The Top 10 of Serialized TV

Serials have by far the most dedicated of fanbases of all TV shows. While it may be difficult for a new viewer to begin tuning into a serial after it's already been on the air for a while, those who have been watching from the beginning tend to become hooked immediately and then, in turn, seek out other fans of the show to form a community known as a "following" or a "cult following".

Unlike story-of-the-week shows, where once one episode is over all is resolved, serials rely on keeping the full nature of their stories hidden so that the viewer is forced to tune in each week to learn new elements the story has to reveal. This causes the shows loyal viewers to grow a particular bond where they can discuss the show together and share their theories and speculations about the shows possible outcomes, themes, and meanings.

These fanbases are especially big online, usually on internet message boards. They also gather at conventions such a Comic-Con, where fans dress up as their favorite characters, discuss their shows with each other, and involve themselves in seminars, workshops, and even panel discussions with the shows creators and cast.

The relationships formed due to peoples shared passion of these shows are on par with relationships acquired of those with a similar religion. While it may sound odd to the outsiders, when your flock congregates, the feeling is truly divine.

Networks see serials as risk, so they're extremely hesitant about airing them. Their fear is that if a viewer doesn't start watching from the get-go, they most likely won't tune in later on. And if they do tune in midway through the series, chances are they won't know what the heck is going on and will change the channel before you can say frakk.

Another problem the networks have with serials is that they're not likely to do well in reruns. As a rule, serials are meant to be watch in chronological order where each episode is a continuation of the last to understand what's going on. If random reruns are shown in equally random timeslots chances are that even the fans won't stick around to watch them -- no one likes walking into a movie midway through, and that's essentially what one does when they walk into a serial after the first episode.

And while the DVD sells of serials often perform much better than episodic shows, many people prefer to just wait till the show has already aired before they buy them (so that they can watch the show straight through without commercials) and as well all know, if people aren't watching the commercials, the networks aren't getting paid.

As a result of these problems, networks sometimes ask show runners to reduce serialization, believing that if they had more standalone episodes new viewers would have a better jumping on point and be more likely to watch. Shows such as Alias, Damages, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica have suffered from this kind of network pressure -- the aforementioned Battlestar episodes were criticized very badly for this change by both critics and fans and immediately (thankfully) changed back to their former serialized format, and recovered from the initial negative responses... Heroes, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky.