I re-watched Big Top Burger for inspiration on how to make a micro series the right way

In Big Top the opening- and end credits do a lot of the heavy lifting for the pacing and structure of the show.

Most episodes of Big Top are paced around constantly rising tension: comedic episodes become sillier and sillier as the episode progresses, "serious" episodes build up tension, drama, stakes, all the way to the end.

The tension is not released mid way through, it's resolved seconds before the end credit or by the end credits themselves. Each episode ends in a sort-of cliffhanger.

Big Top does not follow-up on its cliffhangers, though. Elevated levels of tension at the end of one episode, are not followed up by matching tensions at the start of the next episode. Even in later episodes — which share stronger continuity than the earlier episodes — the high tension cliffhanger of an episode is almost immediately reset by the start of the next, so that it can start building up tension from the start.

From the top of my head, the last two episodes are the only ones that, when merged together, form a typical "rising action, release, pay-off" structure. Most episodes are a constant string of "rising tension", where the tension is reset between episodes.

Choosing to never resolve tension gradually, works for a micro-series in a few ways.

Not spending storytelling time to resolve tension in a smooth/gradual manner helps the story fit in its limited time slot. The show doesn't need clean endings or nice clean structural arcs within its episodes, because audiences are smart enough to pick up on the intent of an episode. All you gotta do is to deliver the right vibe and sprinkle in key narrative points, and that'll be enough for the audience. The audience knows what they want from a show, so just give them exactly that (but better).

Big Top episodes include only key moments that will make the audience fall in love with its characters, and nothing else. However, the audience absorbs all the missing "the usual narrative stuff" through osmosis; when an episodes ends at the point of highest tension, I can taste what happens next, and that's as good as actually giving it to me.

The only way I can savor that taste-of-what-happens-next is if there's a cut to an end credit. Ending the episode cold turkey, or jumping off to the next episode right away, would not be the same. A nice, long play-off at the end gives me time to vibe with what just happened in the episode, and that's why the credits do a lot of heavy lifting for the structure of the show.

The "season one/two/three" compilations, that omit opening- and ending credits, don't feel nearly as good, because the transition from rising tension to start of next episode is instant and often quite jarring.

Anyways, that's all(?) I have to say about Big Top Burger