Yahoo News If ‘The Bear’ Binge Drops Are Working, Why Are They So Contentious?
Let it be said, before we get too deep in the weeds, that IndieWire is a proponent of the weekly release. By and large, releasing episodic television one episode at a time is good and sound, especially when the TV being released is also good and sound. Patience, even as it’s under attack from instant gratification machines and hustle culture, remains a virtue, and the rewards for showing a little patience while appreciating the televisual arts are usually far greater than the fleeting pleasures of rapidly consuming [barf noise] content.
But in changing times, with changing audiences who have changing habits, I will be the first to admit that there are always exceptions. And given what’s happened with “The Bear” in two short years, it sure seems like FX and Hulu’s all-at-once rollout is working. Per FX, the first season was the most-watched single season of a “comedy” series in network history. (If your response to that was, “More than ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?'” then you can sit next to me at Patty’s Pub.) The second season pulled in the highest viewership of any FX series that premiered on Hulu.
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Compared to the rest of TV, “The Bear” Season 2 debuted at No. 5 on the Nielsen streaming charts, trailing series like “Suits” and “S.W.A.T.,” which both have 100+ more episodes than “The Bear” (which inflates Nielsen’s measurement figure: total minutes viewed). But beyond the raw numbers, anyone engaged in the world can see that “The Bear” is cooking with gas. “Yes, chef” is a favored slogan of anyone working with food, whether you’re plating dishes like Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) or scooping food into a bowl for your very vocal cat. The “Original Beef of Chicagoland” shirts are everywhere (or, if you prefer a deeper cut, the “Original Berf of Chicagoland”). Memes dominate the internet, and Season 1 swept the Primetime Emmy Awards. I’m going to say that last one again: It swept! Against “Ted Lasso”! Sure, it was Season 3, but a sweep is a sweep!
And yet, in the face of all this irrefutable success, critics, pundits, and casual fans can’t stop complaining about its binge release. I’ll admit: I was with them. The success actually intensified these arguments, as the passion for the show itself translated into passion for its preservation. Fans wanted to keep it from falling into another memory hole caused by the streaming content machine. Now, however, I’m not so sure that’s an issue. I’m not entirely sure if a weekly release is best for this particular show.
So let’s dig in. Below, I’ve compiled all the reasons I can think of for why a weekly release is generally a good strategy, followed by whether or not those reasons apply to “The Bear.” And by the time we get to the end, I’m sure we’ll have settled this oddly contentious debate once and for all. [crying laughing emoji + sleepy emoji]
A weekly release gives series more chances to be discovered.
As the streaming wars’ crushing content rush gave way to whatever we’re calling the current post-peak TV era (where there’s still too much TV), how to make sure viewers take notice of quality programming has continued to be a sticking point. Tech giants tend to put their faith in the almighty algorithms. Some distributors banked on star power, others on awards pedigree, and pretty much everyone is chasing I.P. for its easy name recognition. But one age-old philosophy tends to be winning out with nearly everyone: an extended release schedule.
HBO has always favored weekly releases. Prime Video hasn’t abandoned the binge entirely, but it’s leaning that way. Even smaller streamers like Apple TV+ are relying on a traditional network mentality — one episode per week — to build buzz around their original programming. And while Netflix may still officially back the binge, they’ve been splitting seasons into parts for years, which is just another method of lengthening a release.
In terms of getting discovered, a weekly release offers clear benefits. The show stays on the homepage longer, gets more coverage from news outlets, and has more chances to go viral via social media. But perhaps most important: It gives marketing teams more time and angles to entice an audience. If audiences are responding to unexpected aspects of the show’s first episode, having another seven weeks to publicize the hot new actor, soundtrack, or vibes could make all the difference. Or, maybe the strategy is on point from the jump, but another show, movie, or YouTube theme park review dominates the discourse during premiere week, and the PR department simply needs another month or two to remind people there’s a new series they might like. Having new episodes to promote makes that so much easier. Otherwise, they’re just regurgitating the same old promos.
But… “The Bear” doesn’t need to be discovered. It’s already a hit, and it became a hit before anyone outside of FX and Hulu was arguing over how to make sure it became one. So let’s move on.
Point: Binge
A weekly release gives ample time to recognize individual episodes.
Ah, one of my favorite arguments. For as much as people hate to hear, “You gotta stick with it — the season gets really good in Episode 6,” television is an ongoing narrative. It’s a medium built to be experienced in sessions. Whether a chosen show is serialized or not, they tend to need a little time before they find their best selves, but they also tend to live in our memories longer if they’re experienced that way. Great episodes exist within mediocre seasons — even bad seasons — just like great seasons pop up in blah shows.
