, aired on TV in 1994 and I missed it then, and I was so excited to get to watch it. And admittedly, I was extremely high the whole time I watched it, but me and my friend Marty, like that was that sealed our friendship, that, like I I have so much intense love for that show, I think partly because I was able to watch it the way I was able to watch it.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  14:13

Based on that, it would almost say that there’s maybe a show that’s probably more suited for binging than there is for episodic viewing, like, for instance, 1,000% like, for instance, if I’m watching something like law and order, SVU or law and order, it’s a procedural you could watch that over and maybe consume it more and more as necessarily when it goes off. Does it matter if I wait a week to watch a law and order episode versus […] Anna? Since you’re defending episodic viewing, do you think there’s a difference, or do you think everything needs to be viewed episodically?

 

Anna Sale  14:44

Okay, I can see how a law and order like Just gimme, over a weekend makes sense, because what it gives you is these capsules, right, Beginning, middle in beginning, middle in beginning, middle in. Yeah, I like that. And I would argue maybe you should get up and go to the bathroom fill up your popcorn bowl, so it could be still considered episodic viewing and not just total binging.

 

Greta Johnsen  15:11

However, wait, you’re arguing that episodic viewing means you get up to go to the bathroom between episodes. I don’t think I think we need a definition of terms here. Ronald.

 

Anna Sale  15:21

I think binge watching is the like, auto play. It’s like, it’s the thing that Netflix does to you where it’s like, just keep watching girl. Still watching.

 

Greta Johnsen  15:30

I think you’re and you’re just like, wetting yourself. Then Is that what you’re envisioning?

 

Anna Sale  15:36

You’re asleep. This is what happens when I try to binge watch. I fall asleep 15 minutes into the next episode, and then it feels like, Oh, that’s not the way this was intended to be viewed. This makes me feel like I’m, like, falling asleep and dropping my phone on my face.

 

Greta Johnsen  15:49

Well, you know, that’s falling asleep. That’s falling that’s not binge watching either. That’s falling asleep Anna.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  15:54

What is binge watching?

 

Anna Sale  15:55

Yes, define it for me, please.

 

Greta Johnsen  15:57

I mean, if, if Anna’s position is literally one episode a week, then I think you could argue that binge watching is anything more than one episode a week, right?

 

Anna Sale  16:05

That’s not my position. You’re misrepresenting me.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  16:09

Go right ahead, Anna, what is your position?

 

Anna Sale  16:12

Remember, I gave the example of Monday and Tuesday before. I feel like episodic watching is honoring and ending, right? It’s like, okay, I’m letting this end. So, like, maybe think about it like a symphony, like the movement is over, and you’re like, okay, and.

 

Greta Johnsen  16:33

I’m gonna come back to the symphony hall tomorrow to hear the second movement.

 

Anna Sale  16:34

That was maybe a bad example. However, it’s the ending. So here’s why. My first binge watching experience, Ronald, like real binge watch, was the wire. I did not watch it episodically. When it was on, I watched it. It was very sweet. I watched it by screen sharing when my now husband and I were long distance, and we would turn on my laptop and we would watch it together so we could hear each other responding, but we were taking it, but because we could binge I feel like it’s like it was after watching that I really was like, oh, season one was really about this, and season two was really about this, and they tried to make this big change, and now we’re in a newsroom. We’re not at the docks anymore, and I feel like if I had watched it with the pacing in which it first entered the world, the the whole construction and of the wire I would have, I would have appreciated more as I was watching it, as opposed to having to kind of think back about structure after I’d gone through all of the experiences of just Being in that world with the characters.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  17:41

We’ll be back with more Pop Culture Debate Club after this break.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  19:49

Greta, you host a podcast about Game of Thrones, and I think you’re talking about House of the dragon, but like, let’s talk about something like Game of Thrones, which, at the time, if you talk about HBO viewing, it was mostly. Uh, not just episodic, but appointment viewing, like everybody was on uh Twitter talking about it and all that. And when most of the people that I know, but when they started, uh, binging stuff, that kind of like changed that community feel of watching something.

 

Greta Johnsen  20:17

Ronald, what are you doing man?

