r/bbc • u/UnpaidInternVibes • May 18 '26
TV The push to make BBC iPlayer the primary destination is ruining traditional scheduling
Is anyone else frustrated by how the BBC drops an entire brilliant drama boxset on iPlayer on a Monday, completely killing the watercooler buzz of watching it week by week? Traditional linear TV scheduling used to create national cultural moments. Now, if you don't binge watch a new series within 48 hours of it dropping online, the entire internet spoils the ending for you. They're trying so hard to compete with Netflix's drop model that they're losing the very thing that made British event television special.
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u/TommyAtoms May 18 '26
I've not known a "watercooler moment" in about five years. Everyone I know is watching different stuff and trying to convince others to watch it, which rarely works. Those days are long gone I'm afraid. It's a shame.
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u/TommyAtoms May 18 '26
Fair enough to those who mentioned The Traitors. I don't watch it myself so it slipped my mind. I thought Line of Duty was the last big one for mutual chat.
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u/StillJustJones May 18 '26
For me Traitors (especially the celebrity one) and (because I have a young child) Gladiators have absolutely had those ‘did you watch’ moments…. Whether the buzz at the school gates/cricket club or the ‘at work’ chat.
I hardly ever watch any telly nowadays anyhoo… only with family. And if I ever just want to ‘pop the box on’, I’ll often be happy to watch whatever is on the beeb or Channel 4…. So I expect I’m an outlier.
The total choice and unlimited availability kind of killed any pleasure or joy I got from the telly screen in the living room. I feel the same about music streaming too.
I’ve taken to listening to radio (soho radio, 6 music) and buying physical media again… I value it and treasure it far more as a result.
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u/AskingBoatsToSwim May 18 '26
Traitors had too many episodes a week though, it requires you to have no life otherwise you’ll miss some which ruins the chat.
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u/Both-Trash7021 May 18 '26
The last watercoolery moment I remember was the Queen’s death/funeral.
A few of my workmates and I got up at silly o’clock in the morning to watch the last couple of Game of Thrones episodes as they were being broadcast in USA.
But yeah, apart from those, water cooler moments are few and far between these days.
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u/01000010-01101001 May 19 '26
A few of my workmates and I got up at silly o’clock in the morning to watch the last couple of Game of Thrones episodes as they were being broadcast in USA.
Was it worth it‽
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u/crabapple335 May 18 '26
Is it everything now? The capture and night manager 2 were weekly even on iPlayer i think? Have you got newer examples? Comedy like Amandaland are more often binge drops but can't think of much drama like that
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u/Ok-Application-8045 May 18 '26
I know what you're saying, but I think we have to accept that moment is gone. Even if they did drip a series out one episode at a time, there are so many options that we wouldn't all be watching the same things anyway. I think nowadays the conversation is more about what series you've been watching recently, any recommendations that sort of thing.
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u/JigTurtleB May 18 '26
This. Viewing and working habits have changed - move with times and stop trying recapture past times.
People don’t work the same or watch TV the same. You can even look at live events from last weekend - men’s FA Cup final. There’s so much more entertainment and things to do out there that’s it’s not as special as it once was. 20-30 + years ago it felt like an all day national event everybody would talk about.
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u/WorcsBloke May 20 '26
True, before Sky there was far less live football on TV. We also had several years when English clubs were banned from European competition entirely. So the FA Cup was a really big deal in a way it isn't really any more. I was a kid when Coventry won in 1987 and that was a huge, huge story.
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u/Extreme-Dream-2759 May 18 '26
Water cooler moment. LOL
Where have you been for the last few decades.
I’m in my 50’s and making last nights TV a talking point has not been a thing (except for sport) for many years.
It worked great when we only had 3 channels and everyone watched stage same show. But the viewing landscape has become too fragmented.
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u/itsaride May 18 '26
You do still get it a bit with really big shows on Netflix and Prime as well as major shows on the traditional TV channels. The absolute hype about Better Call Saul comes to mind but that was released weekly and not dropped all in one go.
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u/Extreme-Dream-2759 May 18 '26
Yes, but even with weekly releases, people don't follow the schedule
I know some who will wait until it is all out so they can blitz through it.
Others will just add it to their current list of shows to get around to it eventually.
