Bonus mini-post this week in honor of The Summer I Turned Pretty finale!
Fine, killed might be too strong a word. Gently wound might be more accurate.
While streaming platforms normalized the 8-hour binge, social media has made cultural criticism instantaneous and ultra-specific. Algorithms have created a convergence of interest. All our attention is focused on a few select shows while niche plot points become TikTok trends of its own.
Why are we suddenly #teamconrad? Who is Huda? What is did Patrick Schwarzenegger do?
Spoilers are everywhere. A singular, internet-wide consensus is formed about characters in a matter of hours. Your ability to make small talk is entirely dependent on whether you’re hip to any of the three shows the algorithm anoints every quarter. There’s no escape, except maybe with Ted Moseby’s Sensory Deprivator 5000.
In this formulation, television is once again, time sensitive. The same way you had to plan around watching the newest episode of Friends every Thursday night at 8PM when it first aired, you now have to find time to stream this week’s episode of Severance the day it's released — before the episode loses relevance.
But I’m not mad about this pivot. There’s now a natural end to my TV time. I’m left wanting more. I’m paying a lot more attention to what I’m watching. Crazy!
Remember when we had to check TV guides to know when our show went on? Now I rely on dodgy paywalled TV-summary articles from gossip sites to keep track of when the next episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty drops.
This renewed interest in linear broadcast programming has gained great traction in an unlikely arena: sports bars.
Beyond your usual sports games, bars everywhere are now live streaming reality shows, limited drama series, even fashion shows. People are making daily visits to dive bars to catch today’s episode of Love Island, lining up around the block to watch the newest The Summer I Turned Pretty episode in the West Village (no surprise there). They’re even crowding by the streets to watch Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut at Paris Fashion Week.
Maybe we’re craving companionship more than ever now. At the very least, going to the movies has made comeback post Barbenheimer. I know I thoroughly enjoyed the theatre-wide drunken-heckling.
Production companies are aware of this trend, too. In 2024, 89% of all Netflix shows were released all at once. In 2025, only 68% were released in bulk. Only 11% of all HBOmax shows are being released all at once in 2025. The fact that Love Island releases a new episode EVERYDAY except for Wednesdays should be telling enough.
Today, entertainment is no longer made to optimize for binge-worthiness. The money’s on the show’s ability to generate prolonged, time-sensitive buzz (rage bait, perhaps). By appealing to the worst part of us, it’s also bringing us together.
We’ve gone full circle. With content so bad and algorithms so insular, we now seek entertainment in the experience of consuming entertainment. The switch from chronological to engagement-maximizing social media feeds may have distorted our sense of time, but our obsessive, constant engagement with social media has allowed the timeliness of cultural conversation prevail — even if it is criticism at it’s most trivial, watered down form.
… at least we’re spending time with people?
I like the pivot back a little bit, its fun to be able to talk about a show in real time again plus less spoilers!