Are TV shows bringing back the water-cooler conversation? UCalgary expert says yes

Are you watching Severance? How about that season finale of The White Lotus? Are you excited for the second season of The Last of Us?

These television shows are conversation topics you’ve likely heard among friends or coworkers recently, and the examples above all share a common feature: a weekly release of episodes. 

“Weekly releases sustain people’s interest over a period of time,” explains Dawn Johnston, PhD, a professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film and associate dean in the Faculty of Arts.

“By sustaining people’s interest you’re also building their interest.”

The model of weekly episode releases contrasts with the binge-watching model popularized by streaming services such as Netflix, where an entire season’s worth of episodes is dropped in one batch.

Johnston says the binge-watching model can be frustrating for people who don’t have the time to watch the entirety of a season of a show in one sitting, which inevitably leads to that show getting spoiled if they don’t watch it quick enough after the release date.

A weekly release model allows people to consume a show at the same pace, assuming they are caught up on that week’s episode.

“I like the fact that we are all in it together on the same schedule,” says Johnston.

Not only can these weekly releases encourage conversation, but they can also drive further interest in people who have a fear of missing out.

“Anytime you’re hearing a lot of people talking about one thing, you’re far more likely to pick up that show, and pick it up right away,” says Johnston.

With streaming services, people will tend to make a mental list of things to watch when they have the time. However, they can often forget what they want to watch, or by the time they get to a show it isn’t talked about anymore.

“It feels less like you’re entering into a cultural conversation and more like you’re just looking to entertain yourself according to your own tastes,” says Johnston.

The weekly release of shows that are highly talked about, like The White Lotus or The Last of Us, harkens back to the way television used to be consumed before the personal video recording (PVR) or streaming services.

“This is how we used to watch TV, it was all about appointment viewing,” explains Johnston.

Appointment viewing was how people engaged in television, knowing they were sitting and watching “must-see Thursday” at the same time as everyone else.

Johnston says this allowed people to have more conversations about popular culture than we do now. 

By returning to a weekly release model, some shows are trying to bring back the cultural conversation and provide a welcome distraction.

“As we find ourselves in constant doom spirals of news and scrolling through social media, the notion of putting everything down to watch something at a scheduled time is really appealing to people,” says Johnston.

“The notion of then having something entertaining and fun, but also intriguing and smart, to have conversations with others about is more and more appealing.”