ABSTRACT
The dictionary entry for the verb 'binge-watch', added in August 2014, is scrupulously neutral: 'watch multiple episodes of in rapid succession, typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming. Binging becomes a prominent subject of discussion when one start thinking of television as art that does carry its justification in every moment. The energies of binge-watching suggest, however that a widespread equivalent to distraction already exists: absorption. True Detective's first audience did not have the option of binge-watching. Binge-watching, or its sibling, binge-reading, exposes the limitations of the old modernist fantasy of seeing a work as a perfect, whole art object. By contrast, those who critique binge-watching use the metaphors of binge-drinking to imply that such practice produces careless watching, and destroy the social moments where viewers can stand outside the work and understand it more deeply.
