An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars. Episodes of news programs are also known as editions.

Episodes which end in the middle of a climatic moment are often called cliffhangers, after the name used for early movie serials. Such episodes can be nearly daily occurrences in soap operas and are frequently used in season finales of many prime time shows.

Episodes can be part of a larger story arc stretched out over a time period covering one or more seasons, or even an entire series run. This is especially prevalent in dramatic television series, including soap operas or science fiction series. Other genres to feature story arcs include comedies and animated programming, especially mecha anime.

Examples

The idea of stories being told in episodes has origins in serialized literature. The earliest known example of this is the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), which consisted of a series of serialized stories, or "serialized novels" or novellas. Its frame story is about Sheherazade telling stories to King Shahriyar, and she needs to keep him interested in each of the stories, in order to prevent him from executing her the next morning. She often tells the stories episodically, beginning each story with a narrative hook, leaving off with a cliffhanger, and continuing the story the next night. This leaves the King in suspense, waiting until the next night to hear what will happen next. Many of her tales often stretch over many nights or 'episodes'. For example, "The Three Apples" is narrated in 5 nights, "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman" is narrated in 6 nights, "The Hunchback's Tale" is narrated in 10 nights, "The Adventures of Mercury Ali" is narrated in 11 nights, "The City of Brass" is narrated in 12 nights, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is narrated in 13 nights, "The Ebony Horse" is narrated in 14 nights, "Sinbad the Sailor" is narrated in 30 nights, "The Adventures of Bulukiya" is narrated in 47 nights, and "Aladdin" is narrated in 78 nights. Television adaptations such as Arabian Nights (2000) have also been episodic.

Shows usually have numbers or codes (aka, Production codes/numbers) for each episode. The X-Files, for example, assigned a code in the format "sXnn", with 's' identifying the season number and 'nn' being a two-digit number for each show, starting with '01'. Some programs, such as The Simpsons, use numbering systems that are hard for anyone outside the production company to understand.

Many talk shows do not give episodes titles. However, some talk shows have given episodes titles, such as The Jerry Springer Show and The Steve Wilkos Show.

Some series often give episodes their own titles which usually refer to the content of the episode, giving both producers and fans a simple identification, these will usually have a pattern such as being a pun on a known item (such as a phrase or title of a of some other media) or follow some naming convention of the series: