I thank holiday television channel marathons for really introducing me to binge-watching because I don't buy DVD box sets anymore. The only box set I ever bought for new episodes I never saw was Dead Like Me, season 2 after discovering the first season showing on television -- after it was already cancelled, I think. The other box sets I bought were for other shows I had already seen. That set was worked through over two or three days, a few episodes at a time. This was more like controlled entertainment.
But "real" binge-watching? An entire season non-stop until the season's over? Thank you television promotions. The most recent ones that come to my attention happened over a year ago. Specifically, AMC was doing season 1 and 2 marathons for America Horror Story. It was watch it or miss it and I decided to watch it -- I don't think I had a DVR or any other recorder yet. I actually missed a few episodes of each season, so it wasn't a full binging.
What I realized was that my tolerance for watching TV was limited to 3 or 4 episodes at a time. Both days, my body was physically situated in front of a television with the show running, but my mind just checked out after a couple episodes. It started to feel like a chore and that watching was work even though I wanted to see what was going to happen. I think I took a mental break for a few hours each time and slightly tuned in again for the last few episodes.
And to think it leaves me restless having to wait a week or an entire summer after a finale to watch the next episode usually.
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