TV Bingeing

1. Bingeing | Define Bingeing at Dictionary.com

   dictionary.reference.com/browse/bingeingCached

   noun 1. a period or bout, usually brief, of excessive indulgence, as in eating, drinking alcoholic beverages, etc.; spree. verb (used without object), binged, binging ...

2. Bingeing - definition of bingeing by The Free...

   www.thefreedictionary.com/bingeingCached

   binge (bĭnj) n. A period of excessive or uncontrolled indulgence, especially in food or drink. intr.v. binged, bing·ing or binge·ing, bing·es To be immoderately ... 

   
   

   I have discovered through my youngest daughter who is 19 and home from college for the summer what the new form of TV Bingeing looks like.

   
   

   When I grew up TV Bingeing was staying home from work or school one weekend and either renting a whole bunch of Video Tapes or before that there often would be whole series 5, or 10 hours straight, where re-runs of a particular series could be viewed on a particular day like Saturday or Both Saturday and Sunday. 

   
   

   However, now TV Bingeing is more about Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu where sometimes a whole series of 7 to 10 seasons of a show can be viewed. So, often now especially younger people will go through 1/2 or a whole season or a whole group of seasons of a series.

   
   

   Earlier this summer my wife and my daughter (as a bonding exercise) since she was away in another state at college for 9 months, watched True Blood from HBO on Netflix up to a certain point and the rest on Amazon Prime for the last couple of seasons. (the older something is the more likely it will be on Netflix rather than having to pay for it on something like Amazon Prime or Hulu or Crackle or some other venue. We use Roku as a way to run our Wifi of Netflix and Amazon prime onto our wide screen flat screen in the living room. 

   
   

   However, as I realized this might be a way to also bond with my daughter and my wife as a family I realized this might be useful to my daughter and wife. It was. Within a few days of this my daughter opened up about what was bothering her, that even though she had won a merit scholarship to this college they had changed their program and didn't allow students to have their choice of any electives the first 2 years and this was upsetting her. Actually, we agreed with her but also understood that the college did this so more kids would actually graduate rather than taking too many "Advanced Basket Weaving Courses" or something like that.

   
   

   So, something that had really been troubling for my daughter she finally opened up about because of this "family" viewing experience even though I initially found this series both "Troubling" and distasteful.

   
   

   However, as I viewed this series I realized it wasn't total mayhem and they were really writing in some ways about racism and AIDS on a metaphorical level and how a small town called Bon Temps  (in French this means Good Time) in Louisiana near Shreveport dealt with Vampires (racism towards vampires) and eventually  Hepatitis V (that vampires got at one point) (AIDS)

   
   

   So, I found the series (once I got over my initial aversions) quite well done. What happened to my daughter though is she got so involved in the cast that it sort of became a big part of her life. But, for me it was just a distraction to help my family bond this summer. She got upset around the end of Season 6 where she thought it should have ended whereas my wife and I watched through season 7 where it does end in both a sad and beautiful way. So, in the end I was somewhat satisfied with how it all ended. But, my daughter still hasn't watched the last few episodes because she got too attached to all the characters.