What do Bridgerton, Stranger Things and Emily in Paris all have in common? They and others are victims of Netflix’s latest release strategy that splits up seasons into two parts. As much as I think binge-watching is ruining TV on the whole, this new-ish way of dropping shows is extremely annoying and not working for me, either. And now it's happening with Outer Banks Season 4.
Even though Netflix execs haven't outright revealed why they’ve chosen to move away from dropping an entire season on one day — a release strategy the service pioneered — most people agree it's mainly for monetary gain. After all, one clear way to keep viewers from deactivating their subscriptions after a release is to make them wait several weeks or even months between episodes.
It’s clear that’s what they’re hoping to achieve by spreading out the final season of Outer Banks in two releases a little less than a month apart. The ironic thing is that there’s a simple solution to Netflix’s problem that would benefit them and end the countless complaints from fans who hate the two-part release plan.
All they need to do is follow in the footsteps of traditional broadcasting and some of the other best streaming services and start releasing episodes weekly like so many shows on the 2024 TV Schedule already do. While they might get some flak for going back to the “old way” of watching television, the benefits far outweigh the cons — at least in my opinion, especially when it comes to Outer Banks.
Weekly Episodes Help Fan Theories And Conversations Thrive
On the fan side, weekly drops would be a major win because it would allow watchers to digest an episode and theorize what is going to happen next. This is particularly beneficial to thrilling and suspenseful shows like Outer Banks. It would have been so much fun to get to log on to social media every week to share theories on how the Pogues were going to find the treasure they’d be after.
We could have finally gotten that this season, but instead, we’re going to be stuck with a random break in the season that’s probably going to leave us with more questions than answers. It also would have kept the show relevant for longer, ensuring it became a major pop culture phenomenon — like Ted Lasso and The Last Of Us seeing great success from releasing weekly episodes.
Remember Shows Is Easier When Watched Across Weeks Or Months
Another perk of weekly drops that no one seems to talk about is that they help people remember what they’re watching. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve binge-watched and promptly forgotten about because I’ve crammed ten episodes into a 48-hour window. While it’s true that the two-part drops have alleviated some of this need to devour a show in hours, it hasn’t completely fixed the problems.
Fans are still racing to get through episodes to avoid spoilers, and now they’re doing it twice, sometimes in less than a month. Going this route would also elevate clunky, middle-of-the-season cliffhangers that only exist to keep people engaged until the second part drops at a later date. In my experience, this often has the opposite effect, and I find myself forgetting to watch the second installment of shows because the time in between is inorganic.
Netflix Isn't Stopping With Just Two-Part Releases, Either
Now, to be fair, Netflix didn’t invent the two-part narrative phenomenon. In fact, the annoying trend can be traced back to theatrical film releases where major franchises like Dune, Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga hoped to capitalize off fans by splitting the final books into two movies. AMC also gets some blame for splitting up seasons of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. But it’s clearly a strategy Netflix plans to stick with for now, given the news about Outer Banks.
As if two parts aren’t enough, the streaming giant has already committed to splitting the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai into three parts, with the final installment not slated to come out until 2025. A weekly release would have worked out much better for the martial arts dramedy and probably would have kept fans more involved since they’d have less time between seasons to forget about the show.
Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do as viewers. If we don’t watch these shows, they will be canceled, and no one wants that. I just hope Netflix realizes that they’re only hurting themselves and at least tries to release one of their major shows weekly. Outer Banks would have been the perfect series to test this out with, given its diehard fandom, but sadly, that won’t happen.
Instead, we’ll have to log onto Netflix with our active subscriptions into on October 10th and again on November 7th to catch the fourth and final season.
