{"id":31388,"date":"2022-06-01T01:30:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T01:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/will-netflix-ever-do-weekly-releases-stranger-things-4-suggests-no\/"},"modified":"2022-06-01T01:30:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T01:30:58","slug":"will-netflix-ever-do-weekly-releases-stranger-things-4-suggests-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/will-netflix-ever-do-weekly-releases-stranger-things-4-suggests-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Netflix Ever Do Weekly Releases?  &#8216;Stranger Things 4&#8217; Suggests No"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articlebody\">\n<p>With the release of <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em>Netflix was gift-wrapped a perfect opportunity to dabble in weekly releases, without the appearance that the likes of Disney + had made them &#8220;blink.&#8221; <\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline-floating-gallery\">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<\/p>\n<p>But Netflix instead Netflixed<span id=\"more-1234835062\"\/> and dropped the first seven episodes (of nine) on May 27, suggesting that perhaps nothing will ever compel the streaming giant to consider weekly rollouts.<\/p>\n<p>The arrival of <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em> could have been a <em>perfect<\/em> test case &#8211; or heck, even a fun \u201cone-off\u201d &#8211; for releasing episodes weekly.  Because in addition to the fact that it delivered the supernatural thriller&#8217;s first new episodes in nearly three years (!), The \u201cheft\u201d of the season itself almost demanded a specialized showcase.<\/p>\n<p>What do we mean by heft?  Well, only twice before had a <em>Stranger Things<\/em> episode exceeded 60 minutes &#8211; with the Season 2 and 3 finales.  But among the first seven episodes of Season 4, the shortest installment is 63 minutes, the average is 77 minutes, and Episode 7 runs a full hour and 38 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>But wait, there&#8217;s (a lot) more.  This season&#8217;s final two episodes, premiering Friday, July 1, respectively run 85 minutes and\u2026 <em>two hours and 30 minutes<\/em>.  Meaning, yes, the Season 4 finale is markedly longer than either <em>Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness<\/em> or <em>Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>which are actual theatrical releases.<\/p>\n<p>Given the XL and intense nature of each and every Season 4 episode, plus the aforementioned await for them, no one would have batted an eye if Netflix opted to veer from its binge-drop standard, release episodes weekly, and fire up the PR machine to tout <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em> as a \u201cvery special presentation \/ experience\u201d or something.  (There also would not have been a five-week wait for Episodes 8\/9.)<\/p>\n<p>In turn, <em>Stranger Things<\/em> would \/ could have benefitted from an ongoing, weekly discussion online, instead of the \u201creverse hockey stick\u201d engagement that its series typically elicit &#8211; that is, significant buzz surrounding the weekend of release, which then quickly tapers off.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, for those not able or inclined to binge nine hours of a horror-thriller ASAP, weekly releases could have greatly staved off the chance to accidentally get spoiled for later episodes.<\/p>\n<p>Mind you, Netflix hasn&#8217;t been chained to binge releases. <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em> itself, for reasons, was divided into two batches, as were the farewell runs for <em>Ozark<\/em> and <em>Grace and Frankie<\/em>.  And most of its reality-TV offerings release a few episodes at a time, over several weeks.  But no live-action scripted Netflix original has come close to mimicking the weekly scheduling of peers such as Disney + (which enjoys steady buzz \/ speculation \/ editorial coverage for its Marvel and <em>Star Wars<\/em> series), HBO Max (where the likes of <em>Hacks<\/em> and <em>The Flight Attendant<\/em> steadily amassed awards buzz), and (in some cases) Prime Video.<\/p>\n<p>But if Netflix didn&#8217;t give weekly releases a try with so high-profile project as <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em> &#8211; where again, due to assorted factors, no one would have questioned the change-up &#8211; will it ever?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>What do you think: Would <em>Stranger Things 4<\/em> have benefitted in multiple ways from weekly releases?<\/strong> <\/span>If you&#8217;ve already binged it, might you have preferred to have the intense, hour-plus episodes \u201cspread out\u201d?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=228932107161302\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the release of Stranger Things 4Netflix was gift-wrapped a perfect opportunity to dabble in weekly releases, without the appearance that the likes of Disney + had made them &#8220;blink.&#8221; But Netflix instead Netflixed and dropped the first seven episodes (of nine) on May 27, suggesting that perhaps nothing will ever compel the streaming giant &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/will-netflix-ever-do-weekly-releases-stranger-things-4-suggests-no\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Will Netflix Ever Do Weekly Releases?  &#8216;Stranger Things 4&#8217; Suggests No<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/stranger-things-4-eleven.jpg?ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/tvline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/stranger-things-4-eleven.jpg?w=619","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}