Remember the days when you’d wait in anticipation of watching your favorite show that night in primetime? Thursdays were always my favorite day of the week because they meant new episodes of Friends and Seinfeld (and ER…at least, during the Clooney years for me :) )

Who watches TV in real time anymore? With the exception of an occasional episode of Modern Family or Parks & Rec, most of the TV Nick and I watch these days is online. We’ve joined the ever-growing segment of the population know as “binge viewers”. Not familiar with the term? Here’s how the Wall Street Journal describes it:

Technologies such as on-demand video and digital video recorders are giving rise to the binge viewer, who devours shows in quick succession—episode after episode, season after season, perhaps for $7.99 a month, the cost of a basic Netflix membership. In the past, such sessions required buying stacks of costly DVDs ($66.99 for seasons one through four of “Mad Men”) or special broadcast marathons.

Thanks to our Netflix subscription, Hulu and the ease of Amazon Prime (we LOVE their streaming video capabilities), Nick and I have binge-watched a number of shows in recent years, from Friday Night Lights (best.drama.ever) and Dexter to Homeland and Happy Endings.

Binge viewing is a hot topic these days — the New York Times recently reported on Netflix’s decision to release all 13 episodes of its new drama House of Cards (which I hear is fantastic) at once (here’s hoping they decide to do the same when they release Arrested Development later this year!)

My favorite ode to binge viewing is CBS Sunday Morning reporter Luke Burbank’s recent confession. He writes:

Working through an old season of “Homeland” or “Mad Men,” when one episode ends, there’s always another one waiting for you, begging you to watch it. “The Sopranos” . . . “The Wire” . . . “Dexter” . . . Months, maybe years of my life, lost. And just when I thought maybe, maybe I was getting back on my feet, “Downton Abbey” came along. Damn those loveable, hateable, watchable Upper Class Brits!

As someone who also binge-watched the entire first season of Downton in a week, I just had to laugh at that last line!

So what about you guys? What’s your favorite TV to binge watch these days? I have friends who have gone through entire seasons of Mad Men and Parenthood on Netflix in a week (two of my FAVORITE series). As for me, I still have high hopes of someday getting around to binge-watching the entire series of The Wire. Before that, maybe Nick and I should finish what we started and catch up with Walter and Jesse by binge viewing the remaining seasons of Breaking Bad.