Serialized TV shows have become popular in the past couple years, stemming from the popularity of shows like 24 and Lost. These shows rely on a central story arc that develops over time, episode by episode, and features character driven action and exciting twist and turns. Usually, the story arc is stretched over an entire season or series instead of the self-contained episodes of most traditional TV shows. Other shows that have adopted this method and is also gaining popularity are Dexter and Heroes. Why are these type of shows gaining such a large following? In the past, most TV programs operated on a stand-alone episode basis, with shows you could pick up on at anytime. I think, today, viewers want to be absorbed in engaging stories. Being the busy, on-the-go guy I am, I never really had much time to watch TV. That and I didn't have much interest to invest so much time into TV programs that didn't engage me the same way movies did. Then I see some news about Heroes and after I watch the first episode, I'm hooked. America can't get enough of these shows! There is one drawback though- network ratings.
TV Networks begin taking a gamble with show that feature a continuing story line arc. This fantastic nature of a serialized TV show can also be it's demise. People that catch the show from the beginning get hooked and stick with the show, but for those miss the beginning miss on important plot points which may alienate new viewers from entering the show. It's what happened to me and Lost, but luckily Lost gained enough popularity to last it 4 seasons. Some shows get cancelled before that can even finish.
Fox's 2005 Reunion was one of the unfortunate TV series that was cancelled before it could conclude. The synopsis of the show that each episode what a murder mystery between a close group of friends from their high school graduation to their 20th reunion where one of them is murdered by another. Each episode took place one year after another, slowly unraveling the mystery of who the killers was and their motive as to why and implied a definite ending. Unfortunately, even after initial great ratings, the show was cancelled due to falling ratings, and the mystery was never solved. Thousands of viewers who tuned in were left in the dust half way through the season probably wont see even a DVD release. Another program that has seen the same fate was ABC's Day Break staring Taye Diggs in another murder mystery. It was to feature only 13 episodes and was on air between Lost's short hiatus to tide viewers over, but even though there were many viewers (around 4 million) and great reviews, ABC decided to cancel the show in favor to air reruns.
Networks have a hard time backing their efforts in programing and it only effects the viewers and their favorite shows even more. Serialized programming requires viewers to be engaged in the show and not missing one episode. Some networks have taken steps in helping catch more viewers like Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles this pass Spring by replaying the season premier on multiple nights along with following episodes and other networks have already put up most of their programming online for free. Because of this, they can get more viewers for their shows. Hey, it worked with me and Lost (thank you ABC!!). I believe this is the way that TV programming needs to head toward.
No longer are we bound by showtimes, thanks to TiVo and other recording devices, we can watch shows whenever ever we want. People are getting busier and busier every day. I know I don't want to rush back home in time to watch Heroes or Lost, but I do anyway. It's what you and I are use to. But times are changing. I can watch my favorite show online now- and for free! I compare this the changing music industry. I talked a little about this in one of my last posts- how more and more bands are giving away their music, like Radio Head, Coldplay, and Nine Inch Nails. They do this in order to gain more listeners and ultimately more fans. Soon, we will be able to pay a monthly fee for all the music we want- like it's a utility. It's going to work in the music industry, why not adopt a familiar model for TV? It may be the only way serialized shows can survive and still successful, other than DVD sales and other merchandise. But before DVDs, before t-shirts, networks have to grab viewers before they decide to continue watching or not. And when they have viewers hooked, that's when the magic (or the money train) happens.
Don't disappoint us, you corporate whig-heads. If you have a great show, get us to watch it, and take a risk and stand by them!
Okay, I'm done. Back to watching Lost:)
7 comments:
I watched the first season of Lost and never could really get into it.
I'm pretty sure this idea of "serialized" tv shows has been around for a long time. In tv shows like batman or lost in space, they take the main character to a stopping point in the story (usually a "cliffhanger") and they continue in the next episode by saying "last time..." and pick up where the hero was in trouble.
now though, in my opinion, episodes are surprisingly self contained. sure, the characters have developed personalities, and the overarching story line is in middevelopment, but usually one can easily pick up on the personalities of the characters and the conflict that is facing them most full on. and within each episode, some sort of new challenge is started (cliffhanger) or concluded with a twist (also a cliffhanger).
my point is that this is not a new concept.
Actually, the form that serialized tv shows have adopted now has not been around for a long time. To be more specific, seasons that feature one major story arc like 24 and Heroes are new concept shows that have only in recent years gained popularity. For instance, the first season of Heroes deals with a bomb that may go off in NYC and the struggle to prevent that from happening. It began with the problem and ended with a resolution (somewhat;P) Shows like Batman and Lost in Space have a some what overarching storyline, but it contains many different plots in the show with the occasional mini-series/story arc that may last 2-3 episodes.
The format for most serialized shows today start with a beginning and has a definite ending that concludes the main story arc (which could of course lead to other story arcs and/or sequels/seasons). This makes it harder to catch and hold onto if you miss a couple episodes. I could miss some episodes of Batman and be completely fine.
