Fanning out on the small screen has never been easier. I am taking a course on using film and media in the classroom. This week, I had to prepare a lesson on television to present to the rest of the class. Since I’m a big fan of television, I was excited to take on this assignment. (In fact, I volunteered for this particular topic.) One of the things I focused on in my presentation was how we watch and how much the experience of watching television has changed.

We can now watch TV anytime and anywhere; we are no longer obligated to watch a show at the time it originally airs or on our television. Even if you’re watching live when the show airs, you can pause the show or rewind at any point during the program with a DVR. If you can’t watch the show live, you can record it, watch it the next day OnDemand, download it from iTunes, or stream online through the station’s website or Hulu. You can catch up on entire seasons of shows via Netflix or Amazon. It’s heaven for fan*s like us.

The advent of streaming on Netflix and Amazon has really changed the way a lot of people view television. There are a lot of shows that I would love to watch, but I just don’t have enough time for while they’re on the air. It’s nice to know I can just wait for the season to come on Netflix to catch up.

This new reality even allows us to catch up on entire series after the fact. Now that all of Breaking Bad is available through Netflix, I plan to watch all five seasons this summer. At some point, I will also watch all of Mad Men (ending next year) and Chuck. Binge watching — spending hours watching entire seasons of a series online — has become extremely common now that shows are so accessible.

Availability isn’t the only change to how we view television now. The entire experience of watching TV has changed. Not only do we no longer feel the necessity to watch live, but we also divide our attention between the TV and various other forms of media while we’re watching. Texting, tweeting, updating Facebook — any number of activities now distracts us from the show we’re watching.

One of the most common ways many fans now experience their favorite shows is through social media. In fact, tweeting while watching television has become so prevalent that the Nielson Company announced in October it would begin measuring Twitter TV Ratings in addition to the normal ratings system.

Fans aren’t the only ones taking their viewing to a second screen. Series stars have started to live-tweet episodes and interact with fans while the show is on the air. This is a great way to encourage fans to watch live, so they can participate in the live-tweeting. Some celebrities even take the time to live-tweet shows they are not involved in — William Shatner and Orlando Jones have become particularly popular among the Supernatural fandom for their live-tweets, and Shatner has recently started live-tweeting Star-Crossed, which holds a special place in our hearts.

Lest they be left out of the chance to capitalize on additional exposure, the networks and series producers are getting in on the action. Many shows have official Twitter accounts that will tweet along with the show, and some even have Tumblr accounts where they will “live-blog” new episodes. This includes reblogging fan reactions and fan art, as well as photos and gifs the staff has prepared. It’s typically a good idea to avoid these official accounts if you’re not able to watch the show live, as spoilers in the form of gifs are usually posted in abundance.

Another way television shows encourage fan interaction on Twitter is through suggested #hashtags. This tactic can have positive and negative influences. In the bottom corner of a show, viewers can see a suggested hashtag for fans to tweet. This will help the show to become a trending topic on Twitter. The downside is that, occasionally, these suggested hashtags appear just before the action they refer to, thus warning viewers something is coming. This can lead to fans getting frustrated with the network for using the hashtags. However, I’m willing to bet the networks feel the good outweighs the bad.

The way we view television has also led to changes in who produces the shows we watch — and how. Netflix’s rise in popularity for viewing series led the service to begin funding their own shows, including the critically acclaimed Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. They also revived the sitcom Arrested Development for a fourth season. Netflix has proved itself a contender with the other networks when its shows were recently nominated for several Golden Globes and Emmy awards; House of Cards won three of the nine Emmys for which it was nominated.

Amazon has also begun distributing its own original content and, taking it a step further, has reinvented the pilot process for television content. Amazon has recognized the role consumers play in the success of a series, and therefore has created a viewer-centric pilot process. Instead of the typical method, in which a pilot is created and network executives make the decision whether or not the pilot will go to series, Amazon commissioned pilots for several potential series, then offered them all to be streamed for free on their site. Viewers were then asked to respond to several survey questions about their thoughts on the pilot they watched, in order to determine the interest in the show. Amazon is using the information from these surveys to make the final decision as to which pilots will receive a series order. One of the shows Amazon recently announced would be picked up for a series is The After, an intriguing pilot from The X-Files creator Chris Carter.

