ABSTRACT
The cord-cutting backlash against cable television packages has seen a sharp rise in on-demand streaming television, the online media environment where binge watching has developed in conjunction with the anthology series. The nonfictional docu-series is the latest genre audiences demand for binge watching. Binge watching arises from media products developed to cohere to a narrative aesthetic that follows a finite narrative arc. Narcos (Netflix), Waco (Paramount), and the Martin Scorsese-produced Long Strange Trip (Amazon) illustrate documentary binge watching’s rise via Ken Burns’ 1990 The Civil War (PBS) and the advent of the DVD box set in 2000.
