There's a good chance that you first discovered Arrested Development on DVD. It probably wasn't via terrestrial TV because to track it down on BBC Two, you needed dedication, chronic insomnia and the will of an ox. And it probably wasn't via digital TV either, because FX tends to show it at about 8am on Saturdays – the worst possible time to broadcast a lightning-fast, impenetrably dense sitcom.

So, because you probably saw it on DVD first, there's a weird kind of sense to Arrested Development announcing its plans to release an entire series of 10 episodes via Neflix on the same day, as it did this week. Fans of the show are used to greedily slurping it up as a boxset, so this is simply a reflection of their viewing patterns. It's also not the first time this has happened – Steve Van Zandt's weird Norwegian drama series Lillehammer was also released in one big chunk earlier this year in the US.

But is this actually how anybody wants their TV to be delivered?

It'd be easy to argue not. The concept of watercooler television hasn't really existed in any meaningful form for some time thanks to the rise of fragmented, non-linear viewing, but that still doesn't mean that all television should be exclusively dolloped out to us by the series. Some viewers would sit there and hoover the whole series up in one go. Others would portion episodes out evenly over a number of weeks, or save the lot for a later date.

Nobody would ever know how much anyone else had watched. They'd stop going to the watercooler, let alone talking, for fear that they'd accidentally spoil an episode that someone else hadn't seen. We'd all be mute and dehydrated if that happened. People might die of thirst. Arrested Development could actually end up killing someone.

On the other hand: isn't this already happening? Take Mad Men as an example: I'm waiting for the new series to come out on DVD, but other people I know stream it illegally straight after it airs in America, and a handful of crazy nonconformists even watch – or record – it via Sky Atlantic. As a result, because we're all getting our information at different times, it's becoming natural to exercise a basic level of caution when discussing plot points; to try and sidestep spoilers. The more shows do this, the more normal this behaviour becomes.

Perhaps how things are broadcast should depends on the programme in question. Arrested Development is a special case here. The prospect of a reunion has been slavishly dribbled over since the third series came off air six years ago. People will swoop on new material however it comes, so they're unlikely to complain if an entire series gets dumped in their laps in one go.

Plenty of other shows wouldn't be able to get away with it. Arrested Development has enough of a rabid fanbase to justify charging for an entire series. Most other shows – say, for example, Eddie Stobart: Trucks And Trailers – probably don't. You wouldn't want all shows to be made available in this way. It's even a gamble for Arrested Development – and if it doesn't pay off for this show, then it's hard to imagine when it would.