I’ve always had more of a preference to serials, as opposed to episode-to-episode series, but I don’t think it’s taking over television. Since there are so many stations, the serials are specific to certain stations, like AMC, while other stations will take episode-to-episode shows, like TBS. It isn’t a trend, for there have always been serials, it’s just they were generally in books before, and now they aren’t. For every Breaking Bad there is at least one Modern Family, and probably more. And as far as movies, I think the only instances of serials are things which were series to begin with, like Harry Potter or The **** Of the Rings, for most film sequels are independent of the previous films, and in cases where they aren’t, they aren’t different enough to matter. I saw Back To the Future Part III first, and I was fine with following the story, even though it began shortly after the second one ended. If this is, indeed, a trend, it isn’t a new one, it’s just becoming more noticeable now because the market is expanding and more are emerging.