Hello all. I had made a post about this over in the Constantine boards but this is something that has been on my mind a lot lately and would love to hear your opinions on.
It seems that in this current television landscape, the most popular, most acclaimed most buzzed about television shows are the heavily serialized shows with an engrossing story that hooks you from the get go and keeps you guessing and wanting more at the end of each episode (Breaking Bad, 24, LOST, Dexter, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Revenge, ARROW etc.) Yet, despite this, it seems there is an almost stubborn belief amongst most television networks that their shows MUST be episodic so that "anyone can jump in at any time." While maybe decade ago that would have been true, I believe that it just is not the case anymore. Episodic television, imo, is completely obsolete.
With episodic tv shows, the ones that have one and done stories in every episode, there is no sense of urgency or sense of intrigue to watch the net installment. If there's no story, no hook, no cliffhanger, what is going to prompt the viewer to eagerly anticipate the next episode? People want to be engrossed in a story, a mystery, an ongoing saga that keeps you guessing and sparks conversation. LOST was the king of that and became immensely popular because of it. Breaking Bad became a phenomenon because its strong word of mouth prompted people to get on Netflix and marathon the seasons they've missed so that they can get caught up and become a part of the discussion. You can't do that with "one and done" tv shows therefore it baffles me that these tv networks still insist that a heavily serialized show out the gte is going to hurt their shows. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D learned that lesson the hard way. It has vastly improved now but I would argue that if it had just delved immediately into its main story out the gate then more people would've been intrigued to keep tuning in.
What do you guys think about this? Is there a major downside to serialized tv that I'm not seeing?
It seems that in this current television landscape, the most popular, most acclaimed most buzzed about television shows are the heavily serialized shows with an engrossing story that hooks you from the get go and keeps you guessing and wanting more at the end of each episode (Breaking Bad, 24, LOST, Dexter, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Revenge, ARROW etc.) Yet, despite this, it seems there is an almost stubborn belief amongst most television networks that their shows MUST be episodic so that "anyone can jump in at any time." While maybe decade ago that would have been true, I believe that it just is not the case anymore. Episodic television, imo, is completely obsolete.
With episodic tv shows, the ones that have one and done stories in every episode, there is no sense of urgency or sense of intrigue to watch the net installment. If there's no story, no hook, no cliffhanger, what is going to prompt the viewer to eagerly anticipate the next episode? People want to be engrossed in a story, a mystery, an ongoing saga that keeps you guessing and sparks conversation. LOST was the king of that and became immensely popular because of it. Breaking Bad became a phenomenon because its strong word of mouth prompted people to get on Netflix and marathon the seasons they've missed so that they can get caught up and become a part of the discussion. You can't do that with "one and done" tv shows therefore it baffles me that these tv networks still insist that a heavily serialized show out the gte is going to hurt their shows. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D learned that lesson the hard way. It has vastly improved now but I would argue that if it had just delved immediately into its main story out the gate then more people would've been intrigued to keep tuning in.
What do you guys think about this? Is there a major downside to serialized tv that I'm not seeing?
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