Why not both?

At the rate of which kdramas are being released, I sadly can’t watch them all at the same time. Yes I usually prefer live watching so I can discuss with other beanies and talk about my insane theories but alas time is finite and there will be awesome dramas that I miss because I’m not feeling it at the moment or it didn’t capture me.

Under The Queens Umbrella is good example, I was intimidated by the vast cast but beanies gave it rave reviews so I gave it another shot and marathoned it all within a week. It’s one of my favourite dramas of 2022.

So yes both, I choose both! (Tho I’m not as cute as the kid in commercial and I definitely prefer soft tacos)

When I started watching kdramas and was younger 😅 and I was new to kdramas , I binged. I kept watching show after show. And then it slowed down. I figured I could get live shows as I was subscribed to dramafever and I started watching live shows. It slowed down and I found a balance. An episode of drama a day worked well for me.
Now I can’t binge. I get overwhelmed if I know I have to watch 14 more episodes :) I prefer live watching and keeping with the pace of airing. It also gives me time to enjoy a drama more. Chat about it here and look forward to new episodes. Like I would wake up on a Saturday and say - ah, today is this drama day! That’s exciting. And to see beanies on fan walls get excited over an episode is fun too.
It makes me feel more present!
Downside is, if I miss good dramas when it gets aired I miss them. I almost never get back to them. The last one was ‘My unfamiliar family’ which I watched a few months after it aired.

Well, it depends, but I mainly like live watching than binging.

As Blue said, when I was new to dramas I binged shows, I looked for dramas to watch and always made it to the end of them and then move on to the next drama, never watching two dramas at a time. But then I found DB and weekly discussions and first as a reader and then as active beanie. Reading comments and sharing your thoughts about a drama enriches the experience.

Of course I still binge. Specially dramas that are dropped all in one day. But for instance, when I watch an old drama, I usually never watch more than one or two episodes a week.

I'm more of the live watch guy.

To digress, I can binge watch a show while it has completed airing. That's if I was unaware when it aired or it is an old show. For as long as I began watching kdramas weekly, any show I miss has the tendency of being dropped so that's why I try my best to follow them weekly.

Am I intolerant to spoilers? No. I remember watching You Are My Spring when it had gotten to ep 12. I had watched the first four and couldn't keep up but the spoilers in the form of weecaps was what pulled me back in to watch.
This however can go sideways. Some spoilers are the reasons I am not continuing my watch of some shows, not because the spoilers revealed mediocrity but because it did something or something happened that I'm not going to live with so the show ends where I got to for me. Should I say I'm saved from trauma? They're those shows whom I plod through nonetheless despite the trauma the spoilers gave off so I'll just say you have to be reallllly good and have the right ingredient for me to make me go back to watch despite seeing the spoiler.

Bottom line, I'm open to both live watch(more) and binge watch although my form of binge watch is a little different.

Live-watch for me too, mostly so I can be up-to-date in my posts and comments here. (Dramabeans is a big part of why I watch Kdramas instead of stuff from other countries).

The exception of course is the Night of Doom dumps where I'll binge whatever episodes I couldn't get to in time for What We're Watching.

FWIW, my first few years with Dramabeans I was just lurking because I was getting my Kdramas from cable and the shows on the free/included channels were always at least two weeks late and there wasn't much point in commenting about stuff everyone else had moved on past. Bingeing is too much like that and I'm not going back to those bad old days.

Both can have their advantages. Personally, I've just started watching "Crash Course in Love" and while I'm naturally impatient as hell for some more sparks to fly between our two leads, I'm also looking forward to having something to look forward to over the next couple of weeks. Times are currently stressful and, as a result, every small reason to feel a little bit of joy, however silly or mundane, is immensely precious to me.

That said, I also do enjoy a good binge-watch. I usually end up doing it with shows I'm really excited about if they're released in full ("Sweet Home" S2, for example) or shows that I didn't have time to give proper attention to (in the future, probably, "Little Women").

I think I binged more than I live-watched. The reason is that I have very specific genres, styles of dramas that I like (fluff, feel-good, slice-of-life, romcom, coming-of-age) and I like when these are good until the end so binging saves me from investing in something I don’t know how it’s gonna turn out.

