It used to be you had to watch what was on when it was on. And don’t even get me started on the ancient times when there were only three networks. Now with the interwebs one can watch almost anything they want when they want. In the past one had to decide up front “am I going to invest my time in that show?’. If you did not opt in from the beginning your only option was to find reruns in the summer time. Now if you choose poorly and miss a show you can always get caught with binge viewing. You can find the full season on one of many sites with streaming. So here my top five favorite shows to binge view. They just work better when you do not have to wait a week to see them.

5. Continuum. This is a show about a time traveler from a future over run by corporate rule that follows known “terrorists” to the past. These “terrorists” are here to prevent the corporate takeover of the future. The show is good but I find it is better when you can watch all of it in just a few days. The tension builds up much better and the stories seem to flow better too.

4. Grimm. Grimm follows a police detective who is well…a Grimm. His family has hunted the “mythical” beasts, known as Vessen, from the Grimm Fairy tales. Nick, the Grimm, is a police detective in Portland. He has a group, the Scooby gang that helps him out each week. This one is really not much of a serial. I mean the stories go from one week to another but they are self-contained. There are a few through stories, the royals vs the rebellion, Rosalie and Monroe’s relationship, and of course our lead Nick and Juliette’s relationship, but this show is best when these take a back seat to the monster of the weak episodes. If you like cop shows and if you like sort of goofy monster and mythology this is a good one for you watch a season and you will see what I mean.

3. The following. The following, well follows FBI agent Ryan Harding who is tracking down a cult who follows Joe Carroll, the man from his Hardy’s famous case. Carroll eventually escapes prison and is now on the run. Hardy has once again left the FBI but is still on the case. I am stopping here as I feel I have given away too much already. This one is a definite must for binge viewing. The plot twists and turns throughout the series. Season one was AWESOME! It had me from start to finish. I was going over every detail like I was detective trying to figure it out. However season two has underwhelmed me. I still have ten episodes to watch and I am glad I have them. Once I finish with this season of Grimm I am diving full on in to the following.

2. Lost. Lost follows a group of passengers who are stranded on a mysterious island after a plane crash and their attempts to escape and return to civilization. That is really it. It is just that simple but sometimes the simplest premise allows for the most interesting story telling. Now I have to admit I missed the boat on this on. It initially began in a time before DVRs and Binge viewing. So I have only seen about a season and a half. However of that short time I was hooked. My ten year old daughter now wants to see it so I will be restarting from the beginning and I do not have a problem with that. The twists and turns of the plot and interweaving stories work well for binge viewing. You want answers you don’t have to wait any longer than it takes to load the next episode. I am so glad that we will have to limit our viewing as my wife will have to wake up for work in the mornings or my daughter and I might just go straight through.

1. 24. CTU agent Jack Bauer must save the country, if not the world, from a terror attack. Again that is it a simple premise. The kicker on this one is it happens in real-time, or at least real time adjacent with commercials and all. The ratings for the new half season are a little lower than anticipated, which I think proves the point that Bauer is at his best when you watch him in chunks. People now know how this show works and it is best viewed in as few sittings as possible. No cliff hanger from episode to episode just straight forward action.

Those are my top five binge worthy shows. Did I miss yours? Let me know in the comments. And don’t forget to vote for your favorite.