I agree that there have been alot of "copy cat" serials trying to capitalize off 24's success. But, one serial that puzzled me why it tanked so bad was Day Break. The show was soundly advertised as a 13 week show that will have a conclusion. ABC promoted the hell out of it during Lost and during other shows. I thought that alone would have been satisfactory for viewers to watch something that will have a resolution. I gave the show a chance and watched it even after cancellation on ABC's web site and thought it was one of the best serials this season. However, I read that many Lost viewers just didn't give a crap about it or they thought the promos didn't make sense or made the show look bad. So, IMO there are a bunch of hypocritical TV viewers out there who just aren't satisfied with anything.

1) Taking a story plan that would be better suited for a mini-series and expecting it to carry 100+ episodes.

2) People who watch these shows expect way too much to happen in each episode.

I always figured some of the drop could be because the way tv watching has changed. I could be wrong because I do not have a clue how nelson ratings work, but when people watch something that their dvr recorded for them, does that count as something actually watched? If it doesn't and I was a nielson family then most tv shows I watch would not count. I never watch anything live anymore, saves time by being able to fast forward the commercials.

I know its semantics (I am not anti-semantic), but I don't consider 24 a drama. If it was a movie it would clearly be in the action/suspense category. A serial drama to me would be more like Brothers & Sister or October Road.

I don't really get the commitment to TV argument when we're talking serials versus reality shows like AI. I don't watch that reality stuff and find much of it to be crap, so know I'm not defending it. It just seems to me that if anything, watching something like AI or that dancing show is more of a commitment because there are multiple airings each week and heavy interactive elements (voting and "water cooler" discussion at work or school) that demand watching the show at a certain time. The commitment argument is one you can make when you're talking serials versus procedurals, not reality programming.

I'm going to advance this theory: we have too many serials running at any given time. If the normal TV guy has time and patience to cope with three such shows at once and there are 18 running, it's easy to see why there is a problem. Look at reality again -- it seems that the only big hits are AI and the dancing show. If there were 18 big reality show contenders, their audience would also be diluted. You can see this to an extent when you look at the ratings decline of The Apprentice, The Bachelor, Survivor, and the like.

I think you have a pretty good point there. There are actually quite a few shows on right now that can be labeled as "serials" and have an ongoing storyline.

1. 24
2. Prison Break
3. Jericho
4. Boston Legal
5. Brothers and Sisters
6. Drive
7. Sopranos
8. Lost
9. Ugly Betty
10. October Road
11. Heroes

I assume that trying to commit to even 2 of these shows is a chore to some viewers and obviously the glut will dillute the ratings as well.

On point. Well said. Co-sign.