Also, as you said, the Avengers is a combination of a well-known franchise and an all-star ensemble, but itself is the seventh (two Iron Mans, a Thor, a Captain America, a couple Hulk) movie in an unofficial series.

As you pointed out, the change in technology affected the viewing habits of the audience and in such, altered the way television was written or produced. I see the decline in syndication’s power (with DVR’s and on-demand being much more convenient) killing off the stand-alone episode. It’ll be a while as there are a billion Law & Order episodes left to go.

Is this a golden age for expanding story-arcs or is this more a sign that both television and movies won’t take risks unless they know they’ll gain a substantial reward?