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CronoDAS comments on Q&A with Harpending and Cochran - Less Wrong
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A similar argument was made in the book Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.
I suspect that people want more complex popular culture because they've gotten smarter at least as much as the more complex culture making them smarter by accident.
Anyone have any actual knowledge of why tv shows started doing longer, more complex story arcs?
I have no such knowledge, but allow me to add "better recording and rewatching options" to the list of candidates. Ready access to the backlog is certainly a factor in the success of serials in webcomics over newspaper comics, for example. (Yes, there are serials in both, but they are the norm in webcomics and the exception in print.)
Not to mention viewer base fragmentation. There is less need to appeal to the so-called lowest common denominator when there are hundreds or thousands of avenues for transmission. Those without patience for long story arcs can watch a different program more easily today than they could before cable, satelite, and the internet.