The Television Seriality Boom

FOX set a great precedent with its Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series "24" and now FOX is picking up more on the new wave of television shows it started. "Lost" was the next big show after the advent of "24" led the revolution from episodic television to serial TV. The days when each episode of a show would stand on its own or function with some thread of continuous mythology strung throughout ("The X-Files" or "Smallville" for example) it seems are slowly becoming outdated.

The trend nowadays is to have an essentially 18-hour movie broken down into about 24 one-hour pieces with commercials. FOX brought in the next big situation series, "Prison Break," and now it has two more planned for the Fall 2006 lineup. "Vanished" starring John Allen Nelson from last season's Day 5 of "24," Gale Harold ("Queer As Folk"), and Rebecca Gayheart ("Urban Legend" and the FX series "Nip/Tuck"). The show is about a senator's wife who goes missing, and an FBI agent (Harold) and ambitious reporter (Gayheart) are all over the case. The show even premieres after "Prison Break" in the "24" timeslot ("24" does not return until January). Then, FOX Tuesday night will carry the new series "Standoff" rooted around a hostage-taking and terror themes that will echo between the police and the gunman on the inside.

This kind of series is particularly addictive, but it also doesn't lend well to latecoming viewers. It's very difficult to come into a show like these even after a couple episodes and have the slightest idea what is going on and a working understanding of the characters and plot. This is one of the problems with "Lost" getting too convoluted and tangled in its own mythology, but of course the complex web the writers weave is also one of the greatest draws to the show. One other drawback to the movie-esque television show is that it's highly situational, and after so many episodes, these situations can lose their appeal.

It's hard to keep things fresh, which is one of skills "24" has always had mastered with so much going on and dynamics always changing as the story and characters evolve. This is a necessary element to any serial success, and the makers of "24" know it. One particular drawback to "Standoff" is that it suffers the same dilemma as Joel Schumacher's movie "Phone Booth" with Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland; the setting is anchored in one place, and "Phone Booth" as a 2-hour movie managed to pull off the premise well without becoming a victim of its own devices. Whether or not "Standoff" can do that for an entire season (approximately 22-24 episodes) is something we will have to wait until fall to find out. However, "Vanished" holds potential, seeming like a virtual "24" meets "Bones." Obviously, the most novel concept to sweep through television is on the rise. Now, it's a matter of waiting to see if the followers of the pioneer series cause their own downfall or change TV for years to come.