Note: This article is about serials in literature and the audio-visual media.

Disambiguation Note: You might want, instead:

• Serial communications for information about computer communication technologies that use a single stream of data;
• serial port, a specific computer device;
• Serialism, in music.

In telecommunications and computer science, serial communications refers to any data transmission scheme in which data is sent one symbol at one time, sequentially over a communications channel. ... A male DE-9 serial port on the rear panel of a PC. In computing, a serial port is an interface on a computer system with which information is transferred in or out one bit at a time (contrast parallel port). ... Serialism is a rubric applied to diverse systems of composing music in which various elements of a piece are ordered according to a pre-determined set or sets of musical pitches (sometimes called rows), and variations on them. ...

Definition

Serial is a term, originating in literature, for a format by which a story is told in contiguous installments in sequential issues of a single periodical publication. By extension, it also came to apply to a film issued in the same installment manner over a period of sequential weeks at a single movie house. This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ...

In recent times, the term has been used to define any radio or television production with any continuous evolution of a unified plot and set of characters character spread over multiple episodes and even years (see, e.g., soap opera ). The unity of plot and contiguity across numerous episodes, and the contiguity of these episodes, distinguishes a radio or television serial from a radio or television series. The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... In a general sense, a series is a related set of things that occur one after the other or are otherwise connected one after the other. ...

Print

During the 19th century, many popular writers earned a living from writing stories in serial form for popular magazines of the day. Many of Charles Dickens' novels were originally published in this manner, for example, and this is the reason many of them are so long - the more chapters he wrote, the longer the serial continued in the magazine and the more money he was paid. Other famous writers who wrote serial literature for popular magazines include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the Sherlock Holmes stories originally for serialisation in The Strand magazine. Charles Dickens used his rich imagination, sense of humour and detailed memories, particularly of his childhood, to enliven his fiction. ... Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 - July 7, 1930) is the British author most famously known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th century, created by British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle. ... Strand is a famous road in London, linking Trafalgar Square to Fleet Street and the City of London. ...

Film

A serial, or cliffhanger, was a popular form of movie entertainment that dated back to Edison's What Happened to Mary? of 1912. Usually filmed with low budgets, serials were action-packed stories that usually involved a hero (or heroes) battling an evil villain and rescuing a damsel in distress. The villain would continually place the hero into inescapable deathtraps and situations, or the heroine would be placed into a deathtrap and the hero would bravely come to her rescue, usually pulling her away from certain death only instants before she met her doom. The hero and heroine would face one trap after another, battling countless thugs and lackeys, before finally defeating the villain "once and for all"...even though the villain would almost always get away at the end, to return at a future date. Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (the latter often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, who commonly possesses abilities or character far greater than that of a typical person, which... A stereotypical villain. ... A poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ...

Many famous cliches of action-adventure movies had their origins in the serials. The popular term cliffhanger was developed as a plot device in film serials (though its origins have been traced by some historians to the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle), and it comes from the many times that the hero or heroine would end up hanging over a cliff, usually as the villain gloated above and waited for them to plummet thousands of feet to their deaths. Other popular cliches included the heroine being tied to a railroad track; being lashed to a log in a sawmill, lying on a conveyor belt and approaching a gigantic whirling sawblade; or being trapped in an abandoned mine shaft, watching as the burning fuse of a nearby bundle of dynamite sparked and sputtered its way towards the deadly explosive. The popular Indiana Jones movies are a well-known, romantic pastiche of the serials' clichéd plot elements and devices. A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in which a movie or novel contains an abrupt ending, often leaving the main characters in a precarious or difficult situation (for instance, hanging from the edge of a cliff). ... A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. ... Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th century, created by British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle. ... Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930) is the British author most famously known for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones Indiana Jones is a fictional bullwhip-toting archaeologist with an overdeveloped fear of snakes, played by Harrison Ford in a series of films by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg; a younger version of the character was also played by River Phoenix in the third film...

