Chernobyl and Why Some TV Shows Should Be Unbingeable
What if some shows came with a 24-hour time limit between episodes?
By Tim Bradshaw
Few television shows in recent years have been as compelling, yet as difficult to watch, as Chernobyl. The story of the hours and days following the 1986 nuclear reactor meltdown, and the many awful ways that radiation can kill, was expertly told.
But it was the antithesis of one of the prevailing objectives of today’s TV producers: to make a programme viewers love so much that they binge it all in one go. Chernobyl’s horrors were so richly realised that it was unbingeable.
Even though I was watching the show on Sky’s streaming service, Now TV, I found that watching in nightly instalments rather than rushing through it served only to heighten my appreciation of it.
The internet has been built on instant gratification, but Chernobyl got me wondering whether we occasionally need something to hold us back.
Netflix has built its business on bingeing. Being able to devour the latest series of House of Cards or Stranger Things as soon as it lands is immersive and indulgent, and has come to epitomise the freedom from the broadcast schedules that online streaming provides.
