PSA: That one Reddit comment about skipping episode recaps saved me 4 hours on 'Lost'

Someone pointed out I was wasting time on 5-minute recaps every episode, and after skipping them I cut my binge from 3 weeks to 2. Anybody else burned by shows that pad the runtime with filler like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

grace_white2mo ago

You know, I used to be one of those people who'd sit through every single recap... I thought it was part of the experience or something. But after reading that the runtime was padded with 5-minute recaps every episode, it clicked for me. I tried skipping them on my rewatch of "The Walking Dead" and I swear I saved like 8 hours total. It's crazy how much filler they sneak in there, makes you wonder what else you're wasting time on.

matthewkim28d agoTop Commenter

Yeah but 5 minutes of recap per episode sounds high, most shows run 60-90 seconds tops. Even with a long 2 minute recap across 32 episodes you are looking at about an hour total, not 3. Still a waste of time but the numbers matter if you are gonna complain about it.

robinp722mo ago

32 episodes of The Walking Dead with 5 minute recaps means almost 3 hours of your life gone to watching people walk through fields again. It's the same trick streaming services use with those auto-play next episode things that make you binge longer than you planned. Once you start looking, you notice how many things in life are just padded recaps of stuff you already know.

simon_coleman28d ago

grace_white said it was "part of the experience" and honestly that's how they get you. I fell for that same trap with Lost, sitting there like a good little viewer while they showed me the exact same plane crash clip for the 47th time. It's basically the TV version of your friend telling you the same story twice because they forgot they already told you. Once I started skipping recaps I felt so dumb for all those hours I'll never get back. Makes me wonder if the people who make these shows know we're just sitting there rolling our eyes at the filler.