Netflix needs to embrace weekly release – and 3 Body Problem proves it

And yet, it will vanish from view entirely in about a week's time. Such is the fate of a Netflix Original Series.

When the streamer pioneered its box set model for House of Cards in 2013, it disrupted the television landscape. Suddenly, viewers had access to 13 hours of prestige drama in one go, with a cast led by movie stars and a big-name director to boot. This sort of thing just didn't happen before.

A decade on, binge-watching has become the norm. Other streaming platforms have embraced the model to the extent that even the BBC is on board, dropping the reboot of classroom-based drama Waterloo Road in seven-episode chunks since its return in 2023.

It's not just glossy American drama of the "peak TV" variety; sometimes it's the rowdy school kids and dysfunctional teachers of Greater Manchester.

But this model often has the unintended side effect of giving shows an ephemeral quality. Unless it's a behemoth like Stranger Things, it's very difficult for anything to get a foothold in the cultural conversation.

And this makes sense. If you've got a massive moment in your seventh episode of 10, it can't become a water cooler topic because half of the people around that water cooler have already watched the next three episodes. But they can't talk about anything they've seen for the sake of the other half, who are all at different points.

This is true of the virtual water cooler, too. When everyone watches at different speeds, social media fills with a pitched battle between those carelessly dishing out spoilers and those who take it upon themselves to police the first group.

Often, it's better to avoid the water cooler completely until the credits roll on the final episode, whether that's on release day or months later when you get around to it. That's not conducive to discussion and buzz.

3 Body Problem is a prime example of this – a show that could've benefited hugely from a weekly schedule. It's a hefty, knotty sci-fi tale based on Liu Cixin's 2008 novel – the first in a trilogy – about a conspiracy discovered after the mysterious suicides of prominent scientists.

There are flashbacks to the Chinese Cultural Revolution and journeys into the frequently cataclysmic world of an ultra-immersive virtual reality game built around the head-scrambling physics problem that gives the show its title. It's fair to say there's a lot going on.

The best binges are light, pacey shows that end on cliffhangers just begging you to watch one more. 3 Body Problem isn't that. It's methodical and thoughtful, with a large percentage of the first few episodes focused on complex maths and theoretical science.

Something like that should definitely be consumed in a different way to the corsets and canoodling of Bridgerton. Both shows are good, but we can all agree that they're different.

Even once 3 Body Problem does show its hand and cranks up the spectacle, it thrives on ethical questions. The shocking bloodshed of its fifth episode, for example, is lessened in impact when the credits roll and the countdown to the next episode immediately starts running.

Instead of taking in the moral ramifications of what you just saw, you have to fumble in a panic for the remote control.

The other side effect is that it makes it very hard for a show to build an audience. If something disappears from the discourse after a week or two, that's not conducive to gaining viewers for a show with a budget big enough to buy a football club.

To take a similarly mega-budget example, Disney got plenty of joy out of weekly release schedules for the likes of WandaVision and the cameo-packed second season of The Mandalorian in the early days of its streaming platform.

Those shows were able to "own" the nerdy corner of social media for a whole week, with every release day leading to an outpouring of discussion, speculation and, most importantly, hype for what would come next.

And that happens on a smaller scale, too. Both seasons of the reality TV sensation The Traitors gradually grew in viewership as they went on, with audiences picking up on how much conversation and column inches the show hoovered up as devoted fans saw more back-stabbing and betrayals than a medieval court. The longer a show is on the air, the more chance it has to hook a greater audience.

The early successes of the streaming era thrived through reduced competition. Something like Stranger Things or House of Cards would now be lost in the weeds of streaming catalogues as dozens of expensive shows and movies jockey for position every weekend.

Even the rare success stories, like Bridgerton, come with mitigation. The first season debuted in that weird limbo week between Christmas and New Year, in which everyone is looking for light entertainment to binge while in a chocolate-induced coma.

You'd think nobody would understand all this more than 3 Body Problem showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss. As the men behind Game of Thrones, they helmed perhaps the last great weekly "appointment viewing" TV show, which gave us water cooler moments galore over the course of its eight-year run.

The chaos of the Red Wedding would certainly have provoked less chatter if you could just sail on past it to find out what happened next.

We're in an age of experimentation as the streaming wars rage on, with Netflix recently embracing multi-part releases for the likes of Stranger Things and The Witcher.

But increasingly, it looks like the best release schedule for a show like 3 Body Problem is actually just the one we had decades ago. And you don't need to understand particle physics to work that one out.

3 Body Problem is available to stream now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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