Yeah, it seems like a lot of new TV shows are really serials instead of episodic. I think that true episodic TV (where each episode was a distinct story in the context of the larger universe) is dying. On one hand this is nice because the stories can be more complex. On the other, it's annoying because if you miss one, you're screwed.
More disturbing to me is how serialization interacts with network programming. For example, the six month gap in Stargate: Atlantis. How nice that B.G. is going to get a whole season in with out repeats (see comment about missing an ep. above) but if SciFi is concerned about the ratings for Stargate, what's going to happen when all the non-die-hard fans are supposed to pick up the second half of SGA in March? Plus, most other TV shows will have already started new spring episodes and people will have their habits already set. So unless you're a B.G. fan and a SGA fan, and therefore already in the viewing habit, people are going to have to change what they're doing and that worries me.
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More disturbing to me is how serialization interacts with network programming. For example, the six month gap in Stargate: Atlantis. How nice that B.G. is going to get a whole season in with out repeats (see comment about missing an ep. above) but if SciFi is concerned about the ratings for Stargate, what's going to happen when all the non-die-hard fans are supposed to pick up the second half of SGA in March? Plus, most other TV shows will have already started new spring episodes and people will have their habits already set. So unless you're a B.G. fan and a SGA fan, and therefore already in the viewing habit, people are going to have to change what they're doing and that worries me.