 

Ronald Young Jr.  20:19

Asking a question.

 

Greta Johnsen  20:22

Mr. Neutral over there, sounds like he’s on my side. Like what I hear that I hear what you’re doing.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  20:29

When it comes to something like Game of Thrones. No opinion when it comes to something like Game of Thrones. Why is, uh, why is binge watching better for something like this, that when you have that community feel that’s built in that gets a little lost if you end up binge watching by yourself.

 

Greta Johnsen  20:46

I don’t know that you I mean, I think it depends. I think if you’re watching it concurrently enough when, when things are coming out, there still can definitely be a community. I mean, like we have all, we have communicated that we all really enjoyed the pit and have had a conversation about that. I don’t feel like I’m left out or anything, I think, with Game of Thrones in particular. And like, I mean Game of Thrones, not necessarily house of the dragon. Game of Thrones was often paced very terribly, like some of those episodes, nothing, you know, they were like riding on horses down the road for a while. And so a show like that is so much more satisfying when you do have a couple that you can watch in a row, because something is more likely to happen, which I think is actually much more satisfying as a viewer. I mean, I think severance is also actually a great example of this, because there’s a show where there was all this hype, people had all these theories, but then you’d end up with that one episode with Mrs. Cobell where you’re like, This was actually kind of just a waste of time. And I think that can be so frustrating, you know, and then you have to wait a whole week till you get to watch something else happen in this show where, like, kind of nothing happened at all in that season.

 

Anna Sale  21:57

I think you’re pointing out that sometimes streaming television writers are not as rigorous as they should be, and keep in the way that they keep the audience interested, I will tell you severance, it became like a white noise machine, and I slept through that shit. And I was like […]

 

Greta Johnsen  22:19

Yeah, no, that season was bad.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  22:22

People are slowly coming to grips with Season Two not being that.

 

Greta Johnsen  22:26

And like, it took 10 weeks for us to figure that out. That sucks. Yeah, you know.

 

Anna Sale  22:30

Not me. I fell asleep episode one. Season two, I was like, enough.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  22:36

It sounds like this is starting to become a discussion of discipline versus autonomy in a lot of ways, which is like or patience versus impatience. To make it even more more simple.

 

Anna Sale  22:47

That sounds judging, that sounds not neutral, right there? Yeah, I like discipline and autonomy because those are both virtues, you know.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  22:53

Well, I mean, I think you I don’t think being I think you’d have to say that inherently being impatient is a bad thing when it really is just the state of not being patient. So it kind of depends on how you look at it.

 

Greta Johnsen  23:03

So we’ll say, well, patience is a virtue. They you know so.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  23:06

In this conversation, we don’t have to say that it is  although I think that it is. So we’ll say discipline versus autonomy. With that in mind, I guess I’m and Greta, we’ll start with you, because if I guess I’m saying to you, is there ever, has there ever been a time in which you were watching something episodically and you felt, wow, I’m glad they made me wait for this next episode.

 

Greta Johnsen  23:32

Oh, man, I’m trying to decide if I’m about to out myself right now. It’s all right. I like the I like the autonomy label here, because even if I decide not to watch it, I want to know I could watch it. I want to know it’s there. It’s the it’s the Xanax in the pocket thing. Like, I want to be able to watch it whenever I want

 

Anna Sale  23:50

You feel manipulated if they’re withholding from you for too long.

 

Greta Johnsen  23:54

I do feel manipulated, yeah. And I think to your point, Anna, like, sure, a lot of it could be that, I mean.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  24:00

That’s somebody ask a question that was incredible. I don’t know if you listen to Michelle Greta, she did that so casually.

 

Greta Johnsen  24:15

You sitting on the job, man, go right ahead.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  24:20

Sorry. Continue, your answer, correct?

 

Greta Johnsen  24:25

I feel manipulated. I you know, I think for better or for worse, streaming is the reality of of how we are consuming content these days, and it is content, you know. And I think, to your point, Anna, like showrunners aren’t necessarily thinking of perfect episodic arcs in every single episode. I think some still do. I think another example on Apple TV is for all mankind. I think that is an excellent episodic show. I still would love to watch two or three in a row, if they’re all available at once, you know.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  24:58

So you want basically, I guess what I’m understanding is, for you, binging is about being able to have the whole thing without having to wait for the next thing.

