The newest Star Wars series on Disney+ is here and as a fan of The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, I was very much looking forward to Ahsoka, one of the most anticipated of the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows. On Tuesday evening, the first two episodes dropped, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with the show so far. It had some great action, the live-action Ahsoka cast bringing these previously animated characters to life is solid as far as we’ve seen it. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Ahsoka, but above all, I’m looking forward to the act of watching Ahsoka, because Disney’s decision to drop new episodes on Tuesday evening is awesome.
In the world of streaming, a show generally doesn’t have an “air date” the way a traditional broadcast or cable show does. It has a day it will arrive on its respective service. Generally, this means it becomes accessible at midnight, though, what with time zones being a thing, “midnight where” is always an issue. Some people looking forward to the next episode of their favorite show will stay up if that’s feasible. Others may make a point to watch a show first thing after they wake up. Neither of these options works particularly well for me, which means I’ve been subjected to endless spoilers for new shows before I get a chance to watch them.
It's Nearly Impossible To Avoid Spoilers Online, Even When People Try
Generally speaking, spoilers don’t actually bother me that much. It comes with the territory of writing for CinemaBlend that you’re going to end up writing about every conceivable rumor for every major show and movie, and some number of them will turn out to be true. I knew what would happen to Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens before the movie started. At the time it was frustrating, but in the years since I've come to terms with it. It’s somewhat rare for me to walk into a major tentpole movie and not know basically everything that’s going to happen.
I am one of those people that is, by default “always online.” It's where news happens so I’m always looking at social media to see what might be going on, so on days when new episodes of a popular show drop it’s almost impossible to avoid the spoilers. I’m up early every morning to write about entertainment news so I don’t usually have time to watch until late, and as I’m trolling for news, I come across conversations about the new show.
Even the people who try their best to avoid spoiling things, and many do, often give away enough that either alone or combined with other comments, paint a pretty clear picture of what is going to happen. I don't blame them too much, people want to talk about their favorite show with other fans. Doing that is one of the best things about social media, but it has its issues as well.
I Hope Disney+ Continues What It Started With Ahsoka
But that didn’t happen on Tuesday night. I wasn’t sitting and waiting at 6 PM for Ahsoka to arrive, I have small kids so I had dinner and bedtime to contend with, but within a couple of hours, I was able to sit down and watch, not too long after others had done the same. It was the closest thing to “appointment viewing” I had done in years. And I loved it. I'm looking forward to next Tuesday evening not just to see what happens next in the story, but to watch the new episode alongside so many others who I know are doing the same.
I certainly hope Disney+ continues this schedule with Season 2 of Loki next month as well as its other major original series, and if other streamers do the same, so much the better. While the ability to watch when you want is one of the great benefits of streaming, making the show available at a time when most people will want to watch it, makes too much sense.
