Your viewing habits for stuff you've seen before

[BeardFaceMan]

Even if a show I like is only 1 series long, I struggle to just sit down and watch one random or favourite episode, I have to watch the lot. In order. Its very, very rare I can put on one episode of The Day Today for example, not that I have to watch them all in one sitting but I do feel the need to watch them all pretty quickly. Even with US series' that have hundreds of episodes, I can never watch just one, I have to work my way through at least a season.

How do you go about rewatching your favourite series? Can you dip in and out or do you like them in chunks? I did rewatch every Seinfeld episode in reverse order once, didn't spoil it a bit.

[Bazooka]

A comedy, no problem with random episode but with a drama I have never not started from episode 1.

[Sebastian Cobb]

A comedy, no problem with random episode but with a drama I have never not started from episode 1.

This although because I know this, it's also easier to end up watching an episode then carrying on and bashing a 6 part comedy over a night or two, whereas I'll never be wiling to 'find the time' for a drama series.

[Replies From View]

I can dip into random episodes of Quantum Leap.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Quantum Leap is amazing as a show you can dip in almost anywhere.

[BeardFaceMan]

Its weird, I can rewatch comedy endlessly, knowing the jokes doesnt spoil it one bit. But its very rare I rewatch drama shows, maybe it's because I know whats going to happen, I'm not sure, but I dont get the same urge to re watch drama. I think the only dramas I've rewatched from start to finish are Prison Break, Oz, The Shield and Beaking Bad. I can honestly say rewatching a random or even specific single episode of a drama is not a thought that has ever entered my head.

[daf]

Oh I could never just watch a random episode on it's own - everything has to be watched in strict chronological order, and an EQUAL number of times.

Not just DVD's but books and music too : eg. I keep a small slip of paper in each CD noting how many times I've listened to it, or at which track i've left it (if it's a long album) - so I don't keep listening to the first few songs, or over-listen to some albums and 'wear them out' though overfamiliarity.

Say, for example, I wanted to listen to Sgt Pepper, I'd start with Please Please Me, and work my way though each album till I got to Sgt Pepper . . . and then listen to all the rest of the albums - so every album is equally listened to and there's no risk of 'burn out'.

With chronological viewing, reading or listening, I've a vague feeling what my brain is doing is trying to extract the maximum information by attempting to experience the work in context of the unfolding historical time in which it was created and also to see if any patterns emerge in development of that author, musician or TV show in relation to that.

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Let's take one example from my pile of stuff : Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.

Bewitched has 253 episodes & I Dream of Jeannie 139. If I dipped in to something like that randomly, I would always be worried I might have watched some episodes more than others, or have never seen some episodes - and my brain would be telling me that the ones I missed were, of course, 'the best ones'.

So my method is to watch one episode per day at teatime from monday to friday (I've got a whole other weekend fantasy TV controller DVD schedule meticulously worked out for those two days - but that's another crackpot story!) putting a dot in the small box next to the episode title on the list i've lovingly hand-made - so I can keep track of what I've watched, and what's up next.

Also I thought it'd be an interesting experiment to watch the both shows together - but in their correct historical place in relation to each other, which means I watch all of Bewitched season 1 first, then alternate episodes when both were on the air at the same time (from 1965 to 1970), then I'll watch the final two seasons of Bewitched on their own (as Jeannie had finished earlier). So hopefully I will have experienced a TV version of the 60's (mods, hippies, music, fashons, pop cultural references) through both shows as if I was an original viewer back in the 60s.
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To boil it down - It just provides a structure for me to actually get through stuff, that I'd otherwise never get round to because there's just so much of it.

[Dex Sawash]

Turn on thing, feels familiar, might be able to browse CaB a bit, thing is over, didn't really watch.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Yeah agree comedy I can dip in and out of unless there's a narrative. I started watching season 7 of Ideal last night because I'd not got that far before. This is one of those shows you kind of have to watch lie a drama due to it's ongoing story arcs. I'm also watching 15 Storeys High again (both these shows are major comfort viewing, I have a thing for comedy set in urban flats) but you can pretty much chose any episode at random and enjoy it.