In Praise of Binge-Watching

Alan Partridge? More, please, yes.

Netflix, I Luv Video, Hulu, TiVo, BitTorrent, black-market – so many ways to watch so many TV shows. And by watch, we mean consume in large quantities over long weekends, aka binge. Personally, we subsisted on a steady diet of British imports (Holla, BBC America and BBC Video press reps! Cuddles to you, too, PBS!). We found tender vittles in seasons past and/or present of Doctor Who, MI-5, I'm Alan Partridge, Gavin & Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, Shameless, and Saxondale. Um, to name a few. (Surely, England, this qualifies us for some sort of honorary citizenship papers, right? Or maybe a dameship? We've already nailed the royal "we.")

Turns out our officemates have the binge bug pretty bad, too. Here's what lured them to the TV trough this year. – Kimberley Jones

The rebel in me resisted the Mad Men pitch until this fall, when I consumed a season and half over the course of a few days. It was convenient and entertaining to watch it swish stylishly by in concentrated form, but I found myself indifferent to its characters and smirking at the buffoonish sexism relentlessly on display (I mean, really, has it reached the point where we can only believe that phenomenon exists/existed if it's in cartoon form?). It's not Mad Men's fault, but I'm more convinced than ever to take my shows when they're broadcast, please, before the flush of the moment fades. – Cindy Widner

We lapped up all five seasons of Rescue Me on DVD: Its post-9/11 New York Fire Department milieu is the definitive guide to modern maleness in all of its variegated, vitriolic, and venal forms. Pitch-black comedy meets pithy, blacker tragedy, and comes up smelling like burnt roses dipped in booze, broads, and endless self-abuse. Required viewing for those females of the species who'd like to finally figure out why men are such seemingly clueless jerks even as they're desperately trying to be better human beings overall. Love burns. – Marc Savlov

Not having cable or an antenna keeps me out of the loop with respect to new shows, but it didn't stop me from streaming the first three seasons of Friday Night Lights via Netflix. (Sadly, it only took me two weeks to watch all three years fly by.) And my PlayStation3 has an Internet browser that lets me watch entire seasons of shows no one else was interested in (Jack & Bobby, anyone?). Side note: Screw you, Hulu, for not playing nice with PS3 browsers. – James Renovitch

DVR plus FX original series equals TV win. The final season of The Shield dragged the characters to hell, Sons of Anarchy got both wheels on the ground in season two, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is like Salò with fart gags. – Richard Whittaker