However, if the drama looks good and there are rave reviews then I often jump in. I think I live-watched both 2521 and Sh**ting Stars last year. I’m also watching Crash Course in Romance now.

Oh.. another reason why binging is preferred is that normally there aren’t a lot of airing Kshows that I’m interested in on Netflix. And Viki offered very very few selections in my region. As I don’t go to the dark side for some reason, I need these shows to be available to me first on a legal channel before I can watch them. So live-watching is impossible for these shows for me.

I recently binged VIP, and I really regretted not being able to participate in the conversation during its live run. Like, where do I write my love letter for this show? The anticipation of waiting and collectively squeezing/debating really adds to the experience for me.
Similar feeling towards Beyond Evil and the Good Detective (I binge watched these two too).

I started to "binge", but it's more delayed viewing because 2ep per day is not really a binge... I've done some "real binge" on weekends, but I find that I do not remember the story afterwards. I need some time to digest.
I watch "live" some show that I deem appealing enough because I cannot resist / or because I want to be able to join the discussion here (AoS).
I think that when all episodes are dropped at once there is less discussion, less anticipation build up and thus less enjoyment.
Good stories need enough time to develop and inhabit the mind.

A drama to be qualify for live watch needs to be highly addictive, which will make you come back every week. Otherwise it will slip from your memory and will go in land of unfinished drama.
I watch binge watch drama that needs lot of patience (not because drama is a chore but because of its themes) or need lot of attention to details and waiting for week at time will ruin the experience.

100% binger because while I don't care about spoilers, I do need narrative continuity through to the end. Case in point: I started Big Bet last week, and despite its lack of popularity on this site, I got sucked into the narrative with no resolution yet until the final two episodes air by month end. Now, I'm unsatisfied with any other narrative unless it's a similar tone, hence stuck rewatching dramas I've already seen that will get me a similar sense of satisfaction. Never again!

This is an easy one for me: I’m a binge watcher through and through. I have no patience for live weekly broadcasts. I also prefer to stick with one story at a time. I’m obsessive about completing tasks as soon as I can once I’ve begun; it must be crossed off the To Do list! I also have very narrow tastes in drama, which means most of the stories I like are very similar to one another. Watching too many similar dramas at once gets confusing and lessens my enjoyment and appreciation for each one. I don’t mind spoilers, in fact, I enjoy them. I also have no problem leaving my thoughts and comments on a drama even years later. I actually think it’s fun to have my comments stand at the end of a long thread.

Binge watching older dramas is easy, and there are many to choose from. That being said, there are times when I have trouble finding an older drama that suits my mood. So, I do usually have one or sometimes two currently airing dramas I’ll turn to for a filler between watches. However, most of the time I’ll place a current drama on my watch list and wait for it to complete before picking it up. One of the reasons I hate this emerging trend of multiple seasons is that I have to decide whether to watch a season at a time or wait for all seasons to be completed before picking up the drama.

I prefer to watch one show at a time, and one or two episodes each evening as a nice way to decompress at the end of the day. This means I mostly watch shows that have finished airing, although I will live watch shows occasionally if I particularly like the writer(s) or if it's getting lots of good buzz.

I tend to live-watch because it's easier for me and so I can discuss with others on the site. I absorb the story better than way as I reflect on what happened. I don't care too much about spoilers. In the end, what captures me is the execution of a storyline. I also like having several dramas that I'm simultaneously watching, so chunking up works for me.

Also, I guess even when I'm binging, I may not really be binging. I chunk it up to about 4-8 hours a week for a series, so I finish in about 2-4 weeks as opposed to 8. I know when my BFF talks about binging, she means watching it continuously and finishing it in a week or less.

I think the only drama where I've done a serious binge for was Reset, a cdrama. It was so suspenseful. I basically spent an entire day watching it. No breaks except to use the bathroom or to quickly grab some food.

That said, some dramas are probably better enjoyed during a binge.
I watched Hotel del Luna in a binge-watch, and I feel like I enjoyed it a lot more than people who live-watched it.

