Has Peak TV Hit the Limit of Shows on the Air?

Every time I see a trailer for a new TV show, I am both excited and horrified.

Excited because I love that TV is employing great writers and crews to tell stories. And that I get to enjoy them. Horrified because I feel like I am already overwhelmed by the amount of TV being fed to me. I don't know how to cover streaming, network, and cable. Some shows are going to fall through the cracks. And I'll be honest, I still like watching The Office, Seinfeld, and Friends on occasion. 

In 2015, John Landgraf coined the term "peak TV," and we've been living well ever since. The TV over the last two decades has been groundbreaking. And it's birthed a wide array of shows that filled every genre and every segment of viewing audiences. Sure, shows come and go, but we have continued to produce more and more every year. Some years topped over 500 scripted series on the air. 

What were the effects of this rise in shows? 

Recently, NPR did a deep dive into where TV is today, and the struggles it's having supported this many shows. Things like actually hiring and promoting diverse voices and storytellers. And then actually training and supporting them long enough to make sure their projects stay on the air. Then there's the complication of competition.

Each year since Landgraf's comment, we've seen new streamers step onto the scene. How do you keep making shows that capture people's minds, imaginations, and money as competition broadens? And as all this stuff is coming to a head right now. 

As we've reported, Netflix has been the first of these megacorporations to hit a wall. Recently, Netflix announced password sharing was killing its business, losing it around 100 million subscribers. Then, its prices went up. Then it lost over 200,000 subscribers, and another 700,000 when it canceled service in Russia. They also laid off workers, and are figuring out that, right now, they cover most of the free world. While Netflix tries to expand in Africa and Asia, we're seeing a company that knows making more TV shows isn't where they lost. It's that the world needs more viewers. There's already so much out there. 

So how is TV changing because of all of this? 

Well, we used to have a network TV season. That's when new shows would run against one other, and capture most of the audience. Now, we don't really do that. Sure, networks might run reruns in the summer, but streaming TV releases new shows year-round. And they ditched the 22- and 24-episode seasons. Now, seasons can be anywhere from 6 to 24 episodes, depending on the show.

They also shrank writers' rooms. We're seeing many more mini rooms, meaning people have less of a shot at getting a job, or they have to work on multiple TV shows a year to make ends meet. 

These drastic changes are forcing people to ask if we just have too much TV, and not enough money or systems to support the glut of shows. We're seeing many cancellations, lots of tumultuous upheavals, and the ever-present trailer drops for what's coming next. 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.