Series Posts vs Individual Episodes

September 20, 2018 4:00 AM

Is there any agreement on Binge-worthy series and if they merit a single entire series post, or do most people prefer individual episode posts?

It feels to me like new Netflix (and other streaming services) new material is increasingly being discussed on Fanfare in Entire Series posts.

Not everyone can binge watch everything the minute it comes out, so I was wondering is there an agreed max / min runtime where full season pages are agreed on?

I know there is nothing to stop anyone posting individual episode posts after a full season post has already gone up but that feels like it's an unnecessary split in the conversation?

Thoughts?

posted by Faintdreams (11 comments total)

I think it really depends on how much effort the poster wants to put into doing the episode posts. If you're not willing/able to spend the time writing up recaps of some kind, then you might as well just put up a complete season thread; most people can't remember what happened in which episode if there's nothing in the post but the blurb summary. And I don't blame anyone for not being willing/able to write up recaps. I've enjoyed doing binge-postathons for shows like Travelers, The OA, various Marvel Netflix seasons. But sometimes it's been a slog (season 1 of 3% was a blast, but season 2 was a lonely experience); and after a certain number of episodes it gets physically uncomfortable (ergonomically speaking).

I do think that it would be better for the streaming series if people started with an Episode One thread in addition to a Full-Season thread. That way the people can speculate about the course of the season, ask spoiler-lite questions ('if I liked the first episode x amount, will I like the rest of the season more/less?').

I don't think the runtime is the main issue, though I'm more likely to do full episode posts for a season that's 13 episodes & under than I am for a 20-something-episode season. It's the puzzle/mystery structure versus the soap opera/drama format that's the main decider. With soap/drama format, I don't think there's as much to discuss episode-by-episode, and it's not as much fun watching new people make their way through the show as the old threads pop up in Recent Activity.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:03 PM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]

I do think that it would be better for the streaming series if people started with an Episode One thread in addition to a Full-Season thread.

I like this compromise, even as I look back on my seven full-season FanFare posts in a row (including four serieses and podcasts that weren't streaming full seasons at once, mostly because no one else had started single-episode posts on them yet).
posted by Etrigan at 7:47 AM on September 21, 2018

I too like the idea of having a first episode post, followed by a full season post, if there aren't going to be episode by episode posts. Sometimes if I'm considering whether to try out a show, I might want to see the initial response in fanfare, and I generally don't mind spoilers for a first episode, but I may not want to dive into a full season thread and risk full season spoilers.

I don't think the runtime is the main issue, though I'm more likely to do full episode posts for a season that's 13 episodes & under than I am for a 20-something-episode season. It's the puzzle/mystery structure versus the soap opera/drama format that's the main decider. With soap/drama format, I don't think there's as much to discuss episode-by-episode, and it's not as much fun watching new people make their way through the show as the old threads pop up in Recent Activity.

I also think it can depend on the expected fanfare engagement. For shows that don't have much fanfare engagement, it may not feel worth making individual episode posts if only a couple people are going to comment.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:43 PM on September 21, 2018

I do think that it would be better for the streaming series if people started with an Episode One thread in addition to a Full-Season thread.

I'm going to remember your suggestion the next time I'm on the fence about this, thank you.
posted by mordax at 8:40 AM on September 22, 2018

I don't know. I really lean more towards per episode posts but that seems to only work if they get a lot of discussion. Works for something popular, maybe not so much if it gets only 1-2 comments.

I don't really like the "entire season" most of the time for shows that drop all episodes at once or could be watched at once at this point, because you have to watch the entire season in order to go in without spoiling yourself (assuming you want to do that). You can't really partially discuss it or hop into the thread when you have thoughts about episode five and everyone else is done with all thirteen. About the only time I liked "entire season" was for doing Making It because it's only six episodes and they're not dropping in one bunch so we could discuss it from week to week.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:20 PM on September 22, 2018

The mid-season posts about streaming shows that dump all at once seem super pointless to me. It's like commenting on a movie in the middle of watching it saying "I don't like it because I don't know where it's going *frowny face*" Well um, that's because it's not over and you're not at where it's going yet. It's like texting someone in the middle of a movie to complain that you don't know how it's going to end.
posted by bleep at 7:23 PM on September 23, 2018

I mean why not just wait until you're done watching it to have an opinion about it.
posted by bleep at 7:28 PM on September 23, 2018

I've definitely jumped into a full season thread to comment on whatever episode I'm up to, because there's things I would like to point out that affects how I feel about the show, and it might irrelevant to what might happen at the end of the season. More often than not it's a way for me to remember how I felt at various points of a season, since it's not like I keep a diary of my tv watching. Sure most people might not care about me using FanFare as an open diary, but it's also a way for us to share opinions, and we've no shortage of that here. It's also useful for me to see how others feel at similar points in the series, that we all go through this journey together. By the time I get to an end point, I might forget a specific thing I wanted to say 4-5 episodes ago that informs how I'm feeling at the end, so it's good to just get that out and refer to it later.
posted by numaner at 2:28 PM on September 24, 2018

That makes sense to me I think I’m just frustrated by negative comments in the middle of a season complaining about how they don’t know what the end is going to be. I’d rather not have fanfare at all than have to read those.
posted by bleep at 6:46 PM on September 24, 2018

I like the idea of starting off with an Episode 1 and Full Season post for shows that are released all at once. I'll often look at the Episode 1 post for a show that I'm curious about to see the general reaction, without being too worried about being spoiled on that episode, but would rather not have whole seasons spoiled.

For shows that are released/aired week-by-week, I don't know how/if to judge whether it makes sense to post a Full Season post while it's airing. For Fear the Walking Dead, I did a half-season post once because nobody had posted anything on the season by the time I finally caught up with what had aired (and probably binged that half-season, which I don't usually do), but since then I've just been posting for each episode.
posted by jimw at 7:26 PM on September 28, 2018

I don't think I've ever had much satisfaction out of switching to full-season post format for a weekly-broadcast show when the episode-by-episode postings fizzled out. It can feel as much like posting to the void as uncommented-on episode posts can, so I'm more likely to just wait until the finale for a last 'did anyone else watch until the end?' thread.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:13 AM on September 29, 2018