There’s no greater panic than using the bathroom during a commercial break.
You know the feeling. Your favorite character is facing a life-or-death decision offscreen, and you have three minutes to sprint to the bathroom and back before they choose whether they love Generic Disney Boy #1 or #2. If you don’t make it back in time, the heartbreaking moment will be gone forever, lost to the abyss of unrecordable cable television.
At least, you used to know that feeling. Nowadays, streaming services have led to the near extinction of such anxieties. And while we may rejoice now that we can hit the pause button (although anxious bathroom sprints may continue if that episode is a particular nail-biter), many services’ typical release format, the all-at-once dump, prevents us from enjoying the best thing about cable television’s week-to-week schedule: community, something our pandemic-stricken world could use a bit of right now.
Enter Disney+. Since its debut, Disney’s decision to go against the grain—a decidedly un-Disney thing to do—and release their original content on a weekly basis had some scratching their heads, myself included. My impatient Gen Z brain was under the caveman-like mentality that—to quote Ariana Grande—I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it (yuh). I almost sympathized with the Star Wars trolls on Twitter (a very difficult thing to do, if you know anything about the Star Wars fandom) who were clamoring for Disney to simply release all of “The Mandalorian” at once after its premiere.
It was only after the weekly deluge of Baby Yoda memes every Friday that I slowly realized I enjoyed the hype. A full week of sharing the picture of Baby Yoda drinking tea on Twitter and Instagram more than made up for a week-long cliffhanger. In fact, it’s hard to picture the world’s Baby Yoda obsession lasting more than a couple weeks if “The Mandalorian” had been dropped all at once (see: the intense hype around “Stranger Things” for about a month, then a two-year hibernation until the next season).
The world is similarly collapsing due to Disney’s weekly release of “WandaVision.” A show that thrives off of suspense and mystery, its bewitching (ha) episode endings normally put me through a cycle of 1) confusion, 2) despair and 3) outright rage when the credits say “Please Stand By.”
But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love seeing the show trend for an entire day every week, with different tinfoil hat theories making their way through the fandom that are subsequently debunked or confirmed in the following weeks. I love being on “WandaVision TikTok,” meaning the algorithm has discovered I’m a total nerd for this show and lumped me together with all the other fans making ridiculous memes. (Shameless plug: I did get middlingly TikTok “famous” this last week when a “WandaVision” theme song mashup I made in iMovie got 17k likes. Yes, it is as frivolous and ego-boosting as it sounds. Go check it out at [redacted]).
Especially in such an isolated time, the ability to connect with people all over the world in the name of something exciting and new and good seems like it belongs in 2019, back when “fun stuff” still happened and there were still things to look forward to that weren’t 1) getting a vaccine or 2) not having to wear a mask. It’s something I can rely on at the end of a crummy week, or a bonding activity to be had with my roommates (I suggest staying up until 2 a.m. at least once for the ~experience~). It’s something that feels normal and connects me to the rest of the world.
That’s not to say bingeing doesn’t have its moments. I’d be a liar if I said I haven’t cooped up in my room after a long week and rewatched an entire season of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” because it’s wholesome and familiar and fun, OK? Bingeing has its place in this world, and it seems like it’s here to stay (for now).
But Disney looks to be bringing about a weekly-release renaissance to the world, as their entire release schedule (consisting of dozens of original titles) is set to premiere on a weekly basis over the next few years. Pushing aside that Disney has me frustratingly wrapped around their finger, I’m grateful for the opportunity to waste even more time on media consumption in the name of friendship and Baby Yoda.
If anyone needs me, I will be up until 2 a.m. every Friday morning for the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