The availability and diversity now offered as a result of these advances makes it easier for people to watch much more television, even if they’re not watching when it originally airs. If there are four shows you want to see airing at the same time, you don’t have to worry about choosing among them. You can watch one, record another, then view the rest OnDemand (the Tuesday-at-8 p.m. time slot is a great example of putting this into practice, with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Originals, Glee, and NCIS all airing at the same time).

We have come a long way since television was originally invented. We can now watch whenever and wherever we want. It’ll be interesting to see how the way we interact with television continues to evolve in the future.

I hate Sally Draper. Every episode revolving around the girl is so painfully awkward. I suppose that is the point, however, and I’m sure that the final season will continue the trend. My best guess is that Sally will get pregnant from that weird boy who wanted Betty’s hair.

No matter how the show ends, it will never change the fact that Don Draper was the character we followed for seven years as the lead. I’ve always viewed it as Peggy’s show to some degree, especially as she was the character introduced as the audience stand-in in the first episode. Where her arc ends up is up is a mystery, and I definitely look forward to seeing it through.

Bert Cooper dying would have to happen fairly early in the season, as his death wouldn’t pack the same kind of punch as the death of Roger or Don. I could easily see the death of Roger Sterling and Sally’s impregnation finally making Don realize what he has to do to regain control of his life.

As far as Linda Cardellini is concerned, she is a beautiful lady, but she broke up Cory and Topanga, and I can never forgive her for that.

Will Megan die? One can only hope. Would that finally push Don over the edge and through a window? I’ve never believed them to be truly in love, but I also seriously doubt Don wants to end up with Betty again.

Don’s journey has been about the clash of his past and his present. At times, he seemed to live two lives, being Don Draper to some and Dick Whitman to others. It appears, however, as though he is coming to terms with himself as both Don and Dick: one man whose history is not something to be ashamed of, but something to learn from.

Fantastic points, Mike and Kevin!

What an interesting theory that the show will ultimately be Sally Draper’s. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Sad. Angry. Possibly lied to? I need to swirl this around a little bit. Although I’m not ready to concede that Don was, is, and shall forever be the center of the show. Yes, it took a few minutes for him to physically show up in the season premiere, but remember, he was operating Freddy Rumsen like a marionette in that opening scene, so in essence, Don was with us.

I think we could get a better sense of this theory once we finally meet Season 7 Sally. I am very curious, and hopeful that it will happen in the next episode. As it seems to go in the last few seasons (although I haven’t re-watched all lately), it seems to take a few episodes for Betty and the kids (and Francis) to show up. I find this curious as I’m every bit as interested in the Draper kids as I am the people who populate SC&P. Of course, we could all be wrong and the show will belong to Baby Gene.

I had forgotten about the Megan-being-killed-off theories. Thanks for the reminder. There is always a fear/thought that main characters will be killed, but to me it never felt like Mad Men’s m.o. However, that was before the painful and untimely Season 5 death of Lane Pryce, a man of basic moral integrity who made a series of small mistakes and paid the ultimate price. Bert Cooper seems a fit for the next death, both as the oldest character in the story and as a partner in the firm, ripe for replacement. But I’m not sold yet.

Amid Don’s continuing swim upstream and Cooper’s natural aging, we have Roger. For me, his current tailspin is every bit as dangerous and damaging as the one being experienced by Don. Roger is losing his grip on his needy, passive-aggressive daughter, losing his grip on his illegitimate son with Joan (although this remains to be played out), and seemingly losing grip on his place in the world. Was there a scene in the first episode more depressing that Roger, dejected and drunk after a brunch with his daughter, stumbling into bed with two strangers? I wouldn’t rule out Roger’s demise as these finals episodes play out.

Kevin, I don’t know what twisted reality you live in where Linda Cardellini is preferable to Jessica Paré, but to each his own, I suppose. That point aside, I think you’re spot-on about addiction driving this show. And what is addiction other than a chemical need for self-validation? We find ourselves addicted to things that — at least at the start — make us feel good, smart, strong, powerful. Don has sought that feeling from liquor and women but always comes out feeling hollow. One addiction, though, leaves him fulfilled.

