The Lost writers have their shit together, which means they have a story to tell, they know the ending, and they're dragging it out to collect the ad revenue. This sounds good in theory but ends up feeling more like "wasting my time" than "entertainment," especially because these serial dramas mean you're hopelessly.. lost.. if you miss a single episode.

I can't help thinking this appeals to nerds because nerds have no lives and nerds need an excuse for Tivo (or elaborate homebrew Tivo-equivalents).

In contrast, episodic TV has a reputation for mindlessness but takes a lot more skill on the part of the writers; it's amazing how some shows can continue to be compelling and accessible no matter when you first tune in. MASH ran longer than the actual war it was based on. Certain other popular shows (mostly mystery-based) have an episodic core and manage to throw the serial character-development in around the edges, satisfying everyone.

I have the opposite problem with movies, though -- a lot of popular films pretend at world-building knowing they won't be called out unless there's a sequel. Thus, characters are prone to spout a lot of vaguely important or deep sounding bullshit without anyone in the chain from script to print having a clear idea of their motivation. Maybe that's another reason why movies based on existing properties where the backstory is already known are so popular.

[I'm still trying to work out why stereotypical '80s movies seemed to do better at this basic exposition than anything produced since. Maybe characters and plot points weren't getting added and dropped by focus groups, and maybe they were shallow enough that a director actually could get their backgrounds across in 5 minutes or less.]

...

Also, Doomsday sucked. Stay away.