A Record High of 455 Scripted TV Shows Aired in 2016 (vulture.com)

In case you wanted to ground your abstract TV FOMO in hard numbers, FX has data on the fact that, yes, there really is too much TV. An anonymous reader shares a report: The network, whose CEO John Landgraf coined the idea of "peak TV," has released its unofficial tally of the number of shows on TV, finding that 455 different scripted television series from broadcast, cable, and streaming sources aired in the last year. That's an 8 percent increase from last year, when 421 shows aired on TV; a 71 percent increase from 2011, when a mere 266 shows were on TV; and a 137 percent increase from 2006, when there were 192 shows on TV.

Comments

nothing

[qQ7eBMsfM5gs]

400+ TV channels, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. and still NOTHING GOOD IS ON

With good reason!

[Gravis Zero]

The basic issue is there is a war being waged between media companies. The basic issue is that old media companies like the fat checks they get from cable providers but new online services cannot afford to write said fat checks. The result is that online services began creating their own content because it was much cheaper than licensing it. When there was some exclusive hits like on Netflix, old media decided they needed to quash the rebellion by putting out something that is equally as attractive to avoid people jumping ship. Both sides are upping their game so that customers won't be tempted to switch media providers and thus the media company war.

The funny thing is, the old media companies could have avoided all of this if their demands weren't so unreasonable.

Sturgeon's Law or Sturgeon's Revelation

[bmo]

"90 percent of science fiction is crud because 90 percent of anything is crud."

So to apply that to this number, there are only 45-46 "good" shows to watch.

And this is why a bajillion channels on Cable are useless.

--
BMO

Turn it off

[kcdoodle]

It is really hard to stop watching TV. I have cut down to 3 shows a week.

I also stopped playing video games, especially on my phone.

These things are a big time-suck, a vacuous hole of waste.

Instead of video games, I have apps that are game-like, but educational. DuoLingo, MemRise, PianoSightReading, etc.

Instead of TV, I practice guitar, bass guitar, piano, and recently, violin. Also I workout and run everyday.

Basically, I am taking my previously wasted time and trying to better myself.

Try looking back. Did it really matter if Gilligan ever got off of that stupid island?
Did Hawkeye Pierce save more people because you tuned in?
Do you care if Al and Peg Bundy's kids ever moved out?

Twenty years from now, will you care if Sheldon every marries Amy?
Will you care if Mike Ross goes to jail or really becomes a lawyer?

Or, in twenty years, will you say, I should have been healthier, I should have read more, I should have learned a language.

Re:Turn it off

[apoc.famine]

You've given a great example of what's wrong with the modern world.

I am taking my previously wasted time and trying to better myself.

So you've always got to be "on". Always need to be productive. Always need to go, go go. Look, if that makes you happy, great. I'm a firm believer that everyone should do what makes them happy, as long as it doesn't negatively impact those around them. But get the fuck off your high horse lecturing to the rest of us.

Or, in twenty years, will you say, I should have been healthier, I should have read more, I should have learned a language.

In my case, absolutely not. I'll be damn glad that I put my feet up, had that third scotch, and dicked around on the internet. Why? Because I need that down-time. I need to shut my brain off and let it rest. I've got a demanding job that requires coding and math, people skills, negotiation, and creativity. I can't do any of that well on a fatigued brain.
 
Maybe for you brain down-time is a "vacuous hole of waste", but for a lot of people it's necessary. I hope 20 years don't go by before you figure out that you need it too.

Only 455?

[totallyarb]

FX are *way* under-counting. There are an awful lot more than 455 scripted television shows out there. Hell, there are more than that on YouTube alone.

Their mistake is to assume that something only "counts" as a TV show if it's in standard half-hour-with-ad-breaks format, and it's "broadcast" on something that they recognise as a TV channel. But a looser definition - say, "scripted video content released on a recurring basis" would include literally thousands more, and it's a bad sign for FX that they apparently haven't acknowledged this fact.

What FX are doing is the equivalent of an oil company not realising that they're in the *energy* business (and therefore subject to competition from solar power and the like), or a car company not realising they're in the *transportation* business (and therefore subject to competition from rail, motorcycles and so on). Or perhaps a better comparison is the phone company not realising they're in the *communications* industry, and therefore failing to expand into mobile and internet provision until it was too late.

Re:Too Many my A**

[AmiMoJo]

I said "usually". Don't forget that the original Star Trek was cancelled. I'd say the number of great shows that were cancelled far outweighs the number that eventually survived for their full "natural" duration.