Binge TV Viewing: Breaking Bad Premiere Inspires TV Watching Marathons
The season five premiere of Breaking Bad will start in about 72 hours. That means you have about 71 hours to watch seasons 1 through 4. If you really are planning on watching all four seasons of the hit AMC show before the premiere (that’s about 35 hours of television), you’re not alone. Binge TV viewing has become an Olympic sport for couch potatoes and this weekend is one of the sports’ premiere tournaments.
Several websites have conducted studies and posted strategies to guide you through your binge TV viewing this weekend. According to Buzzfeed (you can check out their nifty viewing chart here) it will take you about 2082 minutes to watch all four season. So what does that mean? If you start watching Breaking Bad at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning, you’ll finish just in time for the season five premiere. (You’ll even have time for a few bathroom breaks.)
According to the Wall Street Journal, 73% of people who watched the first episode of Breaking Bad have watched all 7 episodes. 83% finished all of season 2 and 85% finished season 3. Netflix will start streaming season four on Sunday, the day of the premiere, which means that Sunday will be a big day for binge viewing.
Todd Yellin, a Netflix executive, said:
“I don’t like the term ‘binge,’ because it sounds almost pathological…. ‘Marathon’ sounds more celebratory.”
Of course, Breaking Bad isn’t the only show that inspires Marathon television shows. The only streaming business has given people the opportunity to watch entire seasons in one sitting. Shows like Mad Men and The Walking Dead are built slowly, episode by episode, so when a new season starts viewers feel like they have to refresh themselves on all of the show’s past events. This will also be the case when Netflix releases the new season of Arrested Development all at once.
Do you binge watch TV? Do you think it’s healthy?
Not to scare anyone off from watching all four season’s of Breaking Bad in one sitting this weekend, but it is possible to die from too much TV. A man in died in January after watching the Euro 2012 tournament for 11 straight days without sleeping.
Do you have binge viewing parties? Are you going to catch up on Breaking Bad before the season premiere?