This format is all over the place now, but it only began gaining popularity within the past 5 years, mainly stemming from the success of 24 and Lost. And because of their success, networks began cranking out serialized shows because it was the new thing to do. It's a fairly new concept that rewards its viewers in a different way and requires them to watch every episode to get the most of the story line.
sorry, but i'm still not seeing a difference. individual short-stories within batman and superman (for example) are equivalent to today's subplots. i think the only difference is that the series of today don't present these side stories in chronological order like they did in the past. so a side note in the past may have lasted 2-3 episodes in a row, but today a sidestory is no different. that same story may also be 2-3 episodes but the story is only addressed intermittently over a season (maybe as many as 15-20 episodes). this leads me to conclude that this is a metamorphosis or evolution rather than a complete overhaul.
secondly: i suppose you have a point with the whole "definite conclusion" bit because batman was a story that was never ending (until the writer a) let/made batman die or b) ran out of ideas for sub-plots). but these new shows DO have the potential to be as neverending as batman. i think the problem with this, though, lies in society's want for gratification and closure. superheros are no longer possible because we have gained the ability (at a young age) to criticize and effectively lost the ability to idolize.
on another note: what has caused this move (evolution or not) towards non-chronological storytelling? i think this goes back to the criticize/idolize observation. through foreshadowing and psychological manipulation, we are no longer able to predict the outcome of a situation. this gives writers an open-endedness that has never before been established. in the past batman would meet a new foe, face him, falter, regain composure, and slaughter him like the gotham scum that he is. very cut and dry. this aristotle intro-conflict-resolution style makes for a very predictable theater. nowadays, like i said, everything is unpredictable. because we cannot predict, we cannot criticize beforehand, leading us to be enthralled simply because we don't know what's going to happen next.
other speculations?
The biggest difference in serialized shows and the traditional shows (like we've been mentioning- batman, etc.) is that the subplots in traditional tv shows are mostly stand-alone stories, while the subplots in a serialized show contribute to the main overarching story line. Take for instance, shows like Friends or Seinfeld. Most episodes are self-contained with a beginning, middle, and end. Of course, there may be references to past episodes, and even continuations, but there isn't just one absolute story arc that every episode contributes to.
You can also apply this to batman. Some episodes will be about his struggle with the Joker, while some will be about his other villains. There's no doubt that each episode contributes to the story about Batman fighting crime and saving Gotham city, but there isn't a central plot that each episode contributes itself to.
Each subplot in shows like Lost or Heroes are very important to the overall story and usually explain more of what is going on, like character motivations/backgrounds or facts that were not known to the viewer. They are usually are the moments where we think, "OOoooh, well that's why this person is this way," or "that explains why this happened earlier."
I'm not trying to make up a new genre of TV shows, this is pretty much standard lingo that the networks and affiliates have discussed and incorporated. Other editors and columnist have reported on this topic and it's featured on wikipedia. I was trying to make a case for networks to have the show more available to the public so that viewers may be able to get into these type of shows. They require more than just the occasional viewing. They require the viewer to be enthralled in the show and to not miss a single episode.
About the speculation as to how this style became so popular- I think it may have some relation to movies and their evolution into more elaborate and unconventional story-telling. Movie story-telling has become a lot more elaborate in the past couple decades. Instead of the predictable method you spoke of, writers and directors have come up with great new ways to tell stories. Remember The Sixth Sense and what it did for plot twists, probably until the end of time? Also Quentin Tarantino popularized the method of retrospectives and non-linear story lines. I think writers looked at the TV show format and saw a lot of potential for some serious story telling and started to innovate the way we watch shows. All these traits can be seen in TV shows today. Because of that popularity, TV shows are seeing higher budgets than ever before, rivaling even movie studio productions.
The problem with this format, though, is that writers think of an awesome story-line for a season of a new show, but after it's conclusion or finale, it's hard to think of a similar yet different story to follow up on for a second season. Kind of like awesome movies with really bad sequels. Some shows like 24 and Lost have manage to keep going on though. Traditional formats do not have to worry about this because since there is not a clear ending in sight, writers can keep adding new stories and adventures for characters for the show. If there is an ending, it's because the rating have begun to slip and the writers are one way or another forced to end it. Serialized dramas have an ending because of the natural progression of the story.
What I thought when I read this was about soap operas. Soap operas have been going on for decades but I think one might be able to argue they are serialized. I do however agree that superhero shows are NOT, although I liked Colin's point about the same subplots being present in serialized shows as other shows but just spread out across more episodes.
Yes, I agree soap opera can be a form of serialized programming. In fact, soap operas are probably the roots of where serialized programming is today. Even though they have been popular for many, many years, they haven't reached wide spread popularity with the broader demographic until shows like 24 and Lost came into the seen.
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