Binge-watching TV shows used to be something accidental, even serendipitous. First it was those three-day Law & Order marathons on basic cable that would suck you in. Then you'd throw in a DVD of Battlestar Galactica on a rainy Friday evening and not come up for air until two seasons had passed. You didn't mean for time to disappear, it just kinda happened.
These days there are so many long-arc shows—and streaming services on which to watch them—that binge-watching has become a virtual necessity to keep up (or at least catch up) with everything. Sitting down and deciding between a Sopranos marathon on Amazon Prime or a Friday Night Lights feast on Netflix is a tough call.
It doesn't have to be.
Now that summer's here and so many great shows are on hiatus—miss you, Scandal—it's time to dive into that one show you've been saying we're going to watch since 2008. (Because, let's face it, Orange Is the New Black is back on Friday, but that will barely last through the weekend.) To help you decide which show that's gonna be, we're rolling out a series of guides for the most binge-worthy shows of the last 15 years—from Arrested Development to The Wire (sorry, there's no decent show that began with "Z" [and don't say Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane]). Each will help you binge like a pro—selectively. We'll tell you which episodes and seasons to pay attention to, which to skip, what characters to follow, and where to find each show.
First up? True Blood. Why? Because it's back on June 22, which means you have 18 days to catch up on the previous six seasons and be ready for its swan song. (It's totally doable, trust us.) Check that out tomorrow, and look for new installments each week all throughout the summer. Happy watching!