The serials were filmed in separate parts, and each chapter (a typical serial usually had fifteen of them) would be screened at the same theater for one week. The serial would end with a cliffhanger, as the hero and heroine would find themselves in the latest perilous situation from which there could be no escape. The audience would have to return the next week (and pay admission) to find out how the hero and heroine would escape and battle the villain once again. Serials were especially popular with children, and for many youths in the first half of the 20th century, a typical Saturday at the movies included a chapter of at least one serial, along with cartoons, newsreels, and two feature films. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Silent Era

Famous American serials of the silent era include The Perils of Pauline and The Exploits of Elaine. Some major studios of the silent era, such as Vitagraph and Essanay, produced them, as did Warner Brothers, Fox, and Universal as well as a firm later amalgamated into MGM, Pathé. Several independent companies (for example, Mascot Pictures) made Western serials. A serial version of Tarzan was also made by a minor studio. Europe had its own serials, notably the French Judex and the German Homonculus. The Perils of Pauline was a silent movie serial which debuted in 1914. ... The Exploits of Elaine is a 1914 film serial in the genre of The Perils of Pauline, and even outgrossing that serial in ticket sales. ... American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Alfred E. Smith in 1897 and bought by Warner Brothers in 1925. ... Essanay Studios was a motion picture company founded in Chicago, Illinois by George K. Spoor and Bronco Billy Anderson under the name Essanay (S and A). It produced silent films with such stars as Ben Turpin, Wallace Beery, Francis X. Bushman, Gloria Swanson and Charlie Chaplin. ... Warner Bros. ... A red fox The foxes comprise 23 species of omnivorous canids, found worldwide. ... Universal has several meanings: For the concept of a universal in metaphysics, see Universal (metaphysics). ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Broncho Billy Anderson, from The Great Train Robbery The Western movie is one of the classic American film genres. ... Tarzan, a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in twenty-three sequels. ... Judex is the title of a 1914 silent movie serial created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède. ... Hartsoekers homunculus The concept of a homunculus (Latin for little man, sometimes spelled homonculus) is often used to illustrate the functioning of a system. ...

Sound Era

The arrival of sound technology made it costlier to produce serials, so that they were no longer as profitable on a flat rental basis. Further, the Great Depression made it impossible for many of the smaller companies which had turned out serials to upgrade to sound, and they therefore went out of business. Only one serial specialty company, Mascot Pictures was in fact able to make the transition from silent to sound filmmaking: Universal Pictures also kept its serial unit alive through the transition. The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to 1941. ... Universal Studios logo Universal Studios is a famous Hollywood movie studio located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California, which is in the San Fernando Valley. ...

In the early 1930s a handful of independent companies tried their hand at making serials, but managed only two or three, including the once-prolific Weiss Brothers. The Weisses bought a little time when Columbia Pictures decided to take a try at serials, and contracted with them (as Adventure Serials Inc.) to make three chapterplays. They were successful enough that Columbia then established its own serial unit and the Weisses essentially disappeared from the serial scene. This was in 1937, and Columbia was probably inspired by the previous year's serial blockbuster success at Universal, Flash Gordon, the first serial ever to play at a major theater on Broadway; and by the success of that same year of the newly-created Republic Pictures, which dedicated itself to a program of serials and westerns, eschewing major productions in their favor. The creation of Republic involved the absorption of Mascot Pictures, so that by 1937, serial production was now in the hands of three companies only - Universal, Columbia and Republic, with Republic quickly becoming the acknowledged leader in quality serial product. Each company turned out four to five serials per year, of 12 to 15 episodes each, a pace which they all kept up until the end of World War II when, in 1946, Universal dropped its serial unit along with its b-picture unit and renamed its production department Universal-International Pictures. Republic and Columbia continued unchallenged, with about 4 serials per year each, Republic fixing theirs at 12 chapters each while Columbia fixed at fifteen. Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ... Columbia Pictures logo, used only from 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures, now Columbia TriStar Pictures after their merger with the former TriStar Entertainment in 1998, is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Flash Gordon is a 1936 film serial which tells the story of three people from Earth who travel to the planet Mongo to fight the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. ... Republic Pictures Corporation was a movie production-distribution company with studio facilities, best known for its specialization in quality b westerns and movie serials. ...

By the mid-50s, however, episode television series and the sale of older serials to TV syndicators by all the current and past major sound serial producers, together with the loss of audience attendance at Saturday matinees in general, made serial-making a losing proposition.

Peak form

The classical serial has a first episode of nearly 40 minutes in length, and begins with reports of a masked, secret, or unsuspected villain menacing an unspecific part of America. This episode has the most detailed credits at the beginning, often with pictures of the actors with their names and that of the character they play. Often there follows a montage of scenes lifted from the cliffhangers of previous serials to depict the ways in which the master criminal was a serial killer with a motive. The candidates for being this villain are presented, and the viewer often hears the voice but does not see the face of this mastermind commanding his "spearpoint villain," similar to a sergeant, whom the viewer will see in just about every episode.

