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[Rean no Kiseki]

I was watching RLM's re;view of Star Trek Picard the other day, and I got to the part where they talked about how traditional tv episodic style is dying and is being replaced by the Netflix model of "binge" watching and every episode being important and very connected to the next or previous ones, kinda like a movie.

It got me thinking really about my favorite shows and why i like them, to be clear i knew nothing about Star Trek but i did start season 1 of TNG and i'm enjoying it.

So here's some of my favorite shows, ER (S1-8), Angel, Scrubs, Seinfeld, Frasier, Smallville etc.

All of these shows i could watch any episode of any season any time and have a great time.

Nowadays if i wanted to say watch an episode of Stranher Things or the like, I can't start watching any random episode, i need to watch it from the beginning like a movie which sucks.

I don't know why these two models don't co-exist like these binge designed shows should be like a mini series which goes for like 10-20 episodes max, and has a ending in mind from the start, i hate the trend of adapting movies from the past into a series and i despise West World exactly because it took a fine ambitious movie and turned it into a mess.

So what are your thoughts on the matter dear gaffots?

 

[Stiflers Mom]

I think after the success of the Mandalorian and its episodic format, we might fortunately see more in this vein again on television.
You are not the only person being tired by serialized TV.

 

[GreyHorace]

There's still a bunch of network TV that follows the episodic format. I think because streaming TV series' get more public exposure nowadays we often mistake it for the only TV around.

And as someone mentioned, The Mandalorian is a streaming show that follows the episodic format, as does Netflix's The Witcher. I don't think the format is going to die out anytime soon.

 

[Blade2.0]

I've never really liked episodic content.

 

[Airola]

Nah, there are about billion hospital series still going around and all of them are about one or two odd cases to be solved within one episode.
I think this type of show still holds on no problem.

 

[Master Of Illusion]

Most comedy stays with the episodic format (and even stuff like Curb while it has a seasonal arc you could still jump in anytime and enjoy).

I will say there feels like there's a point to watching something continuous compared to episodic. The middle of The Mandelorian kinda lagged for this reason.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Alarming? No. It's a miracle, we have finally evolved into something better. Some shows work well with contained stories like The Twilight Zone but I prefer my tv shows like my movies, with story and character progression. Even the examples you mentioned have those and the fact that you watched random episodes from them just tells me you dont really care much about them anyway. I find your claim that you cant watch TV shows like Stranger Things because you cant start from a random episode ridiculous to be honest. If you can watch random episodes, theres no reason you cant watch from start to finish. No one is forcing you to watch them in a day or two. You can watch an episode per week and it would still make sense. Pardon my condescending tone.

 

[Constant Flux]

I like both formats to be perfectly honest. I don’t want one replacing the other, though. I feel like the best approach is a mixture of the two which I find in anime quite a bit.

 

[Fbh]

Aside from comedies or shows like Black Mirror where it's a new story with a new case every time, I've never really liked episodic content so for me this isn't an issue

 

[Hulk_Smash]

What about hybrid models like The Office or X-Files? Where you have some season-stretching character and story arch episodes and real change happens. But in the middle of the season you have episodic one-off episodes as well.

I think Lost could have used more one-off episodes to help develop character than to always have to tie in the bigger story.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Alarming? No. It's a miracle, we have finally evolved into something better. Some shows work well with contained stories like The Twilight Zone but I prefer my tv shows like my movies, with story and character progression. Even the examples you mentioned have those and the fact that you watched random episodes from them just tells me you dont really care much about them anyway. I find your claim that you cant watch TV shows like Stranger Things because you cant start from a random episode ridiculous to be honest. If you can watch random episodes, theres no reason you cant watch from start to finish. No one is forcing you to watch them in a day or two. You can watch an episode per week and it would still make sense. Pardon my condescending tone.

I wouldn't call most of the glacial pace, razor thin plots, pointless padding, vacuous side plots, overexposed minor characters and lack of any real pay off or conclusions most serialized shows have to be an improvement.

Self contained stories often keep the writing tight and focused, and far better highlight the more epic nature and greater scale of multi episode stories and overarching narratives when such episodic shows do have them too.

Star Trek Voyager was broadly a bit toss, and a vast step down from TNG and DS9, but at least its episodic nature meant that there are plenty of diamonds in the rough that can be enjoyed without needing to sit through the huge amount of drek to understand them.

Conversely Discovery and Picard are a grey morass of awful that traps any potential for so much as a single good hour of Star Trek in it's need to keep going with the same awful continuous plot.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Personally I like the shows with a mix of main storyline episodes and 'case of the week' episodes. Supernatural or Person of Interest can be good examples of such shows. I don't like when the show doesn't have any ongoing main plot unless it's a sitcom.

 

[Pagusas]

I don’t know what you are talking about OP, there are still tons of episodic formula tv shows on. The Sci-fi gender has just moved away from it as it doesn’t lend itself well to grand story telling arcs that have become popular thanks to B5, DS9, BSG and many others.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

I don’t know what you are talking about OP, there are still tons of episodic formula tv shows on. The Sci-fi gender has just moved away from it as it doesn’t lend itself well to grand story telling arcs that have become popular thanks to B5, DS9, BSG and many others.

I mean you're not wrong but let's face it TV is a dying medium and without advertising all these shows on network TV would die.
And you can make a series episodic and with arcs like Buffy, Angel and Fringe.

 

[AV]

TV is a dying medium and without advertising all these shows on network TV would die.

