Hulu sees the crumbs on your rumpled t-shirt, your bloodshot eyes, and your diminishing will to live — and it does not approve. Unlike Netflix, which drops whole seasons of new original shows at once, Hulu won’t be letting you binge watch its new original programming.
The Mindy Project, Difficult People, Rocketjump: The Show, The Hotwives Of Las Vegas, Casual, and The Awesomes will dribble out with conventional weeklong breaks in between new episodes, minimising the chances that Mindy superfans will soil themselves during a marathon chill session and maximising the chances that I will watch one episode of Casual and forget to watch the rest.
Why be so withholding? Hulu wants to generate watercooler buzz the slower, week-by-week, old-fashioned way, as The AV Club reports:
Hulu’s Head of Content Craig Erwich made the announcement at last weekend’s Television Critics Association (TCA) Summer Press Tour. “We want to give viewers the opportunity to discover their favourite shows every week,” Erwich said of Hulu’s new pizza-by-the-slice-only policy.
You can still watch on Hulu in a week — this contrarian stance is only for the streaming service’s new shows.
This is a stark contrast to Netflix’s stance on binge watching; Hulu’s rival called it “the new normal” in a press conference in 2013.
[AV Club]