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The anti-binge? Hulu’s original series will be released weekly

Hulu's head of content, Craig Erwich, says the viewing platform's original series will be delivered in weekly episodes instead of all at once.

Hulu’s head of content, Craig Erwich, says the viewing platform’s original series will be delivered in weekly episodes instead of all at once.

(Dan Goodman / Associated Press)
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Hulu doesn’t want its subscribers to find themselves in a TV coma, so it’s opting to release its upcoming original series in weekly episodes.

Craig Erwich, head of content at Hulu, made the announcement Sunday during the streaming service’s session at the Television Critics Assn. press tour.

“With all of our new originals, we will release episodes weekly,” Erwich told reporters. “We want to give viewers the opportunity to discover their favorite shows every week. Like you, we value the shared experience and the joy of the watercooler that is television.”

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Full coverage: Television Crtitics Association press tour 2015

Erwich said the plan of attack allows the service to get shows to the audience faster because there’s no need to accumulate a full series in the bank before releasing it on the platform.

The drip-drop approach is more akin to traditional TV scheduling as opposed to the all-at-once method that has become the standard on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon.

The procedure will apply to “The Mindy Project,” which joins Hulu fold for its fourth season after being canned by Fox, as well as “Casual,” “The Hotwives of Las Vegas,” “The Awesomes” and “RocketJump: The Show.” “Difficult People,” which launched last week on the streaming service, took on the same release strategy.

Of course, folks eventually can still binge on the Hulu originals as episodes build up in the library.

“Casual” executive producer Liz Tigelaar, during the comedy’s session, admitted she’s a practioner of binge-viewing but lauded Hulu for taking the more restrained tactic.

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“I’m excited how our show is being rolled out,” Tigelaar said. “For me, the problem with binge-viewing is you don’t get to talk about it with anybody and watch too quickly. It’s almost like overeating. You’re not processing it fully. I think there’s something great about being able to really digest something.”

I tweet about TV (and other things) here: @villarrealy

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