Which is exactly why episodic shows are shrinking in number, because you no longer have to rely on watching whichever random episode is currently airing at that specific time. Netflix or whichever platform will always remember which episode you're up to, so even the shows you mentioned in the OP like Scrubs can be watched in order. You still get the individual goodness but you also know what's going on in the overarching narrative. Why would you want to go back to the way it was? It's been going on since VHS/DVD box sets, it's just the norm now.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I think episodic shows can get a little careless, binge watching is the new hot thing.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I wouldn't call most of the glacial pace, razor thin plots, pointless padding, vacuous side plots, overexposed minor characters and lack of any real pay off or conclusions most serialized shows have to be an improvement.

Self contained stories often keep the writing tight and focused, and far better highlight the more epic nature and greater scale of multi episode stories and overarching narratives when such episodic shows do have them too.

Star Trek Voyager was broadly a bit toss, and a vast step down from TNG and DS9, but at least its episodic nature meant that there are plenty of diamonds in the rough that can be enjoyed without needing to sit through the huge amount of drek to understand them.

Conversely Discovery and Picard are a grey morass of awful that traps any potential for so much as a single good hour of Star Trek in it's need to keep going with the same awful continuous plot.

No doubt there's a risk that the main plot can suck ass and you're just watching 10-20-30 episodes of it compared to one story completed in 1 episode like Black Mirror, but honestly, there are so many good tv shows these days I will never have an issue finding a good one. I have no idea what's going on with Picard, but what happened that it went from praise to hate in the span of 3 episodes? lol

 

[Trojita]

Monster of the Week episodes of X-Files and Supernatural are the patrician's choice.

 

[Potato Chip PRO]

When the show is sooo good.. It pisses me off to wait another week to see the next episode. Episodic can kiss my rear

 

[Stilton Disco]

No doubt there's a risk that the main plot can suck ass and you're just watching 10-20-30 episodes of it compared to one story completed in 1 episode like Black Mirror, but honestly, there are so many good tv shows these days I will never have an issue finding a good one. I have no idea what's going on with Picard, but what happened that it went from praise to hate in the span of 3 episodes? lol

True enough.

Also I'm just going off my opinion on Picard, I've found it to be shite since the first episode.

 

[Nymphae]

Episodic is better, I was just talking about this with a guy at work the other day. We have a desire to consume things immediately and this certainly does scratch an itch in the moment, but I think we're better off having to wait a bit more for things.

I felt it again with the Twin Peaks revival - the anticipation of the next episode, thinking about it all week long, mulling over existing details and thinking about possibilities of what's to come, talking about it with other people who were experiencing the exact same thing - the "event" feeling of watching the new episodes at the same time with everyone else. THIS is TV at it's best IMO, it allows you to appreciate it much more, and the social experience is better.

We traded this for binging - now you can't even talk about a show until you know the other Consoomers have dutifully binged the entire thing, because oh no spoilers.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

I think it’s more like we just have too many shitty writers who know how to do grammar well use tropes and throw in a meta reference but their real talent is networking to get jobs and they can’t tell an original story with a start middle and end to save their lives.

A lot of the problem is that this stuff is purposely written to not have an ending. They do this so they can stretch whatever out to fit whatever episode length. I see it all the time in coverage of modern shows “nothing happened in this episode” because the goal is not telling stories, it is producing content. Mandalorian certainly feels like the best current example of padding airtime without really driving a story. I mean by the final episode it feels like the second act has just started.

That’s said you can still find self contained episodic storytelling. But In general we have rewarded mediocrity and that’s what we’ll continue to get.

 

[Nymphae]

That’s said you can still find self contained episodic storytelling.

I've been binging the shit out of Doctor Who, and I like how they do it. It mostly feels like self contained stories, a few multi parters, with larger arcs connecting the whole. But it gives me that old monster of the week X-files feel at times, I have no idea what I'm gong to get each episode.

But binging it, while enjoyable in it's own ways, has made me think about how awesome it would have been to literally grow up with this show. I love the Tennant run now, but watching it like this made me realize how much more I would have loved it had I partaken in the events as they unfolded - if I had to wait and talk about it each week with people, etc. Binging feels great but it's just not the same.

 

[AV]

...watching it like this made me realize how much more I would have loved it had I partaken in the events as they unfolded - if I had to wait and talk about it each week with people, etc. Binging feels great but it's just not the same.

Lost was only really good after the first season because of everyone watching it and speculating together. Those weekly 4chan threads were amazing. Some of that magic is definitely lost just binging it alone.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Part of me likes bingeing a show but with Watchmen I dug the weekly rollout again. Episodes of a show like that need a week to breathe

 

[jason10mm]

It is a double edged sword for me. One the one hand episodic tv requires a strong base with good characters that have repeatable relationships and a set up for one off adventures. But on the gripping hand this means they are relatively static, the stakes are low, the conflict usually trite and easily resolved in a single episode.

Serialized stuff can be much more weighty and involved. Alas the sheer amount and pace of content these days leaves little time to produce quality writing beyond a cool hook and maybe pilot episode. So unless it is a very short series the serialized nature usually means it drags ass with a lot of meandering bits to pad it out. The marvel netflix shows are classic examples of this.

Netflix knows series are more popular than movies. So they are stretching movie worthy pitches into series. I wish they would do more "part 1-2" movies broken into evening digestible bites rather than 10 part movies spread reeeaaalll thin.