But with “The Bear” Season 2, it was bangers only. People sparked to the first season, sure, but the second started fistfights in the IndieWire offices over which episodes would be included on our Best of the Year list. (“It’s ‘Honeydew’ and ‘Forks’!” “Fuck you, it’s ‘Fishes’ and the finale!”) So it kinda stunk that we didn’t get to savor them together! Everyone watching at their own pace meant we all got to the same destination without sharing the journey. Had they been released weekly, perhaps we wouldn’t just remember the long, celebrity-laced Christmas episode or Richie singing Taylor Swift on his way home from work. Maybe we’d have given more credit to the less obvious episodes; the ones that make the others stand out because they’re laying the groundwork that makes us love “The Bear” in the first place.
And yet… I don’t know if “The Bear” Season 3 can sustain that level of scrutiny. The first season may not have been able to either (it’s all energy, like a raw nerve), but the third is reflective, static, and less ambitious than its awesome predecessor. It’s not that there aren’t individual episodes worth savoring — there are! mainly “Next” (Episode 2), “Children” (Episode 5), and “Legacy” (Episode 7) — but the binge release may do more by covering blemishes than a weekly release would do to elevate individual half-hours.
Point: Binge.
A weekly release gives ample time to recognize individual highlights within each episode.
The second episode of “The Bear” Season 3 is filled with tiny treasures. There’s the way Richie says, “You can leave the city of Chicago out of it,” which gets such a laugh that it carries a scene Fak No. 1 (Matty Matheson) accurately describes as “scary.” There’s Richie’s repeated use of the phrase “dojo,” which better inspire the internet’s meme-makers to compete for Best Combination of Richie’s Fear-Free Dojo Dining Room & Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House. There’s a moment when Fak No. 2 (Ricky Staffieri) says hello to Jimmy Cicero (Oliver Platt) with the honorific, “Sup, pimp!” that deserves its own series of essays (mainly because Platt earns that lofty designation with such little screen-time).
Had “The Bear” been released weekly, I can almost guarantee all of these moments would get their cultural due. And they still might, but I doubt it. Binge releases tend to leave audiences with big memories, not little delights, whereas weekly releases allow time for essays to be written about anything and everything, memes to be made and shared with amplified glee, and friends to bond over favorite lines that can then be repeated for years, as appropriate. (Like, say, when the Chicago Bears ruin another quarterback, and your buddy says, “Son of a bitch, what is wrong with Chicago that we can’t develop a single franchise QB?” and you get to say, “You can leave the city of Chicago out of it.”)
I don’t know what other tiny treasures I’ve forgotten from the previous two seasons, but I’m fairly confident I won’t remember any of these next week.
Point: Weekly.
A weekly release facilitates stronger, more thorough discussions of the series’ story and themes.
I’ll admit: For as much as I believe in this argument, it’s also one that tends to come from critics and entertainment journalists. We see television a little differently because television is our job, and when a show is released as a binge, the time we have to do our job is condensed from two months to two weekends, maybe less. Instead of writing four or five articles about four or five intriguing aspects of a given show, we can only fit in two or three articles, and those articles tend to cover whatever topics we expect to be trending. That is… not as fun, the work tends to suffer, and thus the series’ overall cultural assessment is seen to suffer as well.
In reality, only a small subset of viewers are engaging with these stories. Many people don’t talk about TV at all, or if they do, it’s limited to what’s good or bad, or what’s better or worse. The role of cultural critics weighs heavily online. Offline? I’m not so sure. I hope those thinkpieces stimulate vigorous discussions at dinner parties and happy hours, but in our steadily insulated world, it’s hard to look outside your bubble and know for sure what’s going on.
And yet… the erosion of search engines’ efficiency and the rapid changes within the media industry at large make the creation, preservation, and promotion of popular art assessments even more vital. It’s harder now than even five years ago to type a TV show’s name into Google and find specific articles about an episode, story arc, actor, or contentious topic. Some sites are being eliminated entirely. Others are impossible to navigate. Many can’t keep up with the SEO changes meant to surface their work, and then there’s the whole A.I. plagiarism aspect looming on the horizon.
Is the binge release model to blame for audiences who still foolishly expect Carmy and Sydney to stop cooking and kiss? Maybe not, but I’m comfortable concluding that weekly releases are more helpful in sustaining media literacy and supporting a smarter overall culture overall.
Point: Weekly.
A weekly release allows for fan anticipation to build, an underrated joy of episodic television.
Streamers like to cite audience demand for their insistence on binge releases: It’s fan friendly! They can watch on their own schedules! We already released one season all at once, so we can’t possibly change it for Season 2 — that would be rude!
Well, I have a one-word response to that: thhhbbbbt! (I guess it’s more of a sound.) Scolding customers is never a great strategy when it comes to the entertainment business, but you don’t have to turn to an off-duty barista or retired flight attendant to know that the customer is not, in fact, always right. If patience is a virtue, then anticipation also must be just and good. HBO has built an empire around appointment viewing on Sunday nights. When they heard fans screaming to inject the next episode of “Succession” directly into their Monday morning Tomelette, they didn’t think, “Huh, I guess Season 4 better be a binge.” They fed the excitement, each and every week, allowing the weekly release model to heat that kernel of anticipation into a bucket of popcorn.
