Just What IS Serial Drama?

I've been wanting to post something like this for a long time because of the ultimate fear that we're narrowcasting to the daytime soap opera viewer.  This movement can and logically should encompass so much more than just daytime.  Some of my choices in this are going to be derided as just too far out for this kind of thing, but it bears at least a discussion about it.  So don't have your blinders on when you read this.  Come in with somewhat of an open mind and don't be afraid to agree or disagree.
 
So first, let's make a definition here.  A serial is something that relies on some form of a continuing storyline that follows some form of sequential or episodic fashion.  This covers a whole lot of ground from All My Children to Wonder Woman.  For television purposes, we use it in the context of each show being a specific episode of the mother title.  They might have separate titles for each episode or they might just be a numbered episode in the continuing story.  Either way, the vehicle is the episodic format.
 
But wait!  We haven't eliminated I Love Lucy from this definition.  You're right, we haven't because, by definition, I Love Lucy, South Park, and Family Guy are serials.  They are presented under episodic formats.  So let's use the term "serial drama" here which is what radio and television dramas are, but have the shortened title of serial.  The drama is what separates serial drama from serialized comedies and reality television.  It strives to be serious and takes itself seriously.  From here on out, I will be using the two terms interchangeably. 
 
We're pretty much in agreement with daytime "soaps" being placed in this kind of list.  It's hard for any of us to really state that a scripted daytime serial drama should not be included.  From Dark Shadows and Passions to Guiding Light and All My Children, if it was in daytime then daytime fans don't have much of a problem with it.  In fact, if you scroll down the tags, you'll see nearly every single daytime drama ever presented on television if not all of them (I will admit that I didn't research whether or not this list is all inclusive).  There's no question about it--daytime soaps are serial dramas to most of us in the movement.
 
Another thing we're in a basic agreement on is the concept that used to be defined as "nighttime soaps" before it was somehow untrendy to call them by that name.  Falcoln Crest, Dynasty, Coronation Street, Telenovellas, and even Beverly Hills 90210 can fall under this category.  Even the more modern ones such as Desperate Housewives could and should fall under this category.  There was ongoing drama in those shows with love, lust, fighting, death, and an acknowledgement of the past.  Some may be heavier on one aspect or another, but there is a dramatic angle and the shows are presented in a serialized format.  We could have one here and there that would have a debateable point, but let's just be honest here.  It's dramatic, it's serialized, it's serial drama.
 
This brings up a point, though.  Some shows aren't *really* serialized.  A show such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager are considered "procedural dramas."  This puts them on a list with shows such as NCIS, CSI, and even The Twilight Zone.  By a strict definition, they are procedural dramas, excepting Deep Space Nine which did have massive story arcs toward the end.  But...I can make a case for the Star Trek franchise being a serial drama in addition to procedural (which can't be done with Twilight Zone).  Captain Picard remembers being Locutus of Borg, as does Starfleet (and the Borg to get technical about it).  There isn't a hard or soft reset with every Star Trek episode.  Riker and Troi were "kind of maybe ok they were former lovers" for years.  Troi then goes out with Worf and then eventually marries Riker.  Tasha Yar dies, has a funeral, comes back to life (in an alternate timeline episode) and has a child that is in the current timeline.  Tasha Yar is still dead (twice) and it's referenced a few times afterward.  In its own odd little way, the newer Star Treks are pretty serialized. 
 
Now imagine that one on a "soap channel" for a minute.  "Coming up next is Ryan's Hope, followed by Star Trek: Voyager!"  Did it just knock you back a few feet?  Granted, I did that juxtaposition on purpose, but how many Ryan's Hope fans tuned into Star Trek: Voyager solely because Kate Mulgrew was on both shows?  Although it sounds silly, a good case can be made for shows like those in the Star Trek universe being serial dramas.  Does it sound too far off to have a show that isn't afraid to acknowledge history to be included with a daytime show that isn't afraid to acknowledge history?  Of course not and once you get past the science fiction aspect of it, the beauty of the serial drama immediately comes to the forefront.
 
Now for the one that will likely generate the most debate--animated drama.  Get rid of the preconceptions you have here.  I'm not talking about Super Friends, Pokemon, or "scream and die" anime like Dragonball, but rather scripted animated dramas like .hack//SIGN (pronounced dot hack sign) or .hack//Legend of the Twilight (you can tell I like that series).  While I will agree that several animated shows (particularly animated stories such as .hack//SIGN) are certainly worthy of being considered scripted drama, they are just not in many people's minds anything more than "child's stuff."  Well, as I've said before, take off the blinders. 
 
The naysayers will say it's a cartoon and isn't serious enough.  Well with love, lust, fighting, drama, death, and an acknowledgement of the past what isn't dramatic in your mind?  I would welcome with open arms any .hack//SIGN fan to this movement and would love to see that animated scripted drama (or any other animated scripted drama) put on a cable channel dedicated to this idea that we call serial drama.
 
We all want the same thing--scripted drama.  It's the avenue that is different and the moment you're able to get past that then you'll start to see the drama and wind up loving a form of serial drama that can be magnificent in some series and terrible in others.  Kind of like loving and hating soaps.