From eleven to fourteen weeks thereafter, an episode nearer 20 minutes in length was presented, in which the spearpoint villain and lesser thugs commit crimes in various places, fight the hero, and trap someone to make the ending a cliffhanger. Many of the episodes have clues, dialogue, and events to lead the viewer to think that any of the candidates were the mastermind. As serials were made by writing the whole script first and then slicing it into portions filmed at various sites, often the same location would be used several times in the serial, often given different signage, or none at all, just being referred to differently. There would often be a female love interest of the male hero, or a female hero herself, but as the audience was mainly children, there was no hugging and kissing.

One episode, near the end of this run, was often an "economy episode" in which the characters reminisce about their adventures so as to introduce showing those scenes again. This type of episode usually had a cheap, mechanical cliffhanger, like a time bomb rather than being unconscious in a runaway vehicle.

The last episode was often a bit longer than most, for its tasks were to unmask the head villain, who usually was someone completely unsuspected, wrap up the loose ends, and end with a triumphal proclamation, followed by a joke -- and sometimes a kiss.

Production practices

The firms saved money by reusing the same cliffhangers over the years. Mines or tunnels flooded often, even in Flash Gordon, and the same model cars and trains went off the same cliffs and bridges. Republic had a Packard limousine and a Ford Woodie station wagon used in serial after serial so they could match the shots with the stock footage from the model or previous stunt driving. Three different serials had them chasing the Art Deco sound truck, required for location shooting, for various reasons. Male fistfighters all wore hats so that the change from actor to stunt double would not be caught so easily. Flash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1934. ... Packard was a United States based brand of automobile originally known as the Ohio Automobile Co. ... The Ford Motor Company (often referred to simply as Ford; sometimes nicknamed Fords or FoMoCo, (NYSE: F) is an automobile maker founded by Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan, and incorporated on June 16, 1903. ... A woodie is a wooden roller coaster. ... Asheville City Hall. ...

Exposition of what led up to the previous episode's cliffhanger was usually displayed on placards with a photograph of one of the characters on it. In 1939, Universal brought the first "scrolling text" exposition to the serial, which George Lucas used in Star Wars in 1977. As this would have required subcontracting the optical effects, Republic saved money by not using it. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... George Lucas George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... For the missile defense program, see Strategic Defense Initiative. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

Stylistic differences between the studios

The major difference between the serials made by the various firms lay in that the minor studios had their own retinue of actors and writers, their own prop department, existing sets, stock footage, and music library. The early independent studios had none of these, except for being able to rent the sets of independent Western features. As the serials were bought sight-unseen by the lesser theaters for an audience of children, their product often had the worst acting and scripts, the least capable direction, and the most monotonous music ever screened: worse than any film that got reviewed in print.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel, one of the celebrated serials of the sound era.

Although Republic was not even a minor studio, the serials they produced have been hailed as some of the best, especially those directed by John English and William Witney who widely considered among the most talented directors in the form. In addition to screenwriting many critics thought was quite capable, the firm also introduced choreographed fistfights which often included their stuntmen throwing things in desperation at one another in every fight to heighten the action. In addition, their productions were praised for their production values such as convincing explosions and other disasters as well as more fantastic visuals such as Captain Marvel flying. However, they were also somewhat hampered with limited shooting facilities, such as lacking a their own backlot and props. This often prompted repeatedly using familiar cars and locations from generic settings like same warehouses, stairwells, offices and specialized locations like a certain speedboat rental pier. They were able to get the rights to the newspaper comic character Dick Tracy, the radio character The Lone Ranger, and the comic book characters Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Spy Smasher. DVD front cover for the film serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel. ... DVD front cover for the film serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel. ... The Adventures of Captain Marvel is an acclaimed film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures in 1941. ... Screenwriting refers to the art and craft of writing screenplays. ... Captain Marvel is a comic book superhero. ... A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio with permanent exterior sets for outdoor scenes in motion picture and/or television productions. ... Dick Tracy USPS stamp Dick Tracy is a popular character in American pop culture. ... The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger was an early, long-running radio and television show based on characters created by George W. Trendle of Detroit, Michigan and developed by writer Fran Stryker of Buffalo, New York. ... Captain America, the alter ego of Steve Rogers (in some accounts Steven Grant Rogers), is a Marvel Comics superhero. ... Spy Smasher was a comic hero from Fawcett Comics. ...