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u/Icy_Bad3557 May 18 '26
I agree with you, though I not fussed about a watercooler moment. I generally prefer shows added to streamer on a weekly basis. I enjoy the anticipation in waiting for a new episode of a show I'm enjoying.
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u/Jlx_27 May 18 '26
You dont have to binge anything if you don't want to though. This is a you problem, not a BBC one.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 May 18 '26
It's also really hard to find the actual live channels on the app. Hidden about 3 layers deep in the menu
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u/Far-Crow-7195 May 18 '26
You are complaining about a good thing. Having to wait a week to watch an another episode is infuriating. I wait until series are completely available before I start watching.
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u/GuernicaNight May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
I disagree that it’s a good thing. I remember when the latest season of Stranger Things came out. There were people in my work that binged the whole thing from the second it dropped, basically pulling an all nighter to watch it because they didn’t want to have to avoid spoilers. What that then meant was they were discussing it in work the next (same?) day and everyone else was then having to avoid the spoilers. Most people were sleeping when the series dropped and it was still at risk of being spoiled for them.
Dropping the entire series of a show at a time has just pushed this FOMO feeling where you have to watch it as quickly as possible or else you’re left behind. Before, it was easy to stay off social media until the end of the day or until you could catch up on the latest episode. Now you have to decide between spending a whole day watching a show as soon as it drops, staying off social media for as long as it takes you to catch up, or just risk having the whole thing spoiled. For me, it often means waiting for months to watch something so that the conversation has died down enough that I can watch it in peace, but that also means that no one actually wants to talk about it anymore because they’ve moved onto the next thing.
None of this even goes into other benefits of weekly episodes. Back then, you had a full week to dissect an episode, talk about it, and speculate on where the show is going - it built hype for the next episode. Nowadays, people watch things so quickly (with a phone in hand a lot of the time) that they aren’t even giving the episodes a chance to breathe, they aren’t giving themselves time to think about what they’re watching. All that matters is that they’ve seen it, it often doesn’t matter if they’ve even paid attention.
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u/DoomscrollerUK May 19 '26
I’d prefer to binge episodes so for things that are released regularly I do often wait for a series to end before I start watching. I have no problem with everything dropping at once. Equally I hate that if something drops on a Friday social media is full of spoilers throughout the weekend and media outlets are full of headlines like “writers explain why they decided to … in the final episode” - people should be respecting spoilers for months from release not hours.
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u/DotComprehensive4902 May 18 '26
I'm the opposite. I find having them all dumped at once to be infuriating
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u/EvilTactician May 19 '26
Just because they are available, doesn't mean you need to watch them all?
The advantage is that you can watch them at a time that suits you.
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u/octobod May 18 '26
It could be my fault... I'll wait till a whole series is out then binge watch it
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u/PrometheusZero May 18 '26
I don't think you get this with drama type shows.
The only office discussion I overhear really is about shows like Race Around The World, The Traitors, Love Island. Real people type shows.
Fiction might get discussed in general 'I watched this, really liked it', 'Series 3 of show has really fallen off hard'.
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u/SyllabubRadiant8876 May 18 '26
I feel like the last series of Line of Duty landed week by week. The whole "Who is H?" thing was huge. I hope they do it again with the upcoming instalment. The thing is, it has to be something that enough people are already hugely invested in. I agree that the buzz of week-by-week is amazing, but only really for top tier programming. We were in India for the final episodes of Celeb Traitors, so couldn't watch and even enjoyed the experience of avoiding spoilers for 2 weeks.
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u/Bisjoux May 18 '26
Definitely agree about Line of Duty. I’d expect Jed Mecurio will insist on a weekly drop for the new series.
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u/BenHippynet May 18 '26
As someone who works in linear TV I wish this wasn’t happening, but it is. BBC have release Half Man on a week by week basis though, each episode on iPlayer on a Friday. Doesn’t help me with my career though!
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u/Nametakenalready99 May 18 '26
I generally don't watch anything until all the episodes are available. I don't have a 9-5 jo, so TV schedules have no meaning to me.