That’s why, Gabe, I don’t think Don’s goal is to get back into SC&P. Instead, he needs the work. I think being good at ad pitches is the only thing that has ever kept him centered and happy with himself. If he couldn’t keep doing that while on leave, he’d literally have nothing to live for. I also don’t know if Don was drunk in the last scene of the episode — just out in the cold. He was unable to shut out the unhappiness, so he just sat right in it and wallowed. In fact, Freddy was the only thing Don had control over this week. A moving sidewalk carried him, Graduate-like, through LAX. He rode in the passenger seat while Megan drove him around L.A. Then, he was back in someone else’s hands aboard an airplane, Manhattan-bound.

I agree with Kevin’s assessment that someone will die this season. I’m almost certain we’ll see the demise of Bert Cooper, but there must be something more shocking. There’s a growing sentiment in corners similar to this one around the Internet that the bull’s-eye is squarely on Megan. Last season, Megan wore a T-shirt famously connected with Sharon Tate — you know, the famous actress who lived in the canyon outside Los Angeles, where she was murdered by the Manson Family after having a final meal at El Coyote Cafe. The references are a bit heavy-handed, but things are not looking good for the third Mrs. Draper.

I’ve read some analysis of how Mad Men is shifting its focus from one generation to the next — it’s no longer about the Boomers’ parents, but about the Boomers themselves. The first episode is not quite evidence of that — we’re missing Sally and anyone else under age 25 — but the 1970’s are clearly on the horizon. The Mad Men universe is shifting into the timeframe in which the primary demographic of AMC viewers remembers as their formative years. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the series retroactively framed not as Don’s story — not even as Peggy’s story — but as Sally’s story (for perspective, Sally would turn 60 this month). It took eight minutes to bring Don into the story in the season premiere, and I think his fade into the background will continue.

Addiction. Addiction plays a major role in Mad Men. Whether it’s the addiction to cigarettes shared by almost every character in the show, or a less traditionally recognized type of addiction, like Don’s to sex. Season 7 looks like it will be building upon this theme and finally expanding it to its logical conclusion.

Don is near rock bottom due to his alcoholism and egotism. The last season saw Don reach a strange new point in his life in which he’s finally coming to terms with his past. This is important as part of the addiction theme because his perpetual lying to keep up the Don Draper character appears to be another type of addiction. Once he started lying, he just couldn’t stop, especially after it earned him a powerful career. Interestingly, season 6 ended with Don apparently conquering his addiction to falsehoods as he finally showed his children the home in which he grew up, only a few episodes after a touching moment in which he finally realizes how much he loves his son.

Don again seems to be past his addiction to women that drove so much of the plot for six years. After marrying Megan, Don stayed faithful for a good length of time before falling off the wagon with the girl from Freaks and Geeks. I can’t say I blame him. But Don’s choice to forego the easy hookup speaks to his new development as a character. While his alcoholism is still prevalent, it’s clear that Don is trying to change and trying to become better. Will he succeed in time? Or is the suicide in the opening video ominous foreshadowing?

The most interesting development in the episode is the realization that Don is feeding ideas to Freddy Rumsen in order to keep working in secret. This is interesting because it’s never made clear that Don actually loves his job. It’s always assumed that he loves the money, the lifestyle, and the adulation. But his actions in this episode imply that perhaps Don’s work is another addiction, one that will likely bring him down in the end when it is taken away from him.

The rest of the cast appears to be at different points in their addiction cycles as well. Peggy and Pete seem to be on opposite ends of their quests for power. Pete seems finally to be happy, though that could be just a façade, while Peggy is dealing with another man standing in her way in a position that she certainly believes should be hers. Roger Sterling is caught up in perhaps the most obvious addictions, as he is likely doing drugs while partaking in nightly orgies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The remainder of the show looks like it will be built on the characters’ vices and if they can be conquered, or if the vices will inevitably conquer them. I can say with near certitude, however, that someone won’t make it out of this season alive.