Columbia was the firm that got the most of these name-brand heroes. From newspaper comics, they got Brenda Starr, Terry and the Pirates, Mandrake the Magician, and The Phantom; from the comic books, Blackhawk, Congo Bill, a time traveller named Brick Bradford, and Batman and Superman; from radio, Jack Armstrong, Hop Harrigan, and The Shadow; from the British novelist, Edgar Wallace, the first archer superhero: The Green Archer; and even from television: Captain Video. Columbia substituted animation for more expensive special effects and showed the audience that the cliffhanger would not kill the hero by having a reassuring announcer pose the next episode's menace at the end of the episode. Their scripts had more humor than the others, often to the point of being far more absurd. And even though this was an important studio in comparison to the independent ones, it merely released serials which were subcontacted out to units outside their main production system. Brenda Starr is a comic strip about the title character, a glamorous, adventurous reporter. ... Terry and the Pirates is the title of: a comic strip created by Milton Caniff; see: Terry and the Pirates (comic strip) a radio serial, based on the comic strip; see: Terry and the Pirates (radio serial) a television series, also based on the comic strip; see: Terry and the... Mandrake the Magician is a U.S. comic strip created in 1934 by Lee Falk and mainly appearing in syndication in newspapers. ... The Phantom is a comic strip created by Lee Falk, recounting the adventures of a costumed crime-fighter called the Phantom. ... The term Blackhawk can refer to: a native American leader (Black Hawk) the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter Blackhawk, a comic book Blackhawk is a make of car. ... The comic book character Batman (originally referred to as The Batman, and occasionally as The Bat-Man), is a fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... Superman, nicknamed The Man of Steel, is a fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and eventually became one of the most popular and well-known comic book icons of all time. ... This article is about the radio/pulp magazine/comic book hero. ... Edgar Wallace pictured on a 1929 cover of Time Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (April 1, 1875–February 10, 1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals. ... Captain Video was the first of the American television space shows, beginning on the DuMont network in 1945. ...

Universal was the studio with the most available resources. It had the best writing, so they made the best use of their contracted actors. The start of some of their episodes has the exposition of the cliffhanger given in conversation, rather than appearing on placard stills. They were able to get the characters Green Hornet and Ace Drummond from radio, and Smilin' Jack, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon from newspaper comics. Green Hornet has several meanings: The Green Hornet character, created by George W. Trendle. ... North American DVD release of the 1979–81 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series. ... Flash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1934. ...

Universal also signed on four of Warner Brothers' Dead End Kids to star in three serials. Although Bela Lugosi started working for Universal, his frustration at the greater celebrity of Boris Karloff made him act in several independent serials, but only one for Universal. The Dead End Kids were six young actors from New York who appeared in Sidney Kingsleys play Dead End in 1935 on Broadway. ... 1931 film poster, promoting Bela Lugosis genre-defining turn as Dracula. ... Boris Karloff (November 23, 1887 - February 2, 1969), born William Henry Pratt, was a famous actor in horror films. ...

Radio & television

With the advent of television and the decline of the moviegoing audience, production of serials ceased due to the decreasing audience (and revenues). But the serial lived on, moving instead to the small screen and the world of TV reruns.

The serial format as we know today actually originated in radio, in the form of 15-minute programs known as soap operas (so-called because many of these shows were sponsored by soap companies, such as Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble). One of the shows that helped pioneer the daytime serial was The Guiding Light, which debuted on NBC radio in 1937, and is still airing today on CBS Television (where "Guiding Light" has been since 1952). Some of the characters in serials have been portrayed as long-suffering (a common theme even in some of today's serials along with the social and economical issues of the day). The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... Colgate redirects here. ... Procter & Gamble Co. ... The Guiding Light (or simply Guiding Light as its known today) is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest soap opera ever told, as well as the longest running drama in broadcast history. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American radio and television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Guiding Light and such other daytime serials such as As the World Turns (premiered in 1956), General Hospital (premiered in 1963), Days of Our Lives (premiered in 1965), One Life to Live (premiered in 1968), All My Children (premiered in 1970), and The Young and the Restless (premiered in 1973) were popular in the Golden and Silver Ages of television, and still are today. As the World Turns (ATWT) is the second longest-running American television soap opera, airing each weekday on CBS. It debuted on Monday, April 2, 1956 at 1:30 in the afternoon. ... General Hospital is the longest-running daytime soap opera on the American ABC television network, and is also the longest-running soap opera produced in Hollywood (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West since its inception). ... Days of our Lives is a long-running American soap opera. ... One Life to Live is a soap opera which has been broadcast on the American ABC television network since July 15, 1968. ... All My Children is a popular American soap opera which has been broadcast every Monday through Friday on the ABC TV network since January 5, 1970. ... The Young and the Restless (commonly abbreviated to Y&R) is an American soap opera that takes place in Genoa City, Wisconsin (named after a vacation spot that series creators William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell visited annually). ...

