The biggest lesson I learned from streaming TV series is that life never follows a script

The word “binge” has been around for a long time, but it’s only in recent years that it’s been linked to TV shows. In times past, you couldn’t binge watch a show even if you wanted to.

I’m old enough to remember when we didn’t have streaming services, or even cable channels. Finding out if your favourite show was going to be screened that day was a matter of sheer luck.

It seems impossibly old-fashioned now, but there was a time when I needed to look through the newspaper (after my parents were done with it) to check whether “Pokemon” was going to be shown on Kids Central. Now with streaming technology, you can watch a whole series at entirely your own pace.

Recently, I rewatched my favourite Netflix show – “Sunderland ‘Til I Die”, which depicts the trials and tribulations of the English football club.

But being able to watch the episodes back to back – thanks to the nature of the streaming service – helped me to uncover some key lessons about the nature of competition and achievement itself.

Ha’way the lads

Sunderland AFC is a name familiar to older fans of English Premier League football. Unfortunately, they were recently relegated and are currently mired in the third division of English football.

“Sunderland ‘Til I Die” (STID) on Netflix deals with what happens after relegation in 2017. The first few episodes are reminiscent of a documentary on the aftermath of some disaster, with the community in shock but trying to rally behind the team.

And the community really is the heart of the show. Unlike other documentaries, STID opens up to include the entire city of Sunderland. Everyone seems to have a say, from a local clergyman who bids his congregation to pray for the team’s success, to a grey-haired fan who’s been attending matches since he was a kid.

The focus isn’t just on the football players and the management team. It examines the relationship between a club and its city, and the emotional bond between the players and the supporters.

That’s life

The first season starts off full of hope. The general belief is that the club is good enough to bounce straight back up into the Premier League. Unfortunately, things get worse.

The fans still have faith, but that faith is being sorely tested. After one defeat too many, they begin to turn on the team. To their horror, the fans don’t see the team win promotion back to the bright lights of the Premier League. Instead, they are relegated again, and drop down to the third division of English football.

With the uninterrupted streaming provided by Netflix, it is fascinating to burn through the episodes in a single day, and watch hope turn to despair. This is a team that has the backing of an entire city, but sometimes that’s not enough.

STID teaches us all a valuable lesson – even though we grow up on stories, life doesn’t always turn out the way we expect it to.

Uninterrupted viewing experience

With social restrictions, I find that my family and I stay at home more often these days. And when that happens, all of us tend to use our own separate devices to watch different things. This can make for a rather laggy experience.

Instead of arguing with your family about who’s slowing down the WiFi, allow StarHub to help out with their 2Gbps Fibre Broadband service.

Everyone can stream, surf and download anything we want on multiple devices, all at the same time, without any interruption to broadband speeds. Not only will it save us time, it will also save us a lot of hurt feelings by preventing arguments.

For just S$99.90 per month, and while stocks last, the StarHub HomeHub+ 2Gbps Broadband with Entertainment + plan comes with a 4K Android TV completely free, the best way to ensure you can watch your favourite show in all its full visual glory.

The 43-inch TV is worth S$799 and comes with a limitless ultra high definition display in beautiful 4K, built-in Google Assistant allowing for hands-free voice control, and a smart home control hub.

You don’t even have to lift a finger, as it comes with free delivery and installation, and if you like, a free wall mount and antenna too.

Want its bigger cousin, which would normally cost S$999? Get a HomeHub+ 2G or HubBundle 2G(5G) to get a free 55-inch 4K Android TV.

It can be yours absolutely free when signing up for one of these plans.

And it doesn’t stop there. The plans also come with a free StarHub TV+ box worth $120, free Smart WiFi Pro router that eliminates dead spots while providing super fast speeds.

If you’re a gamer as well as a regular streaming watcher, you’ll know how annoying it is to be stuck in a “dead spot” or experiencing latency issues with patchy WiFi. But with StarHub’s Smart WiFi, those irritating interruptions will be a thing of the past.

There’s more than one plan for you to choose from, starting from S$62.90 per month:

A wealth of options:

• For S$62.90 a month for 24 months, you can get the 2GBps Broadband plan, which comes with:
• 2Gbps Broadband with FREE Smart WiFi Pro worth S$399
• 12 months Disney+ subscription
• Free 43-inch 4K Android TV

For S$89.90 a month for 24 months, you can get the HubBundle 2G (4G) plan, which comes with:

• 2Gbps Broadband with free Smart WiFi Pro worth S$399
• 4G SIM Only Plan with 60GB + 20GB for first three months, 1000 mins and 1000 SMS
• Netflix subscription
• Free 43-inch 4K Android TV

Sounds like a great deal? Check it out here.

For S$99.90 a month for 24 months, you can get the HubBundle 2G (5G) plan, which comes with:

• 2Gbps Broadband with free Smart WiFi Pro worth S$399
• 5G SIM Only plan with 70GB + 20GB for first three months, 1000 mins & 1000 SMS
• Disney+ subscription
• Netflix subscription
• Free 55-inch 4K Android TV

And also for S$99.90 a month for 24 months, you can get the HomeHub+ 2G plan, which comes with either Asian+ or Entertainment+ options:

• 2Gbps Broadband with free Smart WiFi Pro worth S$399
• 1 TV+ Pass (Asian+) OR (Entertainment+)
• Free StarHub TV+ box worth S$120
• Netflix subscription
• Free 55-inch 4K Android TV

If you need more info, check it out here.

With the wealth of content available, and the technological means with which to view them, there has never been a better time to be a subscriber.

Top image by Sulaiman Daud.

This is a sponsored article by StarHub.