The Streaming Debate: Weekly Episode Drops Vs The Full Season Drops

In the age of streaming, TV shows are found on Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and other such platforms that allow viewers to pick and choose what episodes they want to watch at any given time. Lassoing this idea with a society that is continuously trapped by a dopamine addiction, a need for instant gratification, and constant impatience, many streamers drop their new seasons all at once. However, some shows still choose to maintain the traditional format of the weekly episodic drop, raising speculation of what viewers truly prefer in reception of their favorite shows. Let’s weigh the pros and cons of both formats...

THE FULL SEASON DROP

Pro #1: Instant Gratification

With show-binging being the name of the game in modern television, the full-season drop has become more and more popular. As stated before, the modern viewer is normally looking to watch as many episodes in a single sitting as they can. More importantly, the viewer can watch the show at their own pace and on their own time without having to wait for the next episode to drop or feel like they have fallen behind. The instant gratification of grinding through a whole season in a weekend may not be necessarily "healthy", but boy is it fun. Recent examples of this format are seen in "Fallout", "The Bear", and "You".

Pro #2: Momentum

Along with binging flexibility, full season drops are more beneficial for the momentum and audience immersion of story arcs, as well as maintaining attention. Keeping audiences encapsulated through a slew of episodes, viewers do not have gaps in episodes to let the excitement and tension of the story drop within the week. This may bolster the quality of a show, as audiences maintain investment more seamlessly within this format. This is specifically ideal for thrillers, mysteries, and shows with twisty plots.

Con #1: Flash Discourse and Spoilers

Online discourse on TV has become vital to any series in today’s culture, with social media being the dominating form of discussion and analysis. In the case of the full season drop, this plays against its favor, as the drop of the episodes arrive as fast as the discourse disappears. Not to say the talk of these shows won’t last, but with weekly drops, the conversation is more drawn out and universal. Similarly, audiences, who are watching on their own time, have to dodge more spoilers than with weekly drops, as missing one week is one thing, but not watching the whole season before others may result in unwanted information.

Con #2: Burnout

Another negative to the binge release format pertains to viewer burnout. TV shows are purposely made in episodic format, designed by writers to be digested and paced in a certain manner. The binge factor may not work for every show, and even still, audiences may find themselves fatigued from a given show from watching too much too quickly.

THE WEEKLY DROP

Pro #1: Prolonged Discourse

From the water cooler and your friends to random TV lovers online, the weekly drop format allows for discourse to last longer and go more in depth. Rather than instantly viewing a season as a whole, audiences can discuss and analyze shows on an episodic basis, furthering the specificity and details of a given episode. This allows shows to maintain cultural relevance or a longer, more effective time, including more memes, viral moments, and theories. Recent effective examples of this format can be found in "Severance", "Succession", and "The Last of Us".

Pro #2: Pacing and Weekly Build Up

As stated prior, the creators and writers behind TV shows craft their episodes and season arcs in a certain manner. At the end of the day, TV is an artform, crafted in a specific way for the ideal experience. With weekly drops, the pace is dictated by the creators, allowing for the stories to truly develop, sit with audiences, and breathe. In this format, the end of episodes matter again; rather than just having to wait 5 seconds for the TV to play the next episode automatically, the story is allowed to seep into audiences, creating weekly suspense for the next episode. As a result, this re-creates the traditional idea of "event TV", making Sunday nights once again feel like a cannot-miss appointment.

Con #1: Exposure of Fillers

Not all shows can be banger after banger, and with the weekly drop system, these lower quality episodes can be exposed. Viewers may be turned off by a single episode, not leaving them aching for more the following week. With the full season drop, audiences are more likely to move past such episodes and try the next one, as they have little time to care about the lower quality of a past episode and can pick the momentum back up instantly with a new episode.

Con #2: Not Ideal for the Casual Viewer

Those who choose to pace their shows on their own watch may not find that they have the time to view an episode as soon as it drops, or just prefer to watch all episodes in a sprint. This audience member might get left out in some discourse after missing a few weeks, or lose interest quicker in a show if it’s not all there at once. To a fault or not, today’s culture and society is built on instant gratification, thus affecting the way viewers may prefer to consume their TV.

Recently, there's been an uptick in a secret third option, which has been employed primarily by Netflix -- that is the multi-part season, utilitized most recently with "Cobra Kai", "Wednesday" and "Stranger Things". With this format, Netflix appears to be trying to find a happy medium between the Full Season Drop and The Weekly Drop by spacing out chunks of a season within the span of a few weeks or months. The aim seems to be to appeal to both types of audiences who want to binge episodes all at once but also enjoy a little break in which to mull over what just happened on the show and what might be in store for the next block of episodes.

How do you like to consume your TV? Are shows better off on a weekly basis quality wise? Or are we rightfully moving to a system that sees all episodes of a season drop at once? Does it depend on the show? Will you watch all at once to avoid spoilers? Or enjoy the weekly discourse of the episodic drop? Just some food for thought before you see your favorite show returning to streaming…