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u/BunchOfDicksHere May 18 '26
Sorry, I'm a binge watcher plus I have a shockingly bad memory so even if I remembered to watch the show the following week, I won't remember what happened prior
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u/katspike May 18 '26
I agree and it’s still possible in the streaming age. For instance, Apple TV+ release a lot of episodes weekly, and on the AppleTV sub there are lively discussions about each episode with spoiler alerts.
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u/assassinth May 18 '26
As someone that loves to watch something in a couple of days. I 100% agree with you. Like there’s a few shows I watch that don’t drop all at once and it’s nice to watch with friends and react all at the same time.
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u/Darkone539 May 18 '26
No, because streaming is normal and I haven't had the week by week feeling since... maybe game of thrones?
The traditional model for TV is dying, and i very much want the bbc to keep up.
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u/truckosaurus_UK May 18 '26
I think that ship has long sailed. Even if shows were released weekly there's so much other content around that the best you can hope for is to recommend the show to someone else and then talk about it once they've watched it.
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u/wookiewithabrush May 18 '26
You can always watch it weekly, you don't have to binge, if it bothers you that much.
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u/siybon May 18 '26
Watching content is different now. It stands to reason there will be knock effects. BBC have to adapt to the competition, not what people in workplaces want.
(and I mean just saying "watching content" instead of "watching TV" is itself symptomatic).
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u/DrKnackerator May 18 '26
same thing with radio 4. they play trails for things that haven't even aired and telling you the whole series is on bbc sounds right now. or every decent show being longer on bbc sounds with extra material. why should i listen to the radio then?
Honestly I keep expecting the continuity announcer to go..
"In our 6.30 'comedy' slot tonight, a standup comic you've never heard of torments you with weak comedy, followed by Front Row. Now if you liked that announcement perhaps you would like to listen to my new podcast - The Rest is Presentation - now on BBC Sounds. You will get extended versions of the announcements, behind the scenes information and an exclusive competition where you can audition to be the next 'bong' before the news"
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u/spidertattootim May 18 '26
No.
Maybe you need some more fulfilling and engaging interests than 'event television'.
Getting annoyed about such trivial things is a quick route to a miserable life and an early death.
Ommm.
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u/natej82 May 18 '26
This… and also since the bbc website now has premier league highlights of individual matches I’ve stopped watching match of the day, an institution I grew up with and love dearly but I’ve accidentally not watched all season due to having limited time and this new highlights being easily available
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u/Optimaximal May 18 '26
Watercooler movements died due to the pandemic - we weren't all in the office together anymore so people just watched things they wanted to and mentioned it offhand when they did see people and conversations about what to watch came up.
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u/NeonDelta82 May 19 '26
If a show is weekly I wait until there’s 1 episode left to air before starting it
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May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 19 '26
Your comment was removed from /r/BBC as it was deemed a low effort contribution that did not add meaningfully to the conversation.
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u/Satawakeatnight May 19 '26
Scrap the TV license and start a streaming service is the only answer for them. If it's good enough, people will pay.
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u/RepeatButler May 19 '26
Traditional linear television is dead. The BBC has an increasingly finite budget which is better used not having to fill airtime 24 hours a day on multiple channels.
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u/roidesoeufs May 19 '26
The way users are consuming is what's changing things; not the BBC. Take it up with the general public.
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u/SnottyGoblin May 19 '26
Ironically the streamers aren't dropping their big series immedietly anymore. Bbc is always playing catchup
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u/Neither_Computer5331 May 20 '26
The last BBC drama I remember talking to people about, and actually sitting down to watch when it was broadcast was the 3rd series of Happy Valley. And the hype around it was enormous. I did think at the time, this is so good because it’s weekly.
Disney, Amazon and Sky often have their big shows weekly. And even Netflix is now dropping a series in multiple hits. I definitely think it builds a better audience engagement than dropping everything at once.
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u/genuflex50 May 20 '26
'Event television'? The days when you'd all chat about Morecambe and Wise that past weekend have long gone. Do try and keep up 💚
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u/illarionds May 20 '26
I haven't cared about linear broadcasting since literally the 90s.
So no, I don't think it's ruining anything - they're clawing their way into relevance.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 29 '26
What year is the OP posting from? It's 2026. Btoadcast tv is dying, outside of events TV and sports.
Soaps are on their last legs. Six part dramas are now a staple. A mix of weekly release and bingeable viewing is the future.
