The Golden Age of Weekly TV
My favorite viewing experience of all time? Easy. LOST. If you were around when it aired (how is that 21 years ago?!) you know exactly what I mean. Every episode ended with a ridiculous cliffhanger. Then you’d rush to the internet - the clunky, 2004 version of the internet - and dive into forums where people dissected every frame, spun theories about Egyptian gods, and argued over what the smoke monster really was.
That wasn’t just TV. That was interactive, communal storytelling. We even had a term for it: “watercooler shows.” Because the next morning, you’d literally stand around the office watercooler and hash out the episode with your coworkers.
Now? Now we sit on our couches, burn through four episodes in a row until we pass out, maybe watch a YouTuber “react” video to see if they cried where we cried, and… that’s it. The sense of community is gone.
Fallout Gets It
Which is why I love Amazon’s announcement: Fallout season 2 is going weekly. That’s right. No more instant-binge drop. Just good old-fashioned anticipation.
And I know the counterargument. “Let me watch it at my own pace!” But here’s the thing - in this spoiler-plastered internet we live in, you don’t get that luxury. If the whole season drops at once, spoilers are everywhere within hours. They’re in YouTube thumbnails. They’re in clickbait headlines like “What Lucy’s Death in Fallout Episode 4 Really Means.” Even if you haven’t seen it yet, the surprise is gone.
So no. You don’t get to binge. You’ll sit with the rest of us, one episode at a time, and actually enjoy the ride.
Final Thought
I’m genuinely glad Fallout is bringing back weekly episodes. It forces us to slow down, to savor, to speculate, to talk. It brings back the watercooler. And it gives the show the breathing room it deserves.
Not every series is a LOST, but every good series deserves the chance to be part of the cultural conversation week after week, not just one weekend and then forgotten.
So yes, welcome back, weekly TV. I missed you.
