[dcbadacd]

If things like Star Trek were canceled season three, it'd never have reached such masses, it was a niche show at start but now there's even actual new generations watching The Next Generation. Long term decisions are hard, but if you take no risks, it's guaranteed nothing will pay off. Accidentally killing a next cult series or movie would be a huge misfortune.

[snowwrestler]

I think this depends on the structure of the series.

When all TV was by appointment (no easy way to rewatch), series emphasized self-contained episodes. You could watch half of the episodes of any season of Star Trek or TNG and still enjoy it. Same with other popular shows like Magnum PI, Law and Order, etc. There was some ongoing charater development, but it was pretty slow and minimal.

As rewatching got easier (essentially once market penetration of VCRs got high enough), popular series started introducing more serial story lines. X Files is a great example; it started off with mostly "monster of the week" self-contained stories, and then over time added "lore"--ongoing serial storylines.

On digital platforms, watching and rewatching are basically the same thing, so a series can be 100% serial storyline. Essentially, they are very long movies that are released one chapter at a time.

This has affected movies too. There's no way something like the MCU would have worked as a concept without very easy ways for viewers coming into the middle to go back and watch or re-watch earlier movies.

[dunnevens]

Soap operas in the age of pre-internet appointment television dealt with this problem in an interesting way. If you missed an episode or missed the entire week, you could always buy the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest which would have a summary of the week (or month's) story arc. Once a year or so, there would be magazines which would summarize the entire story arc of the show so new viewers could catch up. On a side note, if anyone is bored at work today, look up the Wikipedia entry for a long-running soap, like Days of Our Lives, which will have a synopsis of the entire story. It's quite epic, silly, and tawdry with a decades-long, no-breaks, no-jumps storyline.

I think for prime time viewing, Hill Street Blues was the first semi-serialized drama intended for viewers outside of the soap market. It had an interesting structure with A, B, and C plots. A plot gets resolved in a single episode. B plot is a 3-4 episode arc. And C plot lasts for the season. And then there was continuity from season to season. The show was decently successful, and paved the way for what we have now. One thing I find interesting is how many older viewers at the time thought it was too fast paced, too complex, and didn't enjoy it. They were too conditioned to the episodic norms. I'm sure the show would seem slow now to modern binge watchers.

[ghaff]

The other thing going on that probably affects some of these complex serialized shows is the Internet/Web. I suspect a lot of people would drop out of some of these shows that you almost have to watch each episode carefully twice in order to understand what's going on. Recaps and discussion boards make some of these shows more enjoyable and comprehensible IMO.

[scott_s]

Star Trek was cancelled after its third season.

(This is one of those pop culture facts I didn't realize until recently, as I never liked the original series, but adore Next Generation. All of its cultural impact was from just three seasons, and possibly most of its immediate impact from the first.)

[dingaling]

It was actually cancelled after its second season but a huge fan reaction persuaded the executives to renew it for a third, which was probably a mistake as that was by far the weakest season of the show.

[skocznymroczny]

I struggled with TOS since I watched TNG/DS9/VOY first. But then I started to enjoy it. It is still enjoyable for those retrofuturistic vibes, reminds me very much of classics like Time Machine or Forbidden Planet.

[_qulr]

> If things like Star Trek were canceled season three, it'd never have reached such masses

This comment strikes me as very strange. I guess you're talking about TNG? But the Original Series was canceled after the third season. Nonetheless, Star Trek reached the masses. The reruns in syndication became more popular than the original airings, and countless films and spinoffs resulted.

[brewdad]

I recently listened to a podcast interview with George Takei. One of the things he mentioned is that because ratings for TOS were so low, it became a cheap filler 5 nights a week in syndication. THAT'S when the show really took off and became a phenomenon.

[dcbadacd]

Well one thing is a "pause" in production, another one is total and final cancellation. Has any of the NF titles been resurrected yet?