Was Wizards of Waverly Place better than it had any right to be

[TMC]

What I mean is that it came out in a time when story arcs and continuity weren't as commonplace in Disney sitcoms. Every episode is about Alex, Justin, and Max learning a new spell (and eventually duel each other to become the family wizard) or using their magic to fight a villain-of-the-week with spells they've learned. Even though it was still episodic, you could still tell these episodes were connected by the underlying theme of the series.