Well, as with TV in the USA, there are news shows, soap operas(1), situation comedies, cooking shows, dramatic and/or action series, all stuff – plus some ridiculous game shows(2) that seem designed more to showcase the failures than the successes. My impression was that the Japanese native was responding only about the dramatic/action series, but essentially the answer is Yes.
For TV series (serials) in the USA, there’s a story arc supported by episodes, as you noted, which may or may not include common elements beyond the main character(s) and may or may not be written by the same constellation of writers, all of whom are trying to retain the elements that attracted initial audiences while developing their favorite characters and move forward, backward, or sideways (distractions) in relation to the story arc. All this goes on from week to week and adjusts in relation to ratings, fan input, and sponsor buy-in. Therefore, most serial shows jump-the-shark and/or die from lack of sponsor funding – newer fresher shows attract the sponsors and older fading shows are shuffled to weaker time-slots.
My impression from the Japanese native was that, for TV series (serials) in Japan: there’s a full story. An interested studio buys it, puts together a pilot, and shops it around to sponsors. If the viewers like it, the rest of the story is filmed and the sponsors get their commercial slots reserved. The series is offered in the same time slot from beginning to end. Then another story (not necessarily related) is dropped into the now-empty time-slot. For serials, this avoids continuity glitches like “Wait, he said he was color blind in Episode 12 but now in episode 88 he cut the correct wire when his friend told him how to disarm the bomb over the radio” and experimental failures. [Writer: Let’s try this! Fan: What were they thinking?]
There’s another thread on here about Superman and all the powers he had but didn’t use more than once. That was a typical USA episodic show and, in many ways, they’re still that way.
One of my favorite samurai-action dramas (Japan’s version of the TV Western series) was about the son of the chief warlord, going around “in disguise” from town to town, investigating local authorities who were abusing their power, and meting out justice with a sword battle at the end of each episode. This was the show I was trying to record, and about which my American co-worker and I complained. After the explanation of the Japanese paradigm for TV programming, I asked why, in particular, my favorite show ended. She seemed surprised that I asked, and told me, “Well, it’s obvious. He finally shaved his head(3) and eventually became the next Shogun!”
—G!
(1) In Dave Barry Does Japan the humorist includes a chapter on his wife’s interpretation of a scene in a soap opera, which was spot-on despite the fact that their interpreter didn’t translate the dialog for her. I guess they’re all the same across the globe?
(2) American Ninja is a USA incarnation of Japan’s Ninja Warrior show that has gone on for years – but it my have been based on the USA’s American Gladiators, which I think was based off a British Gladiators…
(3) …cutting away everything but the samurai top-knot, signifying acceptance of his promotion to full samurai under a retainer (his father, the nation’s #1 warlord), after which he had official duties and couldn’t very well go traipsing around from town to town in disguise. I saw that episode/scene and knew, from the music and the other characters’ reactions, that it was an important change. However, since I didn’t speak Japanese well enough to follow the dialog that closely, It wasn’t obvious to me that it signaled the end of the series.