The episodic sitcom format affords great freedom to writers and viewers. Shows which implement
this style do not have sweeping seasonal character arcs, and viewers can easily begin watching any show during the season and grasp what is happening in the story. A problem for a character is highlighted for one, sometimes two episodes, then the show moves on to the next plot-line. By the next episode, what happened previously is rarely referenced, and can largely be disregarded as it's not essential to the current episode. Episodes very rarely tie into each other, and each is essentially their own story, they just all utilize the same characters. This gives the writers more opportunity to feature the life of each character and develop their traits whenever they see fit--instead of relying on season-long arcs to reach the same realization. And a viewer can miss an episode, but understand the next. This is not to say that episodic sitcoms cannot feature character growth and development. General stories can be found throughout a season, they are just not the predominant story of the episode.
One example is the show Community: during the season premier, Chang was trying to get into the study group. He tries to do so for one more episode, then the story is largely dropped.
After this situation, nothing more has been done with Chang trying to earn the groups affection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73sdlRGqC6I (It will not embed, so please watch at the link).
His character is given other stories, and the main characters in the study group are more prominently featured. Other examples are Jeff and Brita's/Amy's relationship or Shirley's divorce, both situations were large parts of one story, then quietly referenced in other shows without any development to that specific storyline.
Here is what I find to be a fantastic example of a scene whose consequences will never be mentioned, and if so only in passing:
*Everyone, please watch Community. It's a great show with a unique premise, and I can't have any more of my favorite shows get canceled...seriously."
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