Netflix, Amazon or Disney Plus - I’m Keener on Classics, Skipping Premieres

You may recall the incredible anticipation that came with trying to catch a new episode of your favorite TV show right when it aired, or hurrying to the kitchen or bathroom during commercials. Nostalgia is great, but streaming is more convenient. I can play the selected show at any time, pause it, and then resume it at will. I will watch what I want, and I don't miss the old days of TV when it comes to consumption.

Especially since Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video offer many older productions that were created as TV shows. I have all episodes and all seasons at my fingertips. In the right order, not released randomly, so you know which episode will appear on the screen. As a result, I noticed that the shows not originally produced for streaming make a much more enjoyable watch.

Old is better?

The idea that streaming is better for watching old shows than platform-specific series came to my mind relatively recently. On a particular weekend day, I decided to see if I could find Cold Case somewhere. To my delight, I discovered that it was indeed available. I launched Amazon Prime and… two days went by unnoticed. I fell into the "just one more episode" loop and found it difficult to break the binge.

Cold Case; Meredith Stiehm; CBS; 2003

I found every episode engaging. Some were naturally better than others, but I still watched them with great pleasure. Completely different than shows by design created for streaming. In their case, the weaker moments can be a torture for me, which was the case with the finale of Stranger Things 4, or the first episodes of WandaVision – these shows didn't appeal to me.

But just why did a series from twenty years ago enchant me more strongly than modern productions? I have one theory that may explain it. Each episode of Scrubs or Cold Case is a self-contained story. This is known as a procedural format. We have a main storyline that weaves through the whole thing, but it functions more as a backdrop than a main theme. In this way, missing one or two episodes doesn't make the plot impossible to follow.

Each episode is a separate story, with a different theme – thus the successive episodes prove to be something fresh, and it's easier to get involved in a series of short stories than in a movie that's simply divided into six parts. The duration of the episodes also matters, and only through streaming can you see how long one episode of an old series, uninterrupted by advertising, actually takes. Which is usually about 40 minutes.

I want a series, not a stretched movie

Unfortunately, that's how the new shows premiering on the streaming services appear to me. All episodes create a story, and one season consists of only a few episodes. There aren't many of them, but at the same time, you have to watch them all to understand what’s going on. Missing even one would make it difficult to comprehend the whole story.

Lost, dir. Jeffrey Lieber, JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof; ABC; 2004

I think the perfect examples are Lost and Prison Break. Both of these turned out to be shows of completely new quality, but at the same time, not watching one of the episodes might have discouraged you from following the story onward. I know this because years ago, a similar incident occurred at my house when other family members stopped watching Lost. Skipping two episodes made it impossible to keep up with the plot for them, and I was left alone.

My problem with this type of show structure is also the power of the episodes. When all of them come together to tell a complete story, like a movie, the difference between a good and a bad episode becomes even more pronounced. This is because the creators sometimes have to sacrifice an episode, making it significantly less compelling, in order to explain certain threads or show the plot from a different perspective.

This was the case with Stranger Things 4, where all episodes revolved around three separate storylines that came together during the finale. Unfortunately, not all of them turned out equally good, but they were necessary for the plot. In older TV shows or sitcoms, weaker episodes would occasionally appear and then fade into oblivion. This was because the good ones were the majority, and most often, they weren't that important in the context of the main story, which took place in the background.

Now’s the time to catch up on oldies

I really mean it. If you're already paying for a streaming service, it's worth taking a look to see if it offers some classic TV series. Not only are they much better in design, but they are also more enjoyable to watch. This could also be an opportunity to watch all the episodes in the order they were originally aired. In the past, something like that wasn't even an option.

Scrubs; Bill Lawrence; NBC; 2001

Years ago, when I used to watch Scrubs on Comedy Central, I would often come across episodes that were mixed from different seasons. They were incorrectly numbered and I wasn't sure which episode belonged to which season. Last year on Disney+, I finally watched everything in the right order, and I was surprised that it didn't change my opinion of the series at all. I still remembered the events, my perspective didn’t change.

This would be impossible with modern productions if they were shown on TV. Missing a few episodes would make the story incomplete. The era of having around 20 episodes in one series, each a standalone story, probably won't return. That's why it's good that you can reach for old titles on streaming services. In the past, when a series disappeared from the channel, the chances of watching it again were close to zero for years. In my opinion, this is the biggest advantage of the VOD market.

Zbigniew Woznicki

Zbigniew Woznicki

He began his adventure with journalism and writing on the Allegro website, where he published news related to games, technology, and social media. He soon appeared on Gamepressure and Filmomaniak, writing about news related to the film industry. Despite being a huge fan of various TV series, his heart belongs to games of all kinds. He isn't afraid of any genre, and the adventure with Tibia taught him that sky and music in games are completely unnecessary. Years ago, he shared his experiences, moderating the forum of mmorpg.org.pl. Loves to complain, but of course constructively and in moderation.