As I write this, the Bay area is experiencing an unseasonable wave of dry air that’s keeping temperatures well below their steamy average. Don’t get used to it. Soon we’ll all be holed up at home, A/C cranked, ceiling fans on high, trying not to move lest the hot flashes return. And what better way to beat the heat and keep personal exertion to a minimum than by marathoning TV shows?
“Binge-watching” came into its own this past winter, when Netflix’s House of Cards got massive amounts of ink (including in the pages of CL) and proved to be a huge hit for the streaming service — one that everyone from Amazon to Hulu to Netflix itself is trying to replicate. So what’s the next big thing we’ll all be bingeing on?
Two words: Arrested Development.
Netflix has resurrected the long-canceled Fox TV series for a fourth season, with all 15 new episodes hitting the online service simultaneously sometime on May 26th. (Netflix hasn’t said when yet, leading some techie fans to set up a system that will alert users via text message the second the series becomes available.) Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz designed the new season specifically with binge-watching in mind, and early reports claim the episodes (each of which focuses on a different character) can be watched in random order and will reward observant (i.e. obsessive) fans who pore over every second looking for hidden connections, gags and in-jokes.
Didn't watch Arrested Development? It’s never too late to start — and that’s the brilliance of Netflix’s strategy. The first three seasons of the show are currently available for streaming from Netflix (and on Hulu and Amazon Prime, though season four will be a Netflix exclusive), so you can catch up with the Bluth family before new episodes arrive, or you can put the whole thing off until August, bingeing on all 68 episodes in one amazing week off. You decide.
There are plenty of other options for non-Arrested Development fans as well. In addition to House of Cards, Netflix also has the original series Hemlock Grove currently available, plus enough vintage (Knight Rider, The A-Team) and semi-current (The Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2) TV shows to keep you busy for months. Amazon Prime is featuring pilots for several series — including an episodic sequel to the feature film Zombieland, and an offshoot of satirical newspaper The Onion called Onion News Empire — and is asking viewers to vote for their favorites. The winning show will get an order from Amazon to produce a full season. And fans of current TV need only check in with Hulu to see the most recent episodes on demand.
The couch is calling. Enjoy your summer viewing …
This article appears in May 9-15, 2013.