skillzdadirecta Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 How the Sopranos Got Supercharged By the Birth of Binge-Watching - IGN WWW.IGN.COM In the 20 years since The Sopranos premiered on HBO, TV has never been the same. With the release of The Many Saints of Newark on HBO Max, we're looking back at the legacy of the Sopranos and how the birth of binge-watching supercharged the show's success and helped jumpstart a new golden age of TV. I keep telling people that HBO helped spawn binge watching and that Netflix didn't create the practice. HBO used to do these weekend Marathons of their shows to get new viewers caught up on shows they had been airing. It's how I myself got hooked on shows like The Wire, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and yes, The Sopranos... all shows I ignored initially only to get hooked on after binging them on lazy Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Netflix just took that model and ran with it. The annual holiday Twilight Zone marathons were also an early form of binge watching 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_MH Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 That's how I got hooked on The Sopranos. There was a weekend where they aired like the entire first season. I watched that, really enjoyed it, and then went over to Blockbuster to rent the rest to catch up for the next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I had no idea they did this, the more you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 It's not about who did it first it's about who did it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 45 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said: It's not about who did it first it's about who did it better. HBO? because the way they did it helped boost the popularity of at least THREE of the best TV shows in recent times... It wasn't just these shows either. They do it for ALL of their shows. Or did at least before streaming was a thing. 1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said: That's how I got hooked on The Sopranos. There was a weekend where they aired like the entire first season. I watched that, really enjoyed it, and then went over to Blockbuster to rent the rest to catch up for the next season. Same with me and the shows I mentioned in my original post. Was also how I got hooked on Six Feet Under and later, Dexter when Showtime started doing the same thing. 1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said: I had no idea they did this, the more you know. A lot of people didn't which is why I always get into these debates about binge watching when I point out that HBO really started it They would also give away free preview weekends to basic cable subbscribers and run marathons of their hit shows then as well. Get the people hooked and they would then keep HBO. It was a very smart strategy and led to HBO being dominant in the early 00's and beyond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodporne Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 15 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said: Same with me and the shows I mentioned in my original post. Was also how I got hooked on Six Feet Under and later, Dexter when Showtime started doing the same thing. Six Feet Under was the first show I was so blown away by that I binge watched it. That show was big for me and the definition of entertainment actually challenging me and making me think. Edit: I went to Blockbuster and rented a whole season at a time, go back, rent the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 To this day, I often wait until a new series has at least 4 or 5 episodes out before I start watching them unless all episodes are released at once or its a series I'm already hooked on and interested in. I just prefer to binge shows and watch at my pace. A lot of current shows are designed to be binged anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodporne Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 5 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said: To this day, I often wait until a new series has at least 4 or 5 episodes out before I start watching them unless all episodes are released at once or its a series I'm already hooked on and interested in. I just prefer to binge shows and watch at my pace. A lot of current shows are designed to be binged anyway. I did this with Better Call Saul. I loved the show but had to stop watching it on TV because the constant commercials ruined the moodiness and the I felt like the plot was too dense to have constant interruptions and a drip-feed once per week. I ended up just shelving it and waiting for the seasons to come out on Netflix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamer.tv Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I almost miss the era of waiting for the DVD box set to be released, especially for things that used to come out in America months/years before the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 2 hours ago, Bloodporne said: I did this with Better Call Saul. I loved the show but had to stop watching it on TV because the constant commercials ruined the moodiness and the I felt like the plot was too dense to have constant interruptions and a drip-feed once per week. I ended up just shelving it and waiting for the seasons to come out on Netflix. I had live TV one year after college, with the promos they were running at the time it was cheaper to take the phone/TV/internet combo for FiOS than to just take internet. I tried taking advantage of having the live TV service to watch Mad Men live. I only lasted an episode or two before I just went back to pirating it, it was so jarring seeing it with ads after getting through multiple seasons of the show without ads. Sucks that it's only streaming right now on that stupid IMDB TV thing right now which only has an ad-supported version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercury33 Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I would argue that E!, Bravo, MTV started it. They would throw on marathons of their reality shows all the time. Unless the Sopranos predates them doing that in which case just ignore this entire post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I couldn't get IGN to load, and it is certainly fair to point out how HBO would run marathons of their content, but if the article misses the advent of DVD boxsets of TV it certainly misses a big part of the binge story. It is literally what made Netflix think they should just dump whole seasons onto their service as they could see the way people were blowing through DVD after DVD in TV boxsets. They even funded the creation of some TV show DVD boxsets back in the early 00s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 11 minutes ago, Mercury33 said: I would argue that E!, Bravo, MTV started it. They would throw on marathons of their reality shows all the time. Unless the Sopranos predates them doing that in which case just ignore this entire post. Those channels definitely did it for their reality TV shows sure. HBO was one of the earliest to do it with premium, scripted TV content though. 7 minutes ago, sblfilms said: I couldn't get IGN to load, and it is certainly fair to point out how HBO would run marathons of their content, but if the article misses the advent of DVD boxsets of TV it certainly misses a big part of the binge story. It is literally what made Netflix think they should just dump whole seasons onto their service as they could see the way people were blowing through DVD after DVD in TV boxsets. They even funded the creation of some TV show DVD boxsets back in the early 00s. The article is more about how The Sopranos helped fuel the desire to binge shows in any way, through HBO or DVD. As others have said in this thread, The Sopranos was a show that made them go to the video store in order to binge the series. I remember binging LOST and HEROES on DVD as well and still own the first seasons of those shows on DVD. But yes, DVD Boxed sets played a part in the binging phenomenon as well, sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 1 hour ago, sblfilms said: I couldn't get IGN to load, and it is certainly fair to point out how HBO would run marathons of their content, but if the article misses the advent of DVD boxsets of TV it certainly misses a big part of the binge story. It is literally what made Netflix think they should just dump whole seasons onto their service as they could see the way people were blowing through DVD after DVD in TV boxsets. They even funded the creation of some TV show DVD boxsets back in the early 00s. True for me. DVD box sets did a lot more for me in terms of binging than HBO ever did. I hardly binge these days though, I like to watch an episode or two (if it's half an hour) a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoberChef Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 I remember in my youth, always on New Years Eve, PBS would have a marathon of Mr. Bean & I would stay up all night watching/rewatching every episode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, SoberChef said: I remember in my youth, always on New Years Eve, PBS would have a marathon of Mr. Bean & I would stay up all night watching/rewatching every episode Didn't they do that with The Red Green Show too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoberChef Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 Wish I knew what that was @Keyser_Soze ...does a quick search ... Yep, confirmed, not a clue what that show is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 9 minutes ago, SoberChef said: Wish I knew what that was @Keyser_Soze ...does a quick search ... Yep, confirmed, not a clue what that show is! Lucky for you I think they have all their episodes up on Youtube. I figure someone else here must have heard of this show 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moa Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Why Is Every Young Person in America Watching ‘The Sopranos’? - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM The show’s new audience is also seeing something different in it: a parable about a country in terminal decline. Hijacking a thread but this was a very thoughtful and well-written article about the Sopranos' enduring legacy, and how prescient the show ultimately was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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