Quote Originally Posted by Bohandas View Post
I suppose the real hot take then is that, at least as it pertains to shows that are comedic, the stories that work best as serials (or, ESPECIALLY, those told as serialized intrusions into episodes that are otherwise self-contained) tend to be kind of pretentious. Even if the story itself isn't a pretentious one there's something vaguely self-satisfied and superior about doing the show that way. Particularly in the case of the specific kind of shows I'm thinking of which are mostly cartoons that started out episodic but then became significantly less so when they started taking themselves too seriously (and now that I think of it I don't think any of them became truly serialized but they all flirted with overarching developments that progressed over many episodes and in general drifted away from being episodic) (I'm thinking here of shows like Amphibia, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, etc.)
Well, I gotta give credit for heat level on that take, at least. I do disagree pretty strongly!

I'm really curious where you're seeing "pretentious" and "taking themselves too seriously" in shows like that. As a show runs for long enough, it makes sense that the creators would start making connections between stories, bringing back recurring characters, playing with the structure and the basic assumptions of the show. They don't even have to try (though many of them do do it intentionally): a show just sort of acquires an overarching story the way a sourdough starter acquires wild yeast.

Just look at any novice D&D campaign. Many start out simple, just a bunch of friends having fun doing a funny accent and fighting goblins, and the ones that last until high levels often end with some variant of "defending the world/planet/universe/reality itself." You tell some simple stories, you find what's interesting to you and your "audience," and you keep building on that. That doesn't have to be pretentious.