Oh Freddy. What a return! The man spends the first few minutes of Mad Men’s seventh season pitching the hell out of a watch commercial. He’s clear, concise, and delivers maybe the best pitch of his career. We’re now a little more familiar with a clean and concise Freddy — he quit the bottle years ago after that unfortunate pants-soiling incident. But it was the “best pitch of his career” thing that really threw us for a jolt last night.

Of course, by episode’s end we get the truth: Don Draper, on indefinite leave from SC&P, has been feeding Freddy ideas all over town. Even as he battle his bi-coastal demons, Don shows he’s still the best in the business. But after the first episode of the year, one is left to wonder the end game: how exactly does boosting Freddy’s profile get Don back into SC&P? Is that even his goal?

This was the kind of season premiere that Mad Men does really well. Not all the players are on the field, but all of the important ones are in the mix, and we quickly get a sense that not much has changed in the two months since Don was asked to take a break. We got our time stamp on the episode — Richard Nixon’s January 20, 1969, inauguration — and I still am unsure we’ll ever to see Don in the 1970s.

As we get close to the end (and mid-2015 won’t feel close by the time we get there), the most pressing question, of course, is what will happen to Don Draper. Like one of TV’s other recent great characters, Rust Cohle from True Detective, I’m not convinced Don has the constitution for suicide. We’ve seen the falling man in the opening credits for years now, but that has always struck me as more a symbolic fall than a literal one. And it’s safe to say Don has made that symbolic fall many times over the years and is likely in the middle of his latest, deepest free fall. As he walked onto the balcony in the last scene, Don looked as low as we’ve ever seen him — drunk, defeated, alone.

I sense that’s a theme we’ll see highlighted in the first several episodes, but I expect some kind of resurgence for Mr. Draper. The last episode of season 6 included a lot of honesty from Don: the post-pitch childhood story he told the Hershey execs; the family trip to that dilapidated whorehouse where he grew up. I think there’s still morality somewhere buried deep in Don even if he wonders aloud in the airplane if he’s broken. Surely, but not necessarily irrevocably.

A scene that struck me last night was when Don was on the red-eye back to New York. He passes up what is sure to be a successful rendezvous with a beautiful stranger (looking at you, Neve Campbell), and as soon as he verbally ditches her and things get awkward, he opens the airplane’s window blind and sees the light — blinding sunlight announcing a new day, perhaps?

It was nice to catch up with Pete in Los Angeles (nice pants!), Roger in the midst of a (drug-fueled?) binge of sexual awakening and parental turmoil, and Megan, who seems as successful and completely discontent as we’ve ever seen her. It’s great to see Joan being assertive and trying to clean up others’ messes, but I’m hoping we get to see some genuine advancement for her character this year. After all of these years serving others and sacrificing so much, Joan deserves to be rewarded with a full-time ad job at the firm — or an initial on the logo even?

And what of Peggy Olson. She’s struggling to figure out Lou, Don’s dreary replacement at SC&P, as well as how to be a slumlord. Her breakdown at the end of the episode was powerful: a woman who is so tired of getting the short end of the stick. I also expect that Peggy turns a corner here. My theory has always been that the show will end with Don working for Peggy; with everyone working for Peggy. The first episode of this season implies that she has a long way to go, but something tells me she’ll get there.

As Mad Men enters the first half of its seventh and final season, a panel of viewers here at Curiata.com will engage in a roundtable discussion following each episode. Check back throughout the week for new entries in the series.

I caught up on the first six seasons of Mad Men over the last year, so this was the first episode I’ve ever watched along with the rest of the world. It’s exciting to finally be on the same page and not have to avoid spoilers. I settled in last night with a glass of Don’s drink of choice, Canadian Club, and realized what a terrible judge of whiskey he is.

It was great to see Freddy Rumsen again. That opening scene was intense, and the implication that he was speaking directly to us, the viewers, about something bigger than the Accutron watch was obvious. It’s also not a coincidence that the writers used a recovering alcoholic to be Don’s mole in the agency. Don’s own alcoholism has always been a simmering issue, but it came to the surface last season and is laid out as the central struggle of this one.

