One of the reasons television has kept me engaged over the years is the recent proliferation of serials, programs that run a continuous story line from week to week, often involving multiple cliffhangers and surprising plot revelations. But, more often than not, these series succumb to disposable programming and episodic shows that hook viewers for the quick fix.

Dialogue from an episode of Scrubs last season put it most succinctly: “The only thing I hate more than bikes are procedural cop shows. We get it. The pedophile did it.”

And it’s often true. Programs such as Law & Order and CSI, basically offer us a crime, which leads to berating the wrong suspect and then finally capturing the criminal, episode-in, episode-out. These shows are always the ones that make the highest ratings, and networks, upon realizing this several years back, gave us reality television. Instead of needing a team of creative writers, you take a producer and a camera crew to the nearest broken household and you have yourself the new frontier of television.

But these shows don’t mean anything to us; they’re disposable entertainment. We stick the TV needle in our veins, wait 60 minutes, and then pull it out.

Serials are different, however, in that they stick with you. Weekly shows like 24, Lost, Desperate Housewives and Heroes offer us chapters in an unfolding story, where characters grow and change and, God forbid, give us something to think about afterwards. What’s more is the sheer diversity that each program offers — if it’s action and a strong lead you’re looking for, 24 always manages to deliver. Those seeking something a little more supernatural might like Lost or Heroes, both employing large, complex casts and story lines that are carefully developed over time. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is one of those rare, one-hour comedy-drama serials that offer the witty comedy one could expect out of the writer for Sports Night, and all the backstage drama that the same writer gave audiences with The West Wing.

While many of these shows rank with the public, that doesn’t mean more don’t get the shaft. Studio 60, for example, is barely pulling in 5 million a week (CSI: Miami pulls in 10 million in reruns alone), yet with its smart writing and cast that includes strong actors such as Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet and D. L. Hughley, one would think it an easy success. But the fact is that most of these shows don’t survive a single season. Last year saw four such serials. Threshold, Invasion, Surface and Commander-in-Chief, were cancelled because they simply couldn’t compete with programming like Criminal Minds or American Idol.

The real problem I see with episodic series like Law & Order, CSI and reality television is they’re entertainment comes at the sacrifice of character development and innovative writing. Serials in past years, like Babylon 5 and Six Feet Under, left an impression on you that lasted years later, instead of the simple span of 60 minutes. Shows like House M.D. try to close this gap by offering episodic narratives and fairly consistent characters, but this is an anomaly at best. The most popular series on television are often as forgettable and topical as the nightly news.

Not to mention the problems this can lead to for entire genres as well. Four sci-fi series were canceled last season, and when it came time to buy up new programming, only two programs for major networks were chosen.

Now, as reality television clearly indicates, America thrives on human drama, and while it can be hard to fathom television ever meaning something to us personally, it’s worth 60 minutes of your life to try out a quality drama. TV isn’t a vacuous wasteland.