You can’t help smiling — with a slightly arched brow — at the streamers’ recent obsession with live events. Television started out as a live medium, after all — virtually all programs were live in the early, golden age of the small screen before the use of film, and then videotape, allowed for more flexibility.
Live never went away, of course, as major sports events and awards shows remained some of the most watched telecasts on broadcast TV — even now. Streaming, on the other hand, was created specifically with an on-demand mindset: Watch what you want, when you want; no time slot necessary. And yet, there’s something about viewing a spectacle at the same time as millions of others — and eventually even the streamers caught on to the concept.
And I don’t begrudge them that. Actually, it’s one of the things I’m happy to see return to the zeitgeist. As we move away from a monoculture, it’s exciting when we all still gather to watch something thrilling at the same time. For example, Netflix’s “Skyscraper Live,” featuring free solo climber Alex Honnold scaling the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 (the 11th tallest building in the world) in just an hour and 35 minutes was riveting to watch (well, when I wasn’t looking away in sheer anxiety) while joining the discourse on social media.
