For the first time in 10 years, 2020 had fewer scripted shows than the year before. Peak TV is on an ongoing break. Three guesses why.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “peak TV” before. It was coined to label the golden age of television we’ve been living in for over a decade now, where shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Game of Thrones have challenged preconceptions about what a TV drama can be, just as series like Parks and Recreation, Community and The Good Place have done the same thing for comedies. And it’s still continuing to evolve, with Disney bringing the best of their big screen offerings to TV in the form of The Mandalorian and WandaVision, with lots more on the way.
In short, there’s been an embarrassment of content to watch. In fact, every year after 2009 has had more scripted shows than the year before, a trend that peaked in 2019 where there were 532 shows to choose from. And from January to May of 2020, that trend continued, with 214 scripted shows on offer. In fact, 2020 was on track to be the biggest year of TV yet.
You likely have some idea what happened next. As The New York Times lays out in a new article on the topic, starting in June, premieres of scripted shows dropped 28 percent from the same period in 2019. In September that year, 86 shows premiered new episodes. In September of 2020, that number was 35.
Obviously, the drop-off is due to the pandemic, as shows that were supposed to air new episodes in 2020 — Succession, Atlanta, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and many more — were pushed back, with the premiere dates for some of them still well in the future.
And the problem wasn’t just that the pandemic shut down many film and TV sets. The ones that went forward had to go slowly as they implemented new safety procedures. “Everyone saw these costs pulling through the system and realized, ‘Oh, no, we’re going to have to do less,’” said Chris Silbermann, the chief executive of Hollywood talent agency ICM Partners. “Stuff that was on the bubble, a lot of that stuff just went away.”
I am now having tough production budget conversations with the streamers that I used to have with NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. These are like old-school budget conversations.
And this state of affairs will likely continue for a few months more, at least, and it’s impossible to know the long-term effects. That said, both the industry and TV lovers have made due (and there were a lot more of them since the pandemic forced so many people to stay home so much of the time). For instance, a Netflix spokesperson revealed that U.S. subscribers had watched 50% more non-English language titles in 2020, with French fare like Lupin and Call My Agent! catching on. Networks like AMC, meanwhile, imported British crime dramas like Gangs of London and The Salisbury Poisonings. “We’re discovering like, wow, there’s a lot of great content being made out there,” said AMC original programming president Dan McDermott. “And it would not necessarily have enjoