Popular New Show Sparks Fierce Fan Debate: Should Shows Drop Weekly Episodes Or All at Once?
Being a child truly represented simpler times.
Excluding issues like adulting and having a job, even philosophical fan debates were cut from a more straightforward cloth.
“Who would win in a fight, Godzilla or Goku?” or “Who would win in a race, Superman or the Flash?” made for plenty of classic playground debate.
(The correct answers, by the way, are Goku and the Flash.)
Those debates never go away as adults, but they do change, and another classic fandom debate has reared its ugly head with the successful debut of the Amazon Prime series, “Fallout.”
Based on the hit video game franchise, the series has come out to high praise from both critics and fans alike — a rare feat these days.
But whereas most debates about red hot television shows center on the content itself (like the show’s adherence — or lack thereof — to the source material), the ensuing debates about “Fallout” have been a bit more meta.
And that’s because “Fallout” opted to release all eight episodes of its inaugural season on April 10.
That, in turn, re-sparked a fierce fan debate online: Is it better for episodic shows to release weekly episodes, or to dump the entire season at once?
A search on social media sees plenty of proponents and detractors of both sides to that debate.
With the Fallout show a hit, we’re left wondering: why did Prime Video break with its tradition and release the full season in a single go? Here’s why the show could have used a little more breathing room: https://t.co/SLhPd7DqwK pic.twitter.com/5rBdDmiWAp
— IGN (@IGN) April 16, 2024
The two disparate arguments effectively break down thusly:
The case for weekly releases
The idea of giving a series “breathing room,” as the aforementioned IGN X post notes, is somewhat valid.
On the one hand, you can just watch the episodes weekly yourself. There’s nothing forcing you to watch the next episode as soon as the credits roll.
On the other hand, however, given the nature of the terminally online society we all occupy, if you care at all about spoilers, manually opting for a weekly viewing of a show puts you at great risk online.
There’s also the case to be made that, while Amazon doesn’t exactly need help given its deep coffers, weekly episode drops are just better for the studio. For example, “Fallout” is enjoying great word-of-mouth and reviews at the moment, but where will this excitement be in about two months? Probably replaced by the next neat thing.
But if the show’s eight episodes were weekly releases, the show would probably be enjoying quite a bit of virality after those two months, especially given the explosive season finale and cliffhanger tease.
(Yes, this writer is a massive “Fallout” fan and approves of the series.)
The case for the singular season dump
This just gives fans the ultimate control over how they want to consume the media.
If fans are hooked, there’s nothing stopping them from devouring every episode in an all-night binge.
As mentioned above, disciplined fans should have no issues with both watching episodes weekly and avoiding online discourse/spoilers.
Unlike Goku versus Godzilla or Superman versus the Flash, there isn’t a concrete answer as to what release schedule is best for a show or its fans (those may be two very different answers), and the discourse surrounding “Fallout” is a stark reminder of that evergreen debate.
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