Succession is back for its fourth and final season, which means the debate surrounding appointment viewing (AKA whether dropping episodes weekly is good or not) is too.
Rachel "Dripfeed Me Pls" Rasker and Yasmin "Binge" Jeffery are here to debate the ever-controversial issue.
The 'it girls' of streaming
Yaz: I've asked so many people why they like watching one episode of a show per week at a time designated by some streaming service and the idea seems to come back to:
- It means we can all watch it ~ together ~
- It gives people time to marinate over each episode
- It gives people something to look forward to every week…
Those reasons aren't enough for me. You can do all of it without appointment viewing.
Rachel: Just like gathering as an audience in the cinema or at the theatre, watching a show at the same time as everyone else, every week, is alllll about community imho.
There's always one show that everyone is watching too. The "it girl" of streaming TV. From White Lotus, to The Last of Us, and now Succession.
I also loveee the Twitter reactions, memes and takes that come episode after episode. It's just not something you get when an entire season is dropped at once!
Yaz: Haha but you absolutely can?
Rachel: Nuh-uh! How can you comment on a specific moment from this one small insignificant scene, when you've got a whole 10 hours of content to wade through?? I'm thinking specifically of "the disgusting brothers" in Succession, which I do not watch, but who I have seen referenced constantly.
Yaz: I don't think there's any way anyone could forget about the disgusting brothers; those types of moments are series standouts that we have always and will always find ways to talk about.
Where would we be without fan theories and viewing parties, though?
Rachel: I for one am obsessed with fan theories! I love that feeling of all of us not knowing together.
During White Lotus, I went through absolute rabbit holes of conspiracies and Easter eggs. People were analysing the meanings behind the paintings! The themes behind certain outfit choices! Using freeze frame and all kinds of modern tech! But if it was all dumped at once, who would be bothered? You can just watch and find out. In the most boring possible way.
Yaz: You mean, you find actually watching shows boring?
Rachel: Sounds terrible. I also do not know how to form my own opinion on anything. I need the internet to tell me what to think <3
Yaz: Maybe it is not TV that you like. But anyway I'm fine with people doing all that — should they choose to watch the shows they're into that way.
My argument is, shouldn't we have the ability to decide when we watch the shows on the streaming services we are paying for? Maybe I want to inhale the entirety of a show in one go. Maybe I also don't want to talk to people about every show I watch.
The appointment viewing model completely takes that choice away from you, because you can only watch shows in that one way — at a frequency the platform decides, when everyone else is watching it, or it'll get ruined for you elsewhere online.
And these are services we're paying for!
Rachel: But that threat of spoilers is what makes it so fun! Everyone knows that Monday night is Succession night. And Tuesday morning is Succession-discussion-with-your-colleagues time. I live for the routine of it.
Yaz: And again, that's totally fine! If that is how people would individually like to engage with those shows? But if it isn't it sucks.
Rachel: What about viewing parties? There is nothing more adorable. I used to invite over 10 friends, from all different friendship groups, for the Game of Thrones finales back in the day. Such a pure time (except for all the incest and beheadings).
Not doable if one friend has binged all 10 eps, and another has only watched the first few.
Yaz: It absolutely is. It's called rewatching, my sweets, and it's so fun. Because you can truly have big content drops and all the social connection.
Rachel: Not the same as collectively screaming, in MUTUAL shock! Would you watch a sports game after the fact? No xx
So, drip-fed or bingeable?
Yaz: Different strokes for different blokes! Again, totally happy for y'all to have your drip-feed. But should it mean the people who don't want to, have no choice in how they watch the shows they're paying for?
I feel like streaming services are totally reintroducing drip-feeding for sinister reasons, too.
I imagine the thinking goes like this: have one really great show like Succession, release an episode once a week for 10 weeks. For those two-odd months, your wide Succession fanbase is guaranteed to stick around paying for the privilege of watching Daddy Roy torment his kiddies because it's the only option they have to watch the show. It doesn't matter if the rest of your content is subpar.
Rachel: OK I guesss maybe in some ways this is true. I suppose Big Streaming loves to drag out a show way past whatever free trial you've attempted to get away with, just to keep the cash coming in.
Yaz: Don't you also find it harder to remember what's happened in the previous episode of a show when you're watching a weekly release? I simply forget about these things because I'm consuming multiple shows at the same time rather than one for, say, an entire week.
Rachel: My TikTok fyp is so full of takes and theories, I could never ever forget. It's called being a tru fan, Yaz. I know Succession theories and I don't even watch the pass-agg media show (it's simply too real).
Yaz: Sigh. Anyway, you'll have your way because it's the strategy that makes the streaming services the most money. Sad for the binge girlies. Sad for all of us.
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