Long Form Television

What is TV?

Convenient form of entertainment or education that's also affordable, and more accessible than other media forms such as film or books. 

What is long form TV?

Long, usually narrative driven series with high production value in world building, and character development. Different pacing and story elements to encourage consistent viewership.

The Effects of Binge Watching

I think long form "TV" is different now because of streaming services - consumers are no longer waiting week by week for the next episode. Instead, seasons are released at once, creating more anticipation in between, heightening the chance of binge watching. For this assignment, I watched some episodes from the first season of Orange is the New Black, a show that was popular a few years ago. More traditional shows had either recaps at the beginning of the episodes, or they contained situations with overarching story elements, such as sitcoms. It's more apparent in OistNB that it is a Netflix series just because it doesn't really do either of these. It's one story, with little or no recap. 

Like other TV or segmented forms of entertainment, there are cliff hangers, but only at the end. Traditional weekly TV would have mini cliff hangers before every commercial break. Other streaming exclusive shows such as House of Cards is also written for the platform - in a discussion in class our group agreed we wouldn't watch it if it was weekly, since it would be hard to remember or follow. 

One of the effects I noticed about binge watching last week was I noticed subtleties less. I didn't care as much as about things such as filming quality, symbolism, or character trait hints since I was just intent on getting through the episode to watch the next. The stories are written to hook the viewer, and these tense stories made me notice less about the production, and concentrate more on the resolution.