The problem with binge-watching, or the virtue of slow-watching

I was introduced to the television show The Gilmore Girls last fall, by my step-mother. I found the show's first few episodes to be witty and charming, so I continued watching. I am up to the fourth season now, and still enjoying it.

When I saw my step-mother a few months later, I thanked her for introducing me to the show. She surprised me when she said she had binge-watched the rest of the series (all seven seasons plus the new season on Netflix) after introducing me to it. While she liked the show, it didn't sound like she was enthusiastic about it.

On the other hand, I rarely binge-watch anything on television. The first time I did that was when I got the entire first season of 24 on dvd. Afterwards, I was happily exhausted. But the key there is exhausted. Sitting in one place and watching a show for a day or two is draining. This is why I normally only watch one episode in a sitting, and only two episodes in a day, if that much. To me, binge-watching is seeing 2-3 episodes in one sitting. Instead, I prefer to "slow-watch".

But there is a virtue in slow-watching, especially a long-running series. Over time, if the characters are good and portrayed with depth, I find myself growing fond of them, like family or co-workers I see every day. I would love to share a cup of coffee with Lorelai or Rory Gilmore, or sit in Luke Danes' diner and trade barbs with him. These are good people, who I feel like I know, even though they are nothing more than fictional characters portrayed by actors. Watching them live years over a period of months breeds a familiarity in the mind that watching a movie lacks.

This is not to say that a movie cannot be appreciated like a long-running television series. When we watch beloved movies again and again, the same kind of effect occurs. But I find there is more depth in the relationship between the viewer and the characters from a slow-watched show, and that effect is enhanced by multiple unique memories, as opposed to the single two-hour memory. That is much more like real life, where the people you know and love are etched into your mind from years of uniquely shared memories.

On the other hand, when you binge-watch, you create a movie effect. Even a long-running series becomes nothing more than a very long movie when binge-watched. When you are done with it, it is several days of memories neatly tucked away in your mind, just like the memories of cramming for a history test in high school, both of which have equal emotional context.