When I think about my watch patterns I think about Dickens. That classic writer was a consummate storyteller, who knew how to keep his serial readers (published weekly in a newspaper) on the hook. Listening to talented actors read his works for audio-books makes me realize that storytelling hasn't changed since gathering around the fire.
My happiest watches are slow reveal. Even 24 hours allows me the space to think about the character interaction, plot development and potential outcome. When I watch older dramas I deliberately stop to savor for at least a day. In ancient times the storyteller would come around every half month or so - just imagine!
All hail to binge watchers. When I do so I have the craziest dreams. I need more time to really appreciate a good drama.
Just me and my little brain, sayin'.

I used to be a HUGE binge watcher. But now I stick to live watching (mainly) because,
1. I realized that I have no self control and was destroying both my studies/work and health by speed watching through dramas.
2. Again, Due to lack of self control, I would spoil myself by watching the last episode when the things start getting the slightest bit thrilling/angsty and/or cliffhangery.

With live watching, I'm forced to watch the drama at a reasonable pace and not spoil it.

For me it depends on the quality of the show. A pretty good I can wait then binge watch it (or more likely forget it exists, remember, then binge watch it). An outstanding show? Do you think I could sit on my hands and wait till the full series of 'My Mister' had finished airing? Heck no! I would often stay up til 2am for an episode to finally drop then immediately watch it.

My beloved Gwang-Nam❤️

I usually switch between both, but right now I am leaning more towards live watching. Live watching offers me a weekly structure and I feel more included among Beanies. I tend to better recall shows I either group watched or actively discussed with Beanies, because they turned a mere drama into an adventure. An example: Extraordinary You is not a perfect drama, but the level of Beanie community I experienced while live watching was wild.❤️

Binge! I am truly an addict of the feels and I want to keep 'em coming in rapid succession! If it weren't for DB, I'd be a full-time binge-watcher.

@unit "dramas have a way of making people hungry" -- so true. Why do they have to make eating look so fun?

As others have said, when I first discovered Kdramas I binge-watched. Like literally binged, finishing a drama in a 2-3 day period and then immediately moving on to the next one. Towards the end of that period of my life, I did live watch two dramas - Queen In-hyun's Man and King2Hearts. I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the online squeeing and all that goes with live watching. Thankfully, both dramas (to me) stayed the course and ended well (except for that one thing in K2H...if you watched it, you know what I'm talking about).

This time around, after my 6 year hiatus, I rarely binge. It has to be a truly crack drama (looking at you, LBFAD) for me to binge watch, but even then, the binging is moderated by a busy life. And I often will have 2-3 dramas I'm watching at a time, usually a Kdrama and one or two Cdramas. I don't try to live watch because I prefer to make sure the drama will end well before investing my time.

I like both really. The best benefit of live watching is that i get Beanies’ reactions/thoughts and can interact via the recaps or wall if i want to cause i hardly talk about dramas offline. I was kinda sad watching Blind alone recently 😅
But downside apart from the waiting is that if i get too busy or missed one or two weeks episode i tend to drop the show, just because I can’t get the groove back somehow.

“Binge” watch is usually just watching all the shows i didn’t get a chance to live watch, with the binging usually being unintentional and if the show really reeled me in.

I should have an easy answer for this one since I am, in general, a binger, and can successfully avoid spillers. However, I’ve been recently lamenting about television watching in the streaming age, and I feel a certain fondness for days gone by when I would circle what to watch for the week in the paper TV guide. There is something special about having something to look forward to. And, I don’t know if it’s age or responsibility (or the quality of the show), but few things seem to keep my interest for many hours at a time; binging might mean I drop more or start fewer shows. So, I guess, I hope to do more steady watching this year and reserve binging for the truly addictive drama.

I like both though it totally depends with what's going on with my life.

If I have important stuff to do then I go live watching but if long holidays come, definitely binge! I probably binged close to 4-5 shows over the holidays recently xD and since it's busy days ahead, currently live watching.

In conclusion, combining both is the best!

