Tag: seasons

  • Binge-watch these movies, seasons this holiday week

    Binge-watch these movies, seasons this holiday week

    The first day of Eid-ul-Azha went flying by and I am sure all of you have your hearts and stomachs filled with warmth and love from being around your dear ones. Eid is one occasion when families and friends gather together and this becomes a great excuse to watch all the movies and seasons you have on your list.

    Here are a few recommendations.

    1: Ms Marvel

    Streaming on Disney+, Ms Marvel has already captivated audiences with a fine storyline, characters, and our own Pakistani stars featuring in it.

    Poster of Ms Marvel

    Fawad Khan has finally made an appearance in the fifth episode of Ms Marvel. Fawad plays a man from the pre-partition era. Pakistani actors Mehwish Hayat, Samina Ahmed, and Nimra Bucha are also playing important characters in the Marvel series.

    2: The Umbrella Academy:

    Packed with action, drama, science, fantasy, and a touch of superhero elements, the latest episodes of The Umbrella Academy are trending. Get some popcorn and binge-watch the season on Netflix.

    The Umbrella Academy poster

    3: Peaky Blinders:

    The Shelby brothers are back on Netflix with their latest season. This historical fiction and crime drama is back with Tommy Shelby, a dangerous man, who leads the Peaky Blinders and the show has massively great reviews.

    The Shelby brothers

    4: Man vs Bee:

    A homeless man looking for work is mistaken by a businesswoman for her new housesitter.

    Man vs Bee

    Rowan Atkinson is at his usual best with his comic timing in the British comedy streaming television miniseries.

    5: Modern Love:

    A co-production of Amazon Studios and the New York Times, this anthology series explores love in all of its complicated and beautiful forms, as well as its effects on the human connection. Each episode brings to life a different story that has been inspired by the newspaper’s popular Modern Love column.

    Modern Love poster

    6: Fleabag

    A dry-witted woman, known only as Fleabag, has no filter as she navigates life and love in London while trying to cope with tragedy. The angry, grief-riddled woman tries to heal while rejecting anyone who tries to help her, but Fleabag continues to keep up her bravado through it all. Catch Fleagbag on Amazon Prime with a pack of caramel popcorn and you will stay hooked.

    Poster of Fleabag

    7: Catastrophe

    During a business trip in London, an American named Rob meets Sharon, an Irish teacher with whom he shares incredible chemistry. While the two plan to have some fun with no strings attached, things go awry when Sharon learns she is pregnant. The unexpected news inspires the recent acquaintances to try and make it as a couple, despite nonstop complications that include hailing from different countries and a pregnancy that is not without risks. Get hooked to Catastrophe on Amazon Prime.

    Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan play a couple dealing with the stresses of marriage in the Amazon Prime series Catastrophe. Delaney and Horgan also co-created and co-wrote the series.
  • How Netflix revolutionalised the way we watch TV

    How Netflix revolutionalised the way we watch TV

    In the not-so-distant past, TV viewers were forced to wait a week for the next installment of their favorite shows, parceled out by networks in half-hour or hour-long increments.

    To understand how we got here, look at Netflix (NFLX.O).

    At the start of the decade, binge watching involved VHS tapes, DVD box sets or long nights glued to a DVR. TV cable hits included Homeland and The Wire – hour-long dramas with complicated plot lines that needed to be watched sequentially.

    Watching Saturday Night Live on a Sunday became normal, and viewers started to lose track of the broadcast schedule.

    In November 2010, Hulu, which debuted in 2008 as an ad-supported streaming video site, launched its subscription service, including full seasons of certain shows.

    Around the same time that the broadcast TV schedule was losing its hold on viewers, Netflix was beginning to invest in original content.

    In 2011, it struck a deal for its first original show, the political thriller House of Cards. It released all 13 episodes of the show’s first season on Feb. 1, 2013. That July it followed with the entire first season of Orange is the New Black.

    Viewers were hooked, and the cultural shift accelerated. “Binge-watch” was a runner-up to “selfie” for the Oxford Dictionary’s 2013 word of the year.

    Netflix championed this new kind of consumption, commissioning a survey to determine how many people binge-watch, and why.

    “Our viewing data shows that the majority of streamers would actually prefer to have a whole season of a show available to watch at their own pace,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos at the time.

    While some say the decade technically ends a year from now, the end of this year will be marked by many as the conclusion of the second decade of the 21st century. And as the new decade begins, the trend may start to reverse.

    AT&T’s (T.N) forthcoming HBO Max streaming service will debut one new episode of its original series per week. Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N) Disney+ is releasing episodes weekly for new series including the Star Wars-related The Mandalorian. Apple (AAPL.O) released three episodes at the same time for dramas The Morning Show and See – and is doing so for most other Apple series – followed by one episode per week.

    Media companies are hoping a longer release schedule will generate buzz and create more of a shared experience among viewers.

    Just like the old days.