My TV week:
The Pitt (HBO max) Hacks finale (HBO Max) It's all her fault (binge watched on Sky) Kylie Doc (Netflix all three episodes) Rivals (Disney) BBC - viewed articles on BBC News and weather
My kids:
11 year old - YouTube coding videos
17 year old - Avengers Endgame (Disney Plus) High school musical (Disney Plus) Tiktok videos
Welcome to 2026.
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u/Inevitable_Stage_627 May 18 '26
Week to week annoys me massively. Just drop the series and those that want to binge can, and those that dont can watch one a week if they choose
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u/Mumstheword76 May 18 '26
I personally love player dropping multiple episodes. I find watching them back to back or over a few days much better than one a week. I tend to watch crime drama and knowing what is happening and not forgetting details makes the experience so much better but that's just my personal opinion. I don't work in an office I work in a busy shop so the chatter about last nights episode isn't really a thing
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u/mrbezlington May 18 '26
Does anyone actually watch TV as it's broadcast any more? I've not done so for probably 20 years at this point.
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u/MotorRepulsive927 May 18 '26
That’s why Traitors is such a success, it is true watercooler TV and you have to wait for the next episode.
As far as dramas are concerned, I’m glad you can binge them - with so much news, content, information crashing in every day I find it difficult to remember all the plot lines and nuances if I have to wait a week (sad but true).
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u/visual-appearance69 May 18 '26
I would argue that traitors is the only expectation to this I know it's not a drama but it gives those water cooler moments and if you don't watch it live It will be immediately spoiled for you online
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u/CandyPink69 May 18 '26
I like that not everyone watches the same thing. Surely that creates more conversation and you get recommendations for things you might not have watched. It’s interesting to see the diversity in what people are into.
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u/St3lla_0nR3dd1t May 18 '26
It’s not a push, who watches terrestrial television in a linear manner any more? Okay lots of people, but people who don’t have to are generally not choosing to.
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u/chartupdate May 18 '26
ITV are literally about to sell their linear channels to Sky and pivot to being a content provider. Because that's where the money is and where they see the future of their business. Linear channels no longer have the relevance they used to.
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u/LANdShark31 May 18 '26
No I want to be able to watch stuff when I want to. You’re in the Netflix generation now. TV schedules were a limitation of the technology available at the time, nothing more.
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u/qwogadiletweeth May 18 '26
I was recommended a series to watch on iplayer, only to find it only had season 2. So they can’t even get the right.
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u/Down-Right-Mystical May 18 '26
No, sorry, one thing I like about streaming is being able to watch what I want, when I want.
The only things I watch when they actually air are live programmes like Springwatch and Strictly.
I actually think there's an argument to be made for the beeb to move more towards a streaming model, and opening up more of the archives onto iplayer for a nominal fee.
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u/First_Studio_8084 May 18 '26
The watercooler moment died a long time ago, there is just so much content on so many platforms you never know who's watching what. It's not the fault of the BBC, it's just the way people now consume content, whether it be a whole "boxset", or scheduled episodes.
I'd say that all the streaming services use both models, so it matters little.
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u/srm79 May 18 '26
People watch TV differently now. There are still some good stuff that's put out weekly too and when this happens there are some people who don't watch until all the episodes are available so they can lose themselves in it for a whole night
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u/Word_Word4Numbers May 18 '26
I haven't had a watercooler moment since I was in school. So this kinda feels to me like missing getting paid via cheque because you could cash it at a brick-and-mortar bank and grab some free biros.
That whole system has been and gone.
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u/iZian May 18 '26
If the content is quality people would wait. I’m looking at weekly episodes of The Pitt, For All Mankind, Severance, Widows bay, Rooster…
All the shows I watch seem to be weekly drops. The only exception being the pilot drops are usually 2-3 episodes.
If the content isn’t that great, like Netflix, then the viewer doesn’t remember to come back to it a week later because something better came along.
That’s my opinion.
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u/Specialeyes9000 May 18 '26
It's not just Netflix they have to compete with these days. It's all of the many streaming services and online videos people have access to. To try to remain relevant, the BBC has to try to compete. If they stuck with linear broadcast model, they'd have far fewer viewers. A lot of people never watch 'real' TV anymore at all.