'House of Cards' gives binge viewers 'what they want,' a full season all at once

By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor

The way we watch TV is changing, and it seems some boob-tube execs are paying attention. We want it all -- as in full seasons' worth of addictive dramas and creative comedies, and we want it without the wait.

Sure, we could watch shows the old-fashioned way -- scoping out a series premiere, growing more interested as the weeks go by, enduring midseason breaks and reruns until we finally get to the payoff, the finale. Unless of course, we lose track of what night of the week it's on, forget to set the DVR, miss a few eps and never watch again.

In this instant gratification world, more and more viewers are picking up the binge-watching habit -- knocking out a season (or two or three) of a buzzed about program over a long weekend. One new show offers the chance to do that without the usual delay of waiting for the series to actually air a slow season first.

Starting Friday, Netflix subscribers will be able to watch the entire first season (13 episodes) of "House of Cards," an intense political drama starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, straight from premiere to finale.

The stars stopped by TODAY Friday and gave their take on the TV trend.

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"If you've talked to any of your friends, 'What did you do over the weekend?' So many times I'm hearing friends of mine saying, 'Oh, I stayed home and I watched, you know, two seasons of 'Breaking Bad,' I watched two seasons of 'Dexter,'" Spacey explained. "So two things that tells us: One, people do have long attention spans, which I think for many years in television, many thought they didn't. And if they're consuming it that way ... it's because people want it all. They don't want to wait."

According to Wright, delivering programming the way viewers really watch it, just makes sense. After all, the customer is always right.

"I think this trend that we wanted to fall prey to, in a sense, it's Consumerville, USA," she said. "So why not give the people what they want instead of dangling the bait."

How do you watch your favorite shows? Take our poll below and then go to our Facebook page and tell us what you think of the way "House of Cards" is meeting consumer demand.

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2012

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'Princess Bride's' Robin Wright on co-star Cary Elwes : 'I was so in love with him'

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

Over the past 25 years, "The Princess Bride" has become a cult classic that rivals "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" for sheer quotability. It had magic, torture, true love, poisonings, swordplay and a giant, for crying out loud!

But did it have romance behind the scenes?

TODAY's Lester Holt sat down with three of the film's key players on Wednesday -- director Rob Reiner and stars Robin Wright and Cary Elwes -- to find out the scoop.

And it turns out, it's not inconceivable!

"Oh, I was so in love with him, oh, my God," said Wright.

Holt wondered about the rumor that Wright asked for more takes for the final kissing scenes.

"Yes, that is true," she admitted.

"I think that was me," said Elwes.

Unrequited romance or not, the leads certainly conveyed passion throughout the film. But today, Reiner admits they really had no idea it would take off the way it has. "You're not thinking of anything (like a classic movie)," he said. "You're just thinking you're trying to make a movie that you think entertains you, and hopefully it'll entertain a lot of other people."

As you wish.