I'll admit when I'm wrong. If you asked me to make some predictions for the past two weeks, I would have been 0-2 on events including the Deep-Dish Pope beating out Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Knicks winning three games against the Celtics. The same goes for the odds that I would spend twelve hours watching Andor season 2.
Yet I have! In the last 24 days, I have indeed watched twelve episodes of the Star Wars prequel. I'm not afraid to say that it's currently the best show on TV. Cassian Andor's fight to build the Rebellion from the ground up is inspiring and surprisingly mature. The series deals with heavy themes of oppression and misinformation—which are quite relevant to today, I might add—and all through a franchise formerly known for selling Baby Yoda plushies not too long ago.
To be fair, I shouldn't have doubted Andor's potential after a stellar season 1 in 2022. But as an entertainment writer, I'm constantly thinking about not just which TV shows are worth watching, but also how and when we watch them.
Every streaming service has a different method. HBO sticks with a traditional weekly rollout. As HBO content chief Casey Bloys said at a panel earlier this week, the release strategy simply "works for us." Apple TV+ also sticks to weekly release schedules, though they usually provide viewers with the first two episodes to start. On the other hand, Netflix prefers to drop an entire season at once. The idea is that audiences can then decide to either binge it all in one sitting, or watch as many episodes as they want at their own discretion.
It's tough to tell which method works best for viewers at home. And as a magazine that likes to plan our coverage ahead of time, it's often a struggle trying to predict which series will resonate with viewers the most.
So, when Disney+ announced that Andor season 2's twelve-episode arc would release in weekly blocks of three episodes at a time, it felt as if Disney was undercutting the impact of its best show yet. I remember thinking at the time, So, when HBO airs The Last of Us… and just when the NBA kicks off the playoffs… and right when Marvel releases its best film in the last five years… Andor will rush through season 2 in just one month?
Now that I've watched the episodes, I'm happy to say that I couldn't have been more wrong. Each new drop of episodes jumps one year further in the story, and the race to catch up to Cassian's appearance in Rogue One is exhilarating. It's certainly an unorthodox strategy, but I didn't think about Andor's potential to effectively deliver four distinct Star Wars movies until now. Even among a truly spectacular time to watch TV—I haven't even mentioned The Studio or The Rehearsal yet—Andor is dominating the small screen. Disney isn't wasting the month. They own it.
What's your favorite way to watch TV? Let me know at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.
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