Thousands of options, so little time to watch

What better way to spend school breaks than binge-watching TV shows and movies on Netflix?

We are all guilty of it. Although regretful of clicking the play button every 42 minutes, our desire to know what happens next is much stronger than the desire to study, or really do anything else for that matter. In a poll of 200 students, almost all admitted that they were guilty of binge watching TV shows on Netflix.
“Grey’s Anatomy,” with 220 40-minute episodes available on Netflix, takes first place in being the best show to binge watch amongst WS students with a little over eighteen percent of the vote. If you are not familiar with the show, “Grey’s Anatomy “covers the very personal and dramatic lives of five surgical interns. Each episode guarantees a death, whether it be a patients’ or their doctors’, ironically.
“It almost makes me want to be a doctor, except that I hate blood,” said senior Meghan Holub.
Although a tad gruesome, the images of open bodies on operating tables and badly wounded patients in the emergency room makes a part of even the most grossed out and queasy people to want to become surgeons.
“Gossip Girl” takes 12 percent of the vote, coming in second place. The show centers around filthy rich and over privileged teenagers in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, whose dramatic lives are published on a blog written by the self-proclaimed “Gossip Girl.” Like every other great drama, there are countless relationships, affairs, break-ups, crimes, and even deaths. Each event is strategically placed within the last couple of minutes beckoning you to come back for more.
“Breaking Bad” pulls in almost 11 percent of the vote, stealing third place. A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer decides to cook meth with former student, Jesse Pinkman. The show follows their run-ins with the law, dealers and manufacturers, as well as the complications of their personal relationships.
“It made me want to take AP Chem,” said senior Lexi Moore.
So in some ways, Netflix is educational, inspiring, and will help viewers find a career path. However, parents may view it as a complete timewaster that feeds procrastination.
With just under nine percent of the vote, “Scandal” comes in fourth. Set only 20 minutes away in DC, this show centers around Olivia Pope, a former consultant to the President that now runs a private firm specializing in concealing controversial and illegal activity of politicians. Being produced by the same woman that created “Grey’s Anatomy,” Shonda Rhimes, “Scandal” is guaranteed to have you at the edge of your seat and feature plot twists left and right.
With almost 1,000 titles on Netflix, including a substantial amount of TV shows, a little over fifty percent of students said their favorite show to binge watch is outside of the four most popular.
Shows that received a measurable amount of votes include “The Office”—my personal favorite—”One Tree Hill,” “Psych,” “Chuck” and “Supernatural.”