I’m a TV junkie. I like TV way more than movies because there’s almost always an ongoing story and I feel like I really get to know the characters. Every once in awhile I’ll find a show I haven’t watched that I really should have, and I’ll go on a marathon of TV watching for however long it takes me to rip through every episode of that TV series.
In today’s world it’s far easier to do this than it was in the past. You used to have to watch TV shows in syndication on TV, and hope that the station would air them in order. I had a local station that did this for most of the Star Trek series when I was younger, but now you can just load up Netflix or Amazon and watch thousands of different TV shows on demand.
I’ve spent the last couple weeks watching The West Wing, a TV series that I really should have watched years ago but just never got around to it. I’ve averaged a little over 7 hours per day of watching the Bartlet White House.
I’m fortunate I’m in a position in my life where I’m able to do these TV marathons from time to time and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, but sometimes I get *too* wrapped up in a show. 154 hour-long episodes in about 2 weeks IS a bit much and I vaguely remember quite a few dreams over the last few days that involved The West Wing.
Whenever I finish a TV series that’s gone on for 4-5 years (or in this case, 7), the same thing happens to me after the last episode. I get up from the couch, or bed, or from behind the computer, look around and wonder “what now?” (picture relevant!) I’m emerging from a fantasy world that I *felt* like I’ve put the last X years of my life into, but really it’s only been a few weeks.
Usually I take some time to do a TV detox after I do these, mainly because I really don’t know what to watch next. In this particular case I *do* know what I want to watch next (Mad Men, another show I put off watching far too long), so I’m debating throwing myself back into it.
I’m pretty sure not a lot of people have the time to do 8-hour-per-day TV marathons, but I know quite a few of my friends will make an effort to watch one or two episodes of a show per day, spread out over however-long-it-takes (often times, many months!).
Thanks to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, DVRs, Satellite and Cable technologies we have become an “on demand” society and those that embrace it and find a way to make money from it will be the next ABC, CBS, or NBC.