I can’t stand waiting for new episodes. I prefer binge watching. However I miss being able to join the comments. I no longer have the luxury of real binge watching. My compromise is I start watching when the drama is 2 weeks away from the finale so I can at least comment a bit.

Like a lot of Beanies, I started with watching shows that had already aired in full, and would only watch one at a time (some of these I would classify as binges, others I took a bit more slowly, but it works out to the same thing). But as I got more into the Dramabeans community, it started being really fun to live-watch so that I could participate in the conversation. Now that I've done both quite a bit, I think there are certainly pros and cons to each, and I even think that certain types of dramas work better with different strategies.

For me, slow burn or very character-focused dramas work well if I watch them all at once. Things like My Ajusshi or Chocolate are good examples of this. I found them riveting and addictive in their own way, but it was often a quiet, more subdued way than action- or comedy-driven stories. This is also one of the reasons I'm holding off on The Interest of Love for now (that and I didn't have time when it started) and hoping to find time for it later. I also think that I notice fewer flaws with a drama when I watch it in a compressed amount of time, probably because I don't have an entire week to dwell on the thing I found annoying/nonsensical/inconsistent. So there have been some dramas that other Beanies really despised that I either thought were totally fine or even pretty decent.

But action dramas, thriller dramas, heavily plot-driven dramas , and some rom coms are all ones I really enjoy watching week by week, for the conversations. I joined this community because I really don't have anyone to talk about dramas with in person, so it's great to have an outlet for that and it's so fun to compare predictions and gush over scenes!

I guess technically my answer is neither - I think the most episodes I've watched at once was 3, in my early days of drama watching (the struggle for a good night's sleep is real, and not even for a drama will I jeopardize that).

But Memories of the Alhambra scarred me for life with the live-watching (WTF even was that ending?! I'm still pissed) so now I read recaps or comments about the ending of every potential drama before I watch, just to make sure it won't leave me a rage-spiral like MotA and waste of 16 hours of my life.

I never live-watch k-dramas. Never. I thought maybe I would live-watch Island but finally I didn't do it.

I have sooo many older series to watch at my own pace that I have no need to watch what it's currently airing.

So fun to hear how others approach this! I like a combination. I don't like to waste my time on "duds" so I binge watch more older dramas inbetween the new ones that are airing.

When new dramas begin, I usually wait until the 4-6 episode mark before I decide to join and live watch. My 1st live watch was Red Sleeve and that was SO good! Chatting with fellow beanies makes live watching so much more enjoyable.

Now that I've seen over 100 Kdramas, I am used to the pacing so all in all I like the combination of binging on something inbetween on-air dramas.

Binge..binge...binge. And also just one drama at a time (like I do with books). Same with the characters. If I live-watch every week, the people I see in the drama are more like acquaintances or colleagues at work that you know a lot about and find interesting...but I'm never as connected as when I see them day after day. As I watch them live out their story, the distance between us fades, and I find I'm more embedded in the drama. The characters turn into friends, lovers and enemies more easily than if I have the gaps in details (especially if it's a mystery) and most importantly, the lapse in emotional continuity. If the dots are closer together, I seem to grasp the big picture more clearly...and deeply. So I'm happy many of the beanies live-watch because Dramabeans and all the commenters help me choose from the multiverse of dramas for my next great binge-watch. It’s a win…win.

I simply do not have the discipline to wait, and binge watch a show once it is completed. Call it a defect in my character: This is not really a choice for me.

Of course, sometimes life intervenes, and I binge watch a show by default, not having been able to 'live watch' at the time. I do enjoy the show when that happens and appreciate why a much more disciplined person might want to do so.

I do both but I think I prefer bingeing. I know there's some psychological value to watching weekly but I get so stressed or obsessed while waiting.

There's been times I've looked up the ending of something I was watching as I was watching it.

The good thing about watching live is being able to talk about it immediately after; to have all those initial thoughts and feelings expressed. It's just not quite the same talking/writing about the beginning of a series weeks later.

I've done both... watching it live helps me control myself... less sleepless nights since I cannot binge watch :) Saves me from myself.