Aside from the social issues, the style and presentation of these shows have changed. Whereas in the 1950s and 1960s the drama was underscored with traditional organ music, and in the 1970s and the 1980s a full orchestra provided the score, the daytime dramas of today use cutting-edged synth-driven music (in a way, music for soaps has come full-circle, from the keyboard to the keyboard).

The nighttime serials are a different story, though the concept is also nothing new. In the 1960s, ABC aired the first real breakthrough nighttime serial, Peyton Place, inspired by the novel and theatrical film of the same name. After its cancellation, the format went somewhat dormant until the mid-1970s when ABC themselves brought it back with, of all things, a comedy soap (aptly called Soap). Although the show was controversial for its time (with a homosexual character among its cast roster), it was (and still is today) a cult classic. Peyton Place was Americas first long-running nighttime soap opera. ... Soap was a sitcom which ran on the ABC network from 1977 through 1981. ...

The era of "primetime soaps" (as they are often called) really began to reach its peak when CBS began to air Dallas (which propelled Larry Hagman to stardom) in 1978. It was with this show that defined the end-of-season cliffhanger (with its "Who Shot J.R.?" and "Bobby In The Shower?" storylines) that is still utilized in today's series (whether it is a serial or not). CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... Dallas title card. ... Lawrence Martin Hagman (better known as Larry Hagman) (born September 21, 1931) is an American actor most famous for playing J.R. Ewing on Dallas. ... A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in which a movie or novel contains an abrupt ending, often leaving the main characters in a precarious or difficult situation (for instance, hanging from the edge of a cliff). ...

In the 1980s, you could find other nighttime soaps as Dynasty (ABC's answer to "Dallas"), Knots Landing, The Yellow Rose, and Falcon Crest. There were some serial shows such as Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere that did not officially fit into this category, but were nonetheless ratings hits season after season. As the 1990s came to a close, the primetime soap as an official format slowly passed into the sunset. Dynasty title card. ... Knots Landing was a primetime soap opera that aired from 1979 through 1993. ... Falcon Crest was an American primetime television soap opera created by producer Earl Hamner Jr. ... Hill Street Blues was a serial police drama that first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran on primetime into 1987. ... St. ...

But the primetime serial constructure can still be seen today in such shows as E.R., The West Wing, 24 and Alias. The term "serial" has become outdated, however, and viewers now speak in terms of these shows making use of "story arcs." In addition, it has been noted that the use of cliffhangers is still prevalent in adventure shows, its just that they are now typically used just before a commercial break and the viewer need only wait a few minutes to see its resolution. In addition, 24 and Alias, as well as other series such as Star Trek: Enterprise have also extensively made use of the traditional end-of-episode cliffhanger format. This often applies to their season finales which often end in a cliffhanger that would only be resolved in the next season's premiere. Current cast of ER ER is a popular NBC serial drama primarily set in a teaching hospitals emergency room, the fictional County General Hospital (based loosely off Cook County General, a real hospital) on Division Street in Chicago, Illinois. ... The primary cast of The West Wing (from left to right): John Spencer, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Stockard Channing, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, and Richard Schiff The West Wing is a popular and widely acclaimed American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin for NBC, airing since 1999. ... 24 is a current U.S. television action/drama series, produced by the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide. ... Alias is an American SpyFi television series, created by J. J. Abrams, and starring Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent. ... The starship Enterprise (NX-01) Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. ... A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program. ...

In British television, the term 'serial' is usually used to cover what American audiences would more commonly call a 'miniseries'. Many British television serials tend to be high-profile dramas, either costume drama such as Pride and Prejudice (BBC ONE, 1995) or contemporary social drama such as Our Friends in the North (BBC TWO, 1996). In addition, Doctor Who's stories have a limited serial format with the typical episode running around four parts, though some stories like "The Dalek Master Plan" ran as long as twelve. However, the revived series has abandoned the format for standard self contained episodes with some two parters along with an overall plot arc. British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media. ... A miniseries, in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... Pride and Prejudice book cover Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austens novels. ... BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formerly styled) is the oldest television station in the United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christopher Eccleston as Nicky Hutchinson in a BBC publicity still for Our Friends in the North. ... BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... List of Doctor Who serials Doctor Who audio releases Doctor Who spin-offs - includes a discussion of the many novelisations and original novels based on the series History of Doctor Who The Doctor (Doctor Who) List of supporting characters in Doctor Who, including villains and aliens List of robots in... In episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books and comic strips a story arc is an extended or continuing storyline. ...