Back in my movie days, I used to watch the first couple episodes of any hit TV show. Casting directors would often suggest actors by throwing out a name, followed by ‘you know, the Dad from Heroes’ or ‘the youngest brother on Malcolm in the Middle.’ I needed to keep up.

That’s how I ended up at the Blockbuster near my old apartment, back in 2002, renting a DVD of the first four episodes of the first season of 24. It was a Friday afternoon, and I had dinner plans with friends, but I figured I’d have time to watch at least the first episode or two before I headed out.

Two episodes in, I called my friends to cancel dinner. Four episodes in, I headed back to Blockbuster, to trade that DVD for the second. And then, the next morning, I headed back for the third, and the fourth that afternoon. By that evening, I’d watched the entire first season of 24 in less than 24 hours time.

Of course, in today’s Netflix-enabled world, binge-watching is commonplace. Fire up a season of Hannibal, True Detective or Orange is the New Black, and it’s nearly impossible not to be propelled from one episode to the next, bedtime be damned.

At the same time, I’m also still a big movie fan, watching an array of mainstream and indie releases, new and old. And I frequently find, three quarters of the way through a film, that I just really no longer care what happens. I’m hoping it will wrap up shortly, can barely imagine watching another 30 minutes, much less six to eight hours, of the same story playing out.

I’ve long wondered about the reason for that gap. Perhaps it’s the difference in pacing between film and television, or TV episodes’ frequent cliffhanger structure. Perhaps it’s our willingness to give early episodes of a series the benefit of the doubt, and then the relationship we build with characters that keeps us in for the season’s balance. But it’s something I’ve heard a slew of other people mention, too. You can pop TV episodes like they’re Pringles – once you start, you can’t stop; but edit a film to longer than 90 minutes, and it’s an uphill battle to keep an audience in their seats.