 

Greta Johnsen  25:07

Yes, so if it’s good, I want to be able to watch it all like whenever I want. And if it’s not good, I don’t want to have to wait a week to watch it either.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  25:15

How do you cope between seasons of anything?

 

Greta Johnsen  25:20

Oh, it’s just a devastating time, especially these days. I mean, a good show takes years, you know, like, when are we gonna see the pit again? Yeah, like 2027.

 

Anna Sale  25:29

Said, soon. Wiley knows how it’s great out television episodes, yes.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  25:34

It’s not hard, it’s popular. They’re like, green lighting.  Get it done.

 

Greta Johnsen  25:38

Yeah, they’re making it happen that’s great. Yeah. I mean, it’s hard out here, man, but I also, like, I read a lot that probably helps. I just binge books.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  25:47

All right,  I want to give I want to do an exercise before we get to closing arguments. I want both y’all to take a moment and I want you to think about a show that is maximized for your specific style of viewing. Pick that show and defend it being only good as an episodic show versus a binge a binge show, you could pick one show each of you hopefully.

 

Greta Johnsen  26:12

I need you to repeat that.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  26:13

So you have to pick a show.

 

Greta Johnsen  26:14

Yeah, that defends our side.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  26:15

Yeah, that you feel is optimized for your style of viewing, Anna, you look like you’re still thinking Greta. It looks like you have it already.

 

Greta Johnsen  26:23

Well, I don’t know. I think we might have already talked about it, but I feel like Game of Thrones is a really good one for binging. For binging. Yeah, okay, but I already kind of made that argument, so I don’t, do you want me to think of something else?

 

Ronald Young Jr.  26:33

You could say you could think of something else, or you could just further explain that it’s Game of Thrones. Well, you said riding on horses and all that. I’ll give you that.

 

Greta Johnsen  26:42

Riding on horses, yes.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  26:43

Anna, well, then tell me a show that is perfectly optimized for episodic viewing, where you’re like, you cannot binge this show.

 

Greta Johnsen  26:50

And how much fun is it to actually watch?

 

Anna Sale  26:52

I did binge this show, and I regret it, because I think again, it diminished my my full appreciation of the art. And it’s old school HBO again, and it’s the Sopranos. Because I was not, I was not a sopranos person when it was coming out week after week, and it’s only like, I’ve re watched it a couple times, always binging and it, I feel like, when it’s all there, like it’s, it’s like, you’re in a candy store at the airport, and you’re like, Oh, I could get some of this. I get some of that. So you just, like, overdo it, and then it, I have to, like, go back and think, oh, my God, how did David Chase do that thing in that firt, that episode, in that way that did this, that this, and this came back in this season in this way. And I felt like if I had watched it, where, instead of treating them like an episode that then I was going to watch the next episode, I would have treated them like many movies. I would have taken them in just like as the cinematic masterpieces that they are. And so I think sometimes for me, having my, you know, craving for more, having it not be possible, it serves me right. Like you always, as an as a media maker, you always want to leave somebody wanting a little bit more so they don’t get tired of you, and you don’t overstay your welcome. And so I think when you watch something in a binge way, you’re skipping over that, and it just makes you it just it does it makes the sopranos potentially into Emily in Paris, where you’re watching it while you’re folding laundry. And, have you know, water boiling on the stove, and you’re just not appreciating what’s in front of you.

 

Greta Johnsen  28:41

I don’t know, though, it sounds like you’ve still fully appreciated it, like you’re reflecting on it still.

 

Anna Sale  28:46

I don’t know. I think, I think there’s details that I didn’t pick up on. It’s kind of like, it’s like, I guess here’s here’s another argument I would make. I feel like episodic viewing is like going to the movie theater. You know, you are like, I’m gonna give you my full attention, and I walk out afterwards with the person I was with, and talk about what we just saw, and really like, have an experience around it, as opposed to, you know, streaming four John Hughes movies in a row so that they all sort of become one scene of Chicago, and you’re like, what just happened?

