Also known as a "series" in the United Kingdom. These tropes are all about how a television series and its story arcs can be laid out episode to episode, and season to season.
Also see Episodes. Not to be confused with Seasonal Index, which is about the actual seasons of the year.
Tropes:
- 12-Episode Anime: An anime show that intentionally lasts only twelve episodes.
- Aborted Arc: An ongoing storyline is abruptly dropped and never resolved.
- Arc Welding: The stories of a previously episodic show are retconned to be part of one overarching story arc.
- British Brevity: The tendency for British shows to be short (in comparison to American shows).
- Finale Season: The last season of a series, which comes with a conclusive story arc to wrap up everything.
- Five-Episode Pilot: The series begins with a multi-part episode.
- Front 13, Back 9: The first 13 episodes of a series' first season are more self-contained because the last 9 hadn't been ordered yet.
- Half-Arc Season: A series alternates episodes between those that advance its story arc and those that are mostly unconnected.
- Layout of a Season: The kinda Strictly Formula structuring of a show's seasons.
- Mid-Season Twist: An episode which serves as a climactic moment during the middle of the season's story arc.
- Mini Series: A TV series which was intentionally produced to only run for a single season.
- Myth Arc: A story arc that spans the entire series.
- Not So Episodic: A show's story appears to be episodic, but is revealed to actually have been part of a wider Myth Arc all along.
- Post-Script Season: A show gets renewed for more episodes after it was supposed to end.
- Rotating Arcs: A season following two or more separate story arcs at once, with little to no overlap.
- Season Finale: The last episode of a specific season, (usually) concluding that season's story arc.
- Season Fluidity: Some series can be watched in any order because nothing changes over time, whereas others must be viewed in order to understand what's happening.
- Seasonal Rot: The opinion that a show has declined in quality because it's lasted way too long.
- Second Season Downfall: A show's second season is so poorly received it doesn't get a third.
- Sophomore Slump: A show's second season is seen as a letdown, but things pick up again in the third season.
- Story Arc: A storyline that takes multiple episodes to resolve.
- Synchronous Episodes: Two different episodes of a show taking place at the same time.