Viewers seem primed to anticipate one of two endgames for Don: he quits the bottle and returns to to form at the top of the advertising game, or he plunges to his death from his penthouse suite or the corner office of SC&P. I think Mad Men has built its reputation on too much subtlety to go either of those routes. I expect Don will enjoy a few sober weeks before crashing harder than he ever has before.

Don’s end will not be miraculous or suddenly tragic. Instead, he will fade into oblivion, the way we all will, as the world moves past him. I expect Peggy’s breakdown at the end of last night’s episode will come to be seen as the point at which she turned ruthless. She’ll find a way to get rid of that new guy (Lou?) before the end of our first set of seven episodes, and 2015 will bring the final showdown, when she seizes creative control of the agency and pushes Don into the role Roger has played for so long.

It was disappointing not to get any of sassy Sally last night, but we also have joint custody of the kids and can only see them in half the episodes. I expect another Don and Betty backslide this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them end up in an uneasy, sunset years resigned-to-fate relationship as the lights finally dim next year.

I’m interested to see what you all thought of last night’s show and where we’re headed for the remaining 13 hours of the series. One final thought: will Megan or any of Roger’s dalliances ever grow nipples?

Binge Watch is a new, collaborative column in which our contributors take turns recounting a season (or several seasons) of a series that they have just binge-watched. We begin with the first two seasons of HBO’s Veep.

Veep (HBO)
Where to binge: Seasons 1 and 2 available on HBO On Demand

Until last week, Veep lived comfortably in my mind’s “I’ll Get To It Eventually TV” world. It had a nice house right beside Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, and the old crotchety neighbor down the street, The Wire. This is a place made up of all of the shows my friends and family have been raving about for years, but I’ve long neglected due to time (or interest) restraints.

Over the course of just a few days, my wife and I devoured the two seasons of HBO’s critically-acclaimed comedy gem, Veep. Of course, the only problem is that once you’ve seen a show like this, you instantly become another voice in the annoying choir singing to the high-heavens that everyone must watch this show! So, at least you’ve been warned.

Veep marks another chapter in the television run of Seinfeld and New Adventures of Old Christine vet Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, a former U.S. senator who runs for president, suffers an embarrassing and as-yet-unexplained public embarrassment, and “settles” for becoming vice president. The show follows the Veep as she interacts with Washington, D.C., politicians and lobbyists and tries to manage her increasingly semi-incompetent staff. The ongoing riffs about the Veep’s insecurity and often overlooked political prowess are what drives most of the jokes in any given episode.

In a role tailored perfectly to her comedic stylings, Dreyfus is a delight, bouncing back and forth between playing a wounded politico and confident (vice) leader of the world. Whether she’s ripping into one of her assistants or, in the show’s best running gag, asking each day if the president has called for her (spoiler: he hasn’t), Dreyfus handles each line reading as if it were her own stand-up routine. And amazingly, in Dreyfus’ hands, the trials and tribulations of a vice president actually seem relatable: she’s a single mother of a college-aged daughter trying to figure things out. She just has to do all of this while overseeing the rescue of American hostages in foreign countries.

The story lines from the first two seasons have been all over the map: Veep uses her daughter’s birthday party to stage a budget negotiation, Veep gives her support to Israel while standing in front of a roasting pig at a North Carolina barbecue, etc. But this tactic also keeps the viewer invested in Selina and her circle. That circle, including My Girl’s Anna Chlumsky as chief of staff and Arrested Development vet Tony Hale as bag man, is turning into one of TV’s best ensembles. The ongoing story line about Mike the Press Secretary’s financial troubles provides consistent laughs over the first two seasons, and Hale — affectionately remembered for his portrayal of Buster Bluth — is the star of almost every scene he’s in.

Where does Veep stand in the history of TV comedies? Too early to tell. But this one feels right. Drawing inspiration from some great shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Party Down, and the aforementioned Arrested Development, Veep seems to be moving full-speed ahead. As with all binge watches, it’ll be difficult to stomach the week-to-week wait for new episodes now that I’m caught up. But I plan to be there each step of the way.

Veep returns for season 3 on Sunday, April 6, on HBO.