 

Greta Johnsen  29:22

What’s your problem with Chicago?

 

Anna Sale  29:29

Different details of Chicago.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  29:31

More fish Chicago. Could one person watch.

 

Anna Sale  29:33

Love those northern suburbs.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  29:37

We’ll be back with more PCDC after this break.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  30:49

Let’s, get to closing arguments. I think, I’m just about ready to make my ruling, but I can still be convinced. So Anna, we’ll start with you. Episodic viewing is better than bench viewing?

 

Anna Sale  31:01

Oh, I feel like I just put so much out on the table. In that last answer, what else?

 

31:07

Repeat it and say it.

 

Anna Sale  31:10

Okay, in closing, I feel like episodic viewing, if we’re talking about television, it is how it was designed to be consumed. And when we binge watch, whether it’s a drama or even a comedy, like we’re flattening what could other we’re flattening what otherwise could be a peak experience where you have a whole journey through each episode, and you have time to connect around it, you have time to reflect on it, and then you get to show up the next week and watch what they’ve made for you. Binging just kind of makes that all like noise. And if I’m going to watch TV, I want to appreciate what someone has made for me.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  31:56

I like it, Greta, closing argument, binge watching is better than episodic viewing.

 

Greta Johnsen  32:02

Binge watching is better than episodic viewing, partly because I believe Anna that it is still entirely possible to appreciate the journey a show can take you on in a condensed amount of time. I don’t think that is impossible at all. I also think I mean in the end, it’s like, what does any of this actually matter? And what is time can what’s the point? Like, why not just embrace nihilistic stoicism and become one with the couch and go full goblin mode and quit your job? You know, like, what does any of it really matter in this year of our Lord 2025.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  32:36

Well, welcome to a new episode of PCDC. Nihilism versus optimism.

 

Greta Johnsen  32:48

But still with appreciation I like and some sense of control.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  32:52

Are you ready for my ruling?

 

Anna Sale  32:55

Yes, yeah, bring it all right.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  32:59

So it’s funny, I’m a i i Do both of these things. I binge watch and I watch episode by episode. There is a show that I watch every year, especially when I get a little depressed. It’s a little known NBC comedy called the office. May or may  not have heard of it. It is a show starring Steve Carell and a bunch of people that work at a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania called Dunder Mifflin, and they are basically selling paper to folks. Obviously, you know what the office is. I watch it all the time. NBC slash peacock released something called the super fan episodes, which are extended versions of the office. Now I’ve watched the office. I watched it on television when it came out episodically, but I did not start watching the office until the fifth season was out. So I went back and watched four seasons of the office. Then I was watching week to week as it came out later when it was all over. I watched the entire series again and again on Netflix until it left Netflix and joined Peacock, where I then started watching it again and again, the super fan episodes where I’m getting brand new office. The office is a show that I both pay attention to, and I have this background viewing. I have binged it, and I’ve paid attention to it in the background. I have to say one revelation to you, and I’m currently binge watching The Sopranos right now, and I think you are absolutely right. There’s something that is different about the show, hold on watching it, versus if I were watching it episodically. There’s also something about the feeling of HBO on Sunday nights when you all knew and actually even when we were doing Breaking Bad on AMC, or we were doing Walking Dead on AMC when we were just sitting down on Sundays and saying, We’re all gonna watch this show. We’re all gonna talk trash to each other, we’re all gonna freak out at the same time. We’re gonna be in group texts, all that stuff. And then we it’s that one little hour, two hours, when we were just not having the Sunday scaries. Some people were doing it on three. Thursday nights with, I don’t know, with Grey’s Anatomy, or the Shonda hour night, yeah, er, Chicago Med, all of these places have all of these little gathering spots where people were watching all together, community viewing. However, the truth is, I think there’s room probably for both. And it it really comes down to what I say like has to be the optimal way to view something. And I think that they do a show that is set up well, really well, and leaves you on a little bit of a cliffhanger from week to week. There’s something to be said about how it feels in that week, that feeling that I think, Anna you captured, knowing that something else is about to drop, and you’re like, oh my god, it’s Sunday. Like, do y’all? I just want y’all to think about the feeling you have when you’re watching episodically, and all of a sudden Sunday comes. You forget it Sunday. For some reason. You’re like, oh my God, there’s a new episode of so and so. That is a feeling that cannot be matched by binging through something. But with all of that being said, everything that I watch episodically, I watch again and I binge through it, so I’m kind of at an impasse here here, and we’ve only had one draw on pop culture debate club before, wow. And I think I have to give my second draw ever on this show, because I do both. And I’m a repeat watcher. I think that that feeling that it goes from episode to episode is important, and a lot of times it’s show dependent. But there are some stuff, not Game of Thrones Greta, I think just has to be binge. So honestly, I think you’re both right and you’re both wrong, therefore this is a draw.

