Streaming of consciousness

OK, it's a bad habit but one I come by honestly -- I analyze stuff in the media. Not the worst habit, I understand, but it makes people not want to talk to me because I over explain and anticipate stuff that most people could care less about. Or couldn't. Both work. Anyway, I'm sure that there are other reasons that people don't want to talk to me but I would prefer to assume it is because of my d obsession with media studies.

I bring this up because I just want to put down in words some thoughts about a major shift or two in the TV industry so I want you all to understand that this is how my brain works. That said, here we go.

I just finished binge watching a TV series. I decided that I wanted to watch the show this week so I did, bam: 4 days and done. This got me thinking about two ways in which streaming services are changing the industry and the impact these changes will have. To wit --

1. There is no sense in making cliff hangers between episodes, but more sense in making them between seasons. When shows had long pauses between episodes, it made sense to keep the viewers on pins and/or needles. Force them to wait til sweeps, get them to watch an episode up against someone else's breakout hit. Do whatever it takes to get that appointment television to pencil in your show. So a show ends on a sharp intake of surprised breath and you wait a week, alternately persevorating on and avoiding trailers and previews. Now, no longer. Once episode X is over, I can jump right to X+1. No wait, no wonder. This shifts the entire structure of the writing of a show -- the act 1, 2 and etc progression is unnecessary so the writers can pace their story telling in a much more natural way. No longer does the one-hour mark require a major edge-of-the-seat event. In fact, the show can be only 45 minutes long if the writer wants! The natural break can be the natural break! Writers, change your gears -- you are no longer slave to that clock. But once that entire season is consumed in a weekend, the particular time between new seasons is completely arbitrary, so a streaming service can pick a date and make everyone wait until the new season drops. Drag it out and pump up the anticipation.

2. There are no longer any reruns. If I can watch a show whenever I want, I will. Or I won't -- I'll find something else. I'll watch it again when I want or I will look for another way to spend my time. The idea of seasons died a few years ago, and the summer "season", historically where failed shows get some air time, has become as valid a time to release a show as any. The entire calendar of TV releases has been affected. There is no place to hide bad shows, but on the flip side, because new content is constantly needed, mediocrity gets included. If it doesn't get watched, then we move on to something else, but that show isn't a stop gap while a "real" show recharges. Standard programming practices like tent-polling and such are meaningless. A show lives and dies on its own numbers. No lead ins.

I'm sure that there are other implications but these jumped out at me. I'll post more when I feel like it. So there.