The Genesis of the Television Serial

In the 1940s, when television was just beginning, the dramatic presentations were created to be simple, singular programs, just in case there was some sort of ‘abrupt ending’; such as the star going on to movies or the station dropping the program.

Television went into it’s ‘Golden Age’ in the 1950s.   There was a number of different genres, from the Entertainment,  The Ed Sullivan Show, (which began in 1947 and ran until 1971),  The Colgate Comedy Hour, which aired 1950 to 1955, to the comedy, from “I Love Lucy” to “Father Knows Best”, and, of course, Westerns; Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza, just to name a few.

There were other dramas; Dragnet, a police show, Perry Mason, an attorney, Superman, and Twilight Zone.

Each show was complete in itself.   It began with it’s opening music, it’s little cast, and then went into the action.  Missing an episode of these dramas was not of note as the plots were not particularly complex, and the only carry over from one week to another was the cast, (usually one star; in some cases a standard co-Star) and the locale.

The pattern was ‘episodic’.

This is very important to comprehend and is an American quirk.   British programmes of the time in the drama genre, tended to have story arcs so that one needed to watch them in sequence.

Most British progammes had story arcs so that each episode fit between other episodes so that a particular story was told.  Even where a show appeared episodic, the referencing of earlier episodes was standard, and one would not comprehend how a particular character wound up in a particular position unless they had watched from the beginning.

Through the next decades, American shows stayed episodic while British shows had beginnings, middles and ends.

The problem with American shows was that having a Star meant that if the show was a hit he would want more money or he would leave.  As the show revolved around him. If the actor who played the character died, the show ended.

Many programs suffered this attitude of its ‘Star’.

British television, beyond the ‘soap opera’ and comedy, had limited dramas.  The story line would be created, the episodes set, the cast hired for a limited time, and the shooting began and ended.   If the show was a hit, another season could be created if it were possible; i.e.  the original didn’t end with the deaths of the characters or had been a historical drama where there could be no new episodes.

Hence, a major difference was that a cast was signed on for a particular period of time at a particular salary for a particular short season, hence six or nine or twelve episodes.  At the end of the season, the renewal of the show depended on whether it was cost effective and had the viewership to validate that renewal.

In short, no ‘star’ could stamp his foot and demand more money to continue.

Another difference between American and British programs is based on the lack of commercials in British programs.  An episode had no ‘time limit’, so could go more than 60 minutes.   American shows had to have their commercial breaks, begin at a particular time and end at a particular time, so that an ‘hour’ show was between 45 and 47 minutes long.

Over time, American producers began to catch the fact that having ‘a star’ meant they were at the mercy of the star.  Having a cast of a number of replaceable characters allowed shows to continue on and on if they were popular.

The very popular C.S.I. had an interesting ‘glitch’ in 2008.   The ‘Star’  decided he wanted more money, one of the popular co-stars agreed, so the co-star was killed, the ‘Star’ replaced, and the show continued.

This paradigm has been duplicated a number of times, and has allowed many shows to survive because the ‘Star’ can not hold the show to ransom.

Further, it must be understood that in the 1950s and into the 1960s television was considered a side-line to movies.  Actors didn’t want to ‘waste their time’ on television when they could go into movies.

This attitude towards television began to change in the 1990s when many more intelligent actors realised that the viewership for a television program was quite large and offered a better chance of success than the one off motion picture, which could die at the box office and take them with it, where a television program, with good ratings, gave them not merely this pay check, but more pay cheques if it went into syndication once it’s prime time life ended.

Producers stopped looking for the Star on which to pin the show and went for the ‘ensemble’ .  This became the new normal for American television.

Most hit shows have five or more ‘stars’.   Whether you want to look at NCIS or Grey’s Anatomy, or any other popular television program, very few depend on Star/Co-Star.   Most have enough peripheral characters so that the ‘Star’ or ‘Co-Star’ can be replaced without great dislocation.

Further, many shows move away from strictly ‘episodic’ to Story Arc; i.e. Breaking Bad, Lost, Homeland, The Sopranos, Quantico, etc. so that there was a need to watch each episode in sequence so as not to ‘miss’ anything.

Although not a ‘novel’ put to visual, as many British programs are, so that missing an episode is like missing a chapter in a book, America programs have moved to the connecting links between one episode and the next so as to gain loyal viewer ship.

Unlike being able to pop in and out of one of the 50s programs, missing nothing if one misses a few episodes, the modern program, which often begins; “Previously on…(name of show)” and show snippets to get the viewer up to date,  makes one ‘need’ to watch each show in sequence so as to truly enjoy the program.