The Discord server I’m most active on, The Immortal Disasters, is primarily focused on The Old Guard. And that’s all well and good.
But there are a few channels on the Discord that focus on off-topic things, including “other-fandoms”, where we all discuss what’s happening in other movies and TV shows. It’s where news broke on the server about Ryan Haywood and that nightmare. It’s where we all yell and scream about WandaVision, because we’re all nerds. (Quick aside, watching everyone freak about not being able to access Disney Plus last night was hilarious. I’m not watching it until tonight, so I got my entertainment value all set. Haha.)
But the weirdest thing to come from “other-fandoms” has to be the now weekly dedicated chat about the Fox shows 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lonestar.
I decided to start watching it, but I have four seasons combined before I catch up with the currently airing episodes. And it got me thinking about my own TV habits, and how they’ve changed since childhood. So let’s talk about it.
My TV History
Growing up, my family regulated what was on TV. And I was totally fine with that! I had Sailor Moon and Pokémon and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (and all incarnations that followed). We’d watch Barney and other kids shows that were deemed “good and safe” for the youth of the early 1990’s. Because of the times, I ended up watching things out of order, of course. There was no real way to record things except with a VCR, and that trick was limited to certain movies that my dad wanted to keep (including this weird film called Sebastian Star Bear: First Mission. Look it up, it’s WEIRD).
I didn’t watch the live action shows geared towards my age group much. It just wasn’t something that interested me. I knew about them, but honestly, my mom and dad were teaching me more than those shows, of which I can barely remember. We’d probably watch a Disney film over most of the children’s programming, honestly. I never even watched He-Man or Power Rangers either.
Even when I started school, I wasn’t watching the same stuff. I’d rather turn on Digimon than SpongeBob, or Gundam instead of whatever comedy show Cartoon Network was currently airing. And don’t get me started with the live action Disney shows. They did nothing for me. I wanted shows with a storyline that lasted multiple episodes, rather than shows with two 11 minute plots. Even with growing up going to Disney World twice a year, I just didn’t care for a lot of what they had to offer.
After my Dad died when I was twelve, my TV habits matured a bit. I was allowed to stay up later than eight o’clock, which was when the “adult” shows would come on air. So I started watching CSI with my mom, and was introduced to more mature content. But at the same time, I still was watching anime, still crying over the season two finale of Teen Titans, and surprisingly falling in love with Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! over on Disney’s new teen-centric channel, Jetix. Around this time I was also introduced to the French series Code Lyoko, which really rounded out my love for series.
By the end of high school, I had a few “staple series” that weren’t animated. I watched every episode of CSI:NY and Criminal Minds religiously. I kept up with Without a Trace, and had a passing knowledge of CSI (too dark and greenlit for me) and CSI: Miami (why is Miami orange-tinged?). This was 2009, which was around the same time that recording episodes to watch later was now apart of the culture of television viewing.
And then, during my first semester of college, Mom took a two week trip to visit a friend. I still was living at home for monetary reasons. While she was gone, and I didn’t have class, I discovered a random episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I’d missed growing up due to when it aired (1997-2003). It was from the first season. And I fell in love. The day after I saw that episode, I took a special trip to the mall after class, and bought the first two seasons on DVD.
And thus I discovered binge-watching.
What is binge-watching?
Binge-watching is watching a series in rapid succession. In this case, I watched the first two seasons of Buffy in a week, as I still had classes, homework, and sleep. But if I nothing, I was watching each episode back to back. Right before Mom returned, I picked up season three, but I ended up slowing down watching, due to watching to catch up with her and her own personal shows.
From Buffy, I discovered a whole new world. Honest. I never really knew what Netflix was, or why streaming shows was so popular. But I didn’t want to spend fifty dollars on a season of TV that I could watch online. And from there, I finally realized how modern people watched anime and caught up on the shows that aired when we were young, or hadn’t even been thought of yet.
How Had Binge-Watching TV Changed Viewership
In the past ten years, binge-watching has become the more popular way to view shows. It’s completely possible to watch an entire season of a show in a day or two, provided that you don’t have other pressing matters to deal with. It’s changed how patient the average person is for the next episode. While episodic shows are still relevant and of course air on TV, there is now parts of a fanbase that will wait to watch the next season until it drops on a service like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video.
Whole shows are now sometimes dropped a season at a time onto those platforms. As an easy example, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an episodic show with usually ten episodes per season. And yet, it would always drop with all ten episodes at once. This is the same for shows across all platforms, though there are some notable exceptions (WandaVision on Disney Plus, and The Boys over on Prime Video come to mind).
Where Do I Fall?
So, my viewing habits of TV have of course adapted with the times. I’ve been known to watch an entire series in a single night (Locke and Key on Netflix being a recent example). But I’ve also tried to string out shows instead of watching them quickly.
I don’t watch much “traditional” television anymore. My TV in my room is dedicated to streaming movies, playing Blu-rays, and of course, gaming. The TV in the living room is primarily Mom’s, as her bedroom in this apartment is weirdly set up and we’ve yet to find a place to put her TV (and at this point we’re just waiting until we can move to set it up then). And honestly, most of what is on TV right now doesn’t really interest me. But that’s just my personal tastes. I know many people who love what’s currently airing.
What Am I Currently Watching?
The main thing I’m watching weekly is, of course, WandaVision. I also plan on watching each Marvel-Disney Plus show as it airs (so Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Ms. Marvel, and Hawkeye) because I’m a Marvel junkie. Judge me as you wish.
I’m attempting to binge-watch 9-1-1 right now. I finished the second episode of season two last night, and my goal is to watch at least three or four episodes a day. It’s not my favorite show on air, but it’s ok. I’m honestly skipping through some scenes, but don’t tell the discord that. I just find some of the writing to be juvenile.
I’m also watching Black Sails, which is a prequal to Treasure Island. It aired on Starz a few years ago to great success. I’m just taking my time because I want to read the novel first, and I’ve completely overextended myself this month.
I have others in the queues of all the streaming platforms I have access to, all of which I hope to start whittling down in the coming months. This was a goal that I started last year, when the pandemic went into high gear and my family made the decision to basically keep inside for the duration, minus my few and far between trips to the store when absolutely needed. There are certain franchises I’d like to give a shot, but I’ll save those names for when I actually watch them.
Until that time, I’m off to go finish today’s story for Febuwhump.
Until next time!
