Binge Watching Epics?

I recently have just finished viewing the second season of the television series "Gotham". Over the course of a few episodes, we fall back in love with the same characters all over again. Jim Gordon still has the moral compass that seems to be set in stone, though it will be tested later on. While watching an episode I began to wonder why as a culture we are drawn to shows that take up so much time. The total season lasted for 22 episodes, each lingering for 45-minutes. That brings the total screen time to around 16 and a half hours! The longer I think about it the more I realize that long stories are part of our history as a race. The Greeks and Romans told lengthy tales of mighty heroes and diabolical monsters. Considering that these stories were told orally they must have taken many evenings around a fire to tell in in whole.  These tales had natural breaks in them allowing for the tale to end for that evening and it could be easily be picked back up the next day. Just like television shows today. They have episodes that contribute to a story much larger than the ones individually told in the 45-minute time frame. I am not comparing the quality to what we watch on TV now to be equal with great epics of Homer, I am just saying that they are similar in structure.