The Orville, Series or serial?

[Jeffbert]

I was speculating on the ending of this two part story 2.08 - 2.09 Identity, based upon my assumption that this was a series, not a serial. Which, to me, means that whatever was the situation when the episode starts, e.g., the main character is broke, he must be broke when it ends. So, suppose he wins the lottery, he must lose all that money, by the end. That type of thing. So, at the beginning, the Kaylons are friendly toward the Union guys, thus they must be so at the end. Nothing of substance can change. My Bad.

Granted, one character departed the show, and several joined, but it still seemed like a series.

It seems that serials are now the norm. TWD, FTWD, Izombie, The Flash, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, etc. The Orville seems difficult to classify as either a series or a serial, up until a few episodes ago.

 

[Dave]

TV (in the USA at least) used to be syndicated by the studios as an entire series (and needed a certain number of episodes - 140, I think - to enable this.) It was then shown in any order that the TV station who bought it wished. So, the reset button was necessary, you couldn't have someone married one week, the next week single, then married again the next. Whatever happened, it had to un-happen again before the end of that episode for the syndicated series to make any sense.

Today, that isn't necessary, the need isn't there, and the rule books are thrown away. In real life, things naturally evolve; people change, grow older and wiser. It just reflects real life more - if it is possible that you can do that when the character can read minds, fly through the air, turn into a muscled monster, or shoot lasers from his eyes!

 

[BAYLOR]

TV (in the USA at least) used to be syndicated by the studios as an entire series (and needed a certain number of episodes - 140, I think - to enable this.) It was then shown in any order that the TV station who bought it wished. So, the reset button was necessary, you couldn't have someone married one week, the next week single, then married again the next. Whatever happened, it had to un-happen again before the end of that episode for the syndicated series to make any sense.

Today, that isn't necessary, the need isn't there, and the rule books are thrown away. In real life, things naturally evolve; people change, grow older and wiser. It just reflects real life more - if it is possible that you can do that when the character can read minds, fly through the air, turn into a muscled monster, or shoot lasers from his eyes!

Im not sure but I think 90 episodes are the minimum for syndication in the US.


Shows like Babylon 5 changed things. Long story arks did away wot the Reset button.

However , I you go further back in time, anime tv shows like Space Battleship Yamato ( Star Blazers) in the early 1970's, did long serialized story arcs.

 

[Dave]

Im not sure but I think 90 episodes are the minimum for syndication in the US.

It is 90 or thereabouts. Google is your friend here - "Most full-run seasons of TV shows are 22 episodes long. So 88 episodes would be at least 4 full seasons. And actually, most of the time, 100 episodes is the magic number for syndication ."