The 7 Stages Of Binge Watching A Show On Netflix

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While carrying my laptop around the kitchen today because I couldn’t even pause my show to make lunch, I had a horrifying thought: “What did the world do before Netflix?”. My heart started to race as I imagined the Netflix servers going down during the zombie apocalypse. Binge watching a tv show is one of my favourite things to do when I’m having a lazy week, and without Netflix my atrocious hobby becomes about ten times more difficult. I’m currently at episode 21 of Nashville (a show I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I watch) which I began four days ago. As I approach the end of the only season that’s on Netflix I thought I’d document the process I’ve gone through many, many times.

1. You have an evening in and don’t feel like starting a movie, maybe a new tv show is a good idea. You scroll through the TV show genre on Netflix searching for the rare show you haven’t already tried watching before.

2. You start the pilot with low expectations. Not great, but pilots are usually awkward. I’ll give it another episode to win me over.

3. It’s suddenly 1:00 am and you’re at episode four. You’ve officially made a commitment and now you feel obliged to at least finish the first season.

4. Two days later and you’ve finished season one. You promised yourself you would leave the house today. But it ended in such a cliffhanger!!! Ok just the premiere of season two. Then you’ll shower. Maybe.

5. Halfway through season two. You begin to feel like you live in the same world as these characters. You spend the entire day at work counting down the hours until you can get home, get a bowl of cereal, crawl into bed, and continue watching.

6. A week in and you’re on season three. You’ve adapted to creative ways to do things while still watching your show. You’re way beyond the point of being embarrassed about taking your laptop to the bathroom with you.

7. Season three finale. You only now realize season four is currently on air and you’re going to have to wait a week to watch each episode like some peasant. You feel irrationally upset about this. A normal person would probably feel release and begin returning to a social life, you just feel the need to fill the void in your life with another show. Must resist repeating the cycle…