Why Binge-Watching 'Stranger Things' Season 4 May Not Be the Best Option
Commentary: Eleven and friends are returning to Netflix, but you might want to take this season slow.
Netflix is expected to release the fourth season of Stranger Things on Friday, May 27, and a lot has changed since we last watched the kids from Hawkins, Indiana take on the Mind Flayer at the end of season 3. But before you jump right into binge-watching the first seven episodes of season 4, you may want to consider an alternative way of enjoying the series.
I'm not here to tell you to stop binge-watching. We're now in our third year of a global pandemic, the US is experiencing sharp inflation, and every day is starting to feel like a survival test. If watching an entire TV series in one week is what keeps you going, don't let me stop you. But it shouldn't be the default way of viewing.
Stranger Things isn't the only series to tempt viewers to watch the entire series in one sitting. When House of Cards debuted on Netflix in 2013, it changed the TV industry in two ways. It was the first big-budget TV series with well-known actors that was available to anyone with an internet connection and access to the streaming service -- no cable contract needed. And viewers could watch the entire season's 13 episodes at once.
It wasn't the birth of binge-watching, not quite. Anyone with access to a whole season of TV on home video could binge their way through entire seasons, one VHS or DVD at a time, long before Netflix. But this was the first time that a new show dropped an entire season at once, leaving pacing to the viewers, rather than being dependent on the weekly TV schedule. And the world has been binge-watching TV shows ever since.
And that's fine, if it works for you. But I'd like to suggest an alternative: If you pace your TV watching, you might just like it better than binge-watching. Here's why.
2022-05-23 20:54:01
