one thing I've noticed about a lot (if not most) tv series from the 70s and 80s is how there is basically zero story arc running over the course of a series.
take TJ HOOKER, THE A TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER, THE BIONIC WOMAN, THE FALL GUY, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE '88, etc etc... all of these seem to operate in terms of self-contained episodes. you could theoretically watch episodes of any series of the above in any order.
the only time there would really be a continuation of a particular storyline would be in the occasional 'two-part episode'
not sure why, but I personally really like this.
are there any tv series from the 2000s which adopt this approach? it all seems to be about the story arc and 'character development' from episode to episode now, which puts me off.
I've not watched them all, but the Dr Who episodes I have seen seem to have dumped the longer running story lines they had when I was a kid for a more monster of the week approach.
Pretty much any cop show I've seen. They might have the occasional theme that pops up a couple of times but no grand story line running through them (NCIS etc, although again I only see the occasional episode so I could be missing things).