There's a pretty good
Atlantic article about why the networks are turning program over from serialized to live/cheap programming. The article opens
with a quote from Tim Kring, creator of the NBC show Heroes: "The engine that drove [serialized TV] was you had to be in front of the TV [when it aired] ... Now you can watch it when you want, where you want, how you want to watch it, and almost all of those ways are superior to watching it on-air. So [watching it] on-air is related to the saps and the dipshits who can't figure out how to watch it in a superior way."
Not so nice, but hard to argue with. None of the networks have any idea how to measure this stuff and therefore things with large audiences might otherwise go unnoticed. (Related to
Boxee/Hulu?)