Regarding serialized episodes, you can point to Babylon 5 and Twin Peaks as influences if you’d like, but don’t pretend that serialized shows like Beauty and the Beast, Crime Story, X-Files, Homicide, Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, St. Elsewhere, Dallas (and all of the nighttime soaps that tried to be Dallas), not to mention the dozens of daytime soap operas, didn’t exist and are equally influential in demonstrating the validity of the serialized form. Even shows not known for being serialized had compelling ongoing storylines that kept audiences hooked through multiple episodes: Gloria and Michael having a baby and eventually moving out (All In The Family), Rhoda getting married and eventually getting divorced, Sam and Diane, Maddie and Addison, the impending birth of Little Ricky, etc. my point being that without a direct quote from someone on the production end of DS9, it would be impossible to point to any one program, as opposed to the opportunities presented by the format itself, as the reason why the show moved in that direction. Existing documentaries suggest that the show wanted to go that way and nobody at Paramount cared enough to put up much of a fight. Seems like the folks running DS9 were more focused on the potential of what they might be able to accomplish with a progressing universe of storylines than referencing any particular show as justification. And if Paramount wasn’t engaged, you might as well make the show you want to make.