Chaucer as the Originator of the "TV Series"

Bear with me in this blog, to some I may sound like I’m coming out of left field but here me out and see what you think.

“The Canterbury Tales” gets mixed reviews from us nowadays. To those in college and high school that title makes them groan in agony. There are a few of the younger generation who are enthusiastic about “The Canterbury Tales” and what they hold. Scholars and historians on the other hand have this huge interest in this text. The format, the language, the plots, the structure, and historical references make some positively tingle. But I’ll bet many haven’t concluded what I have about “The Canterbury Tales.” I may be going out on a limb here…I see “The Canterbury Tales” (TCTS) as the predecessor of what we today call “TV Series.” (Pause for laughter and groans)
Chaucer’s TCTS has chapters were a traveler tells a story for the contest for who has the best story. It also has intros or intermissions were the travelers interact with each other. Think about if you divide each section of chapters up; you have what we call an “episode.” Now TCTS was made into one large book or “Series”, but can also be found in small excerpts or sections (“Episodes” or “Seasons”). Chaucer could have been the pioneer of sitcoms, cartoons, and dramas for televisions. Nobody before him had thought to make something big, elaborate, and discussion provoking. At its time TCTS was a huge hit and everyone talked about whom could get there hands on it. That hype has slightly slackened today, but it has “stood the test of time” as we call it. This makes it a classic as it already is in literature.
You could compare TCTS to a number of different shows and programs, but I’m going to stick with “Cowboy Bebop” (fan of) and “Star Trek” (not a fan of). “Cowboy Bebop” (CB) was a huge ground breaking anime series. Its intertwining and unique plots for each episode resemble (but are not similar to) the original TCTS story plots. Both CB’s and TCTS’s plots per chapter or episode ranged in genres. Some were tragedy, comedy, life lessons, and just pain bizarre sometimes. Chaucer was the first to think of genera hopping in an elaborate book and CB was the first anime series to genera jump each episode. CB is an international hit just like TCTS was and still is. Also both writers managed to create thought provoking and unusual characters that played on satire.
With “Star Trek” (ST) and TCTS’s comparison we see “the test of time” and fandom (yeah I know I created a world, it means having a huge fan following ok LOL). ST’s release marked a huge change in our society’s culture. People got a glimpse at the possibility of what color TV could do and new door in TV series had been opened. Today ST has a huge following and still puts out continuing series. This is similar to the many rewrites and translations that the TCTS has gone through. TCTS has never been, to the best of my knowledge, put together into its original structure. We have it mixed up and there are arguments for what goes where and why. I have heard fans argue over the order and structure of different ST shows many times (a few of my friends are Trek fans) and discuss the order in which the episodes or chapters were presented. Plus ST still has conventions and large forum discussions (both on and offline) today much like TCTS are discussed in conferences or lectures.
I know the similarities are a bit of a stretch at points, but like said bear with me. Keep an open mind about this because it’s not so far fetched now is it? And I bet you all have come up with tons of series that have links to the TCTS. Now I could go on and on, but I think I’m going to stop here and research my theory some more to see if I can make it more then an idea. Man the things you come up with at one in the morning. ;)

(this entry was orginaly posted on my blog, but I felt it would get more attention here)