Binge watching turn-off for TV creatives

For television junkies, it seemed like the perfect fix – the opportunity to gorge on as much drama as you want, for as long as you want.

Among Hollywood’s creative classes, however, resentment is stirring against the craze for binge watching.

Orange is the New Black, a comedy-drama set in an American women’s prison, has been one of the pioneers of the binge-watching trend. Rather than keeping viewers in suspense by broadcasting an episode a week, Netflix, the company behind the show, has released each series at once online, so that viewers can watch every episode in one sitting if they choose.

This model is working well for the online streaming service. Orange is the New Black has won industry awards and public acclaim, as has the political drama House of Cards, another Netflix show released in the same way.

‘‘Binge watching a show like Breaking Bad is probably the purest way to watch a great series,’’ said Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker’s television critic.

Some of the most influential figures in TV, however, are now asking whether binge watching diminishes the audience experience and deprives fans of the opportunity to discuss episodes with their friends.

‘‘I miss having people on the same page,’’ Jenji Kohan, the creator of Orange is the New Black, told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘‘I miss being able to go online and have the conversation the day after.’’

A recent poll found that 30 per cent of people who subscribe to internet streaming services such as Netflix have indulged in binge watching, which is defined as watching three or more episodes in one sitting.

Some view this as a more soph- isticated method of consuming TV. ‘‘The way that we’re watching TV is the way that people have read good novels,’’ Grant McCracken, a cultural anthropologist who has worked with Netflix, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Others feel that TV thrives on anticipation. ‘‘There’s something very powerful about having a conversation in the culture occurring for 10 weeks,’’ said Richard Plepler, chief executive of HBO, the network that began the socalled golden age of television by commissioning The Sopranos in 1999.

Broadcasting a series one episode at a time built a better social media following, he said. ‘‘I also think people enjoy the treat of waiting for the next episode.’’

Jim Pagels, a writer for online magazine Slate, said: ‘‘Cliffhangers and suspense need time to breathe. TV characters should be a regular part of our lives, not someone we hang out with 24/7 for a few days and then never see again.’’

The Times