Now, “The Bear” Season 3 certainly isn’t “Succession.” It’s much closer to “House of the Dragon” Season 2 (although that show currently suffers from a lack of chaos, while “The Bear” is a bit too orderly). It would not generate the same sensation, even after its strongest episodes. But even having seen the entirety of Season 3 and been left wanting, I would’ve still preferred to hold onto my anticipation a little longer. Hope, like anticipation, can sustain us.
Point: Weekly.
A weekly release actually protects audiences from spoilers.
There’s a belief among ratings experts that FOMO actually fuels binge-watching. Basically, fans are so afraid of having key plot developments ruined for them, that they fly through a season as quickly as possible. Then those early adopters raise awareness faster — via social media, memes, traditional word of mouth, etc. — and drive more viewers to the show.
This idea, quite simply, is horrifying. Not only does it prey upon people’s anxieties while encouraging them to voraciously consume rather than thoughtfully enjoy their chosen entertainment, but it also indicates streamers want their subscribers to plow through series as quickly as possible, which seems dangerous to a business model built around retaining subscribers.
Moral and professional qualms aside, the spoilers aspect of binge vs. weekly releases is all the more interesting for a show like “The Bear.” This isn’t a show with a lot of twists. This isn’t even a show with a lot of secrets. Carmy is trying to break free from ruinous patterns, and he has a really hard time doing so! That means those patterns are going to repeat, and it’s mainly how and when they repeat that changes. Hopefully, that understanding helps viewers feel less pressure to rush through each season, but if they are still nervous about being spoiled (of celebrity cameos, gorgeous shots, or even the ever-so-rare joke), that’s one more reason to go with a weekly release.
A binge is chaos, and weekly is control. With a binge, spoilers can pop up at any moment. A so-called friend could text you with a question about the episode you’re about to watch. A telling screenshot from Episode 10 could surface on your timeline the morning after the season premieres. If you’re on any entertainment website’s email list, your inbox won’t be safe until you’re finished. But with a weekly release, you know exactly when the spoilers will start and there’s a limit to how far ahead they can go. You can warn your friends if you fall a week or two behind. You know when your timeline is most likely to be filled with tweets about the show because it drops on the same day each week.
Better still, you don’t have to worry as much about the opposite issue: over-policing. No, I’m not talking about the New York City mayor investing in cops tweeting on subway platforms instead of open libraries with functioning air conditioning. I’m talking about when you want to talk about a TV show with your friends, but you’re too scared to bring it up because they might be watching on a different schedule. Maybe you try to text and they’re mad you tipped them to a vaguely exciting thing that’s coming. Or maybe they respond with a spoiler because they’re actually way ahead of you. Or maybe neither of you say anything at all, and you never speak to that person again, even though he was the best man at your wedding.
The point being: A binge is Carmy (chaos) and a weekly is control (Sydney). “The Bear” makes it very clear we don’t want to be a Carmy, so let’s be a Sydney instead.
Point: Weekly
A weekly release keeps a series in the cultural conversation — and the culture itself — longer.
Somewhere within the previous six billion words, we’ve covered the advantages provided by a weekly release when it comes to cultural longevity. (I believe it’s between a joke about the Chicago Bears professional football team and when I summed up a key argument with a fart noise.) But looking beyond the short-term impact a release strategy can have on a show’s immediate reception, what about the cultural elements that literally put a show’s name in the history books? What about… the Emmys?
In its first and only Emmy cycle thus far, “The Bear” did very well. Did I mention that it swept the Primetime categories? It did! It swept! But historically, binge releases struggle at the Emmys for the same reasons they struggle elsewhere in the culture. They tend to feel more disposable to voters, and thus they tend to lose out to shows that feel more substantial. The first drama released by a streamer to win Best Drama Series was “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and (except for the first three episodes, which dropped at once) its season was released weekly over two months. “The Crown” is the only binge release to win Best Drama Series, and that came in a year when the whole release calendar was upended by a global pandemic. Netflix, in general, is notorious for securing lots of nominations but far fewer wins. Could it be the binge drops?
I won’t go that far (it’s… complicated), but all that being said: We’re only trying to answer whether “The Bear” should be a weekly release or a binge release, not whether one is better than the other overall. (I hope, dear readers, that answer is clear.) So for the sake of brevity, and because “The Bear” is going to absolutely dominate the 2024 Emmys (Part II), I’ll side with the binge model one more time.
Point: Binge.
Final Score:
– Binge: 3
– Weekly: 4
“The Bear” should be released weekly. (But at this point, I’m done getting mad about it.)
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