Genre of TV programs
hi,
Today I attended a class for English and learned about words related to genre.
But I'm not quite sure yet about "a series" and "a serial".
The definition I learned is:
A series : Groups of episodes with the same characters and theme.
(the ones with "season X" like Friends or Dexter belong here?)
A serial : Short installments of a program.
(??? I thought "installments" is used as like Jurassic Park I, II, III or we say "the sequel"...)
Would somebody tell me more easily with any examples?
I think I can check the example programs out on Internet even if I didn't know them yet.

thanks~

Question

Genre of TV programs
hi,
Today I attended a class for English and learned about words related to genre.
But I'm not quite sure yet about "a series" and "a serial".
The definition I learned is:
A series : Groups of episodes with the same characters and theme.
(the ones with "season X" like Friends or Dexter belong here?)
A serial : Short installments of a program.
(??? I thought "installments" is used as like Jurassic Park I, II, III or we say "the sequel"...)
Would somebody tell me more easily with any examples?
I think I can check the example programs out on Internet even if I didn't know them yet.

thanks~

Answer

A TV series is like what you said where there is the same characters and theme throughout the programme but each week is a new episode with a new storyline. Examples are Modern Family and Friends.

A TV serial is usually a fictional story that is 'broken up' into a number of episodes with each episodes usually ending with a cliff hanger. I think most Korean dramas fall into this category with one one storyline but shown in episodes.

Answer

Hello M J Kim. How are you?

I am hardly an expert on TV, but I think  that  there  "serial" is not a term commonly used to describe a genre.

Series  is commonly used, and as far as I can tell,   a "serial" is about the same.

Now when you mention Jurrassic Park, in I, II, and III, remember that you are discussing a Movie with its "sequels"  II and III  and not a TV series.

When I think if a "Series"    and their  common Genre, I usually think of the types:

"SitComs"  = Situation Comedies,        Dramas  =  Shows about Police  Detectives and similar,  or   Lawyers  etc.

I don't watch anything like this on TV myself; but I do enjoy movies.

----Warm Regards,  Bruce

Answer

Hmm - I am not familiar with a serial as it applies to TV. I just had a read of the wikipedia articles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_series#Seasons.2Fseries and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(radio_and_television) Even after reading those - I still don't understand the difference...

Answers · 3

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