Series Mythology
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Series Mythology refers to the long-running, overarching storyline presented by a work of series fiction. Maintaining narrative focus and episodic cohesion, series mythologies allow for serial episodes that forward major character and story arcs while still leaving room for smaller, self-contained stories.
First emphasized in US television by the 1993 series Babylon 5 and The X-Files, series mythology has become a part of many popular (and often genre) television shows, such as Joss Whedon's series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Tru Calling, and Lost.
Prior to this, US television series tended to be either serialized or episodic. For instance, ', which first aired in 1987, did not have a series mythology, though some characters, such as Data, did have character arcs that developed during the course of the show. ', however, first broadcast in 1995, told the story of a lost Starfleet ship's crew attempt to return home from deep space. While some Voyager episodes featured self-contained stories, they were all integrated into the overall story of the journey home.
Some shows (such as the aforementioned Star Trek: The Next Generation) purposely avoided a series mythology, as it was felt this would make the re-viewing of each component episode not as pleasurable as a stand alone episode, thus not being fit for syndication. However, with the success of X-Files and Babylon 5, that viewpoint has changed, with a great deal of shows becoming focused around ongoing storylines.
One frequent criticism of this type of show is that the writer is essentially making up the story as they go along, which can be problematic if the show is canceled, as it would then be difficult for the writer to quickly create episodes which complete the series.
Television series from other countries often contained story arcs before 1993, in part because of the much lesser incidence of syndication and because outside the US series were almost always screened in order and in their entirety.
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