 

Greta Johnsen  36:51

Well, I’ll take it. That’s beautiful. Everybody wins, is how I interpret that, Anna.

 

Anna Sale  36:56

To be honest, sometimes I binge.

 

Greta Johnsen  36:59

You know what’s funny, since it’s a draw, I can say I told a couple friends that I was advocating for binging, and they were like, Yeah, because I notoriously, I save them. I mean, that’s what I want. Is like, I want to know there’s as much as possible left. Is often like, I didn’t watch the Good Place finale for a long time because I just wanted to know there was more of the good place that I could someday consume. So I get it.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  37:24

Well, let me say two things, and I think, I think this will be helpful. One, whenever that happens, I do, I immediately, what I do is I always immediately start the first episode again, and then I’m just like, there’s and then I stopped there, knowing that there’s more, because I feel the same way. But the second thing I want to point out is.

 

Greta Johnsen  37:41

Fear of death right there.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  37:45

The second thing is, there’s a show on Disney plus, called Andor,  I don’t know if you’re watching it, and if you’re not watching it, you should watch it.

 

Greta Johnsen  37:53

I didn’t think the first couple episodes were that good.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  37:57

I hope season 2.  I never, you’ve never wow that that’s wrong objective. We’ll talk about this later. That being said, what I think and or does well is it does both. It releases and love is blind. Does the same thing where it releases a batch of episodes so that Greta can watch as many as she can, and then Anna, after watching four episodes. Can sit down and be like, great, there’ll be more next week. I can reflect on what happened and also be a part of community viewing. And I really think that batch dropping is probably what is the future of television, in a lot of ways.

 

Anna Sale  38:33

Well, it’s so interesting Ronald, thinking about your point of view, also as a critic, because so often you are getting screeners of Mal, you know, the entire season at once, and you’re being asked to watch them in a short amount of time so that you can write a review about them.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  38:47

Yes, and I feel like there’s some shows that I don’t want to do that for, and there’s other ones, like, if they’re like, Hey, here’s this Netflix thing, you can watch the whole thing. I’m like, cool yeah, that’s fine. Like, whatever this, like, you know, background television, Emily and potty thing. Like, yeah, I’ll watch that. But if they were like, Hey, we’re gonna give you all of aAndor, I’d be like, ooh, maybe you get somebody else for this one. I want to, I want to be constrained. I want to, like, I want them to dole that out, to be little by little, as the chef intended in that way. So it also feels very show dependent in that way I get that. Yeah, thank you both for being here.

 

Greta Johnsen  39:25

Thank you.

 

Ronald Young Jr.  39:31

Thanks again to Greta Johnsen and Anna Sale, and thanks so much for listening to Pop Culture Debate Club if you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get bonus content like Lisa Trager and Kara Klink from our Benson vs Stabler episode discussing the Dick Wolf universe. Just hit the subscribe button on Apple podcasts, or for all other podcast apps, head to lemonada.com to subscribe. That’s lemonadapremium.com.

 

CREDITS  39:58

Pop Culture Debate Club is a production of Lemonada and the BBC.   It’s produced by Jamela Zarha Williams, Kryssy Pease,  Dani Matias and me, Ronald young Jr. Our mix is by Noah Smith. Rachel Neel is VP of new content. Our Senior Vice President of weekly content  and production is Steve Nelson. Commissioning editor for the BBC is Rhian Roberts. Executive Producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer.   Follow Pop Culture Debate Club, wherever you get your podcasts.