by Herbie J Pilato
Before Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in the fall of 1987, episodic TV shows had a beginning, middle and end; story-arcs over several episodes didn’t exist (beyond the daytime and primetime soaps), and “character development” was a periodic thing.
For the most part, there was only episodic TV shows, and there really was no such thing as a “procedural.”
What happened in that one-hour dramatic episode of yore (or even that half-hour episode comedic episode) stayed there, and did not continue on into any future episode, segment or storyline.
A job is a job is a job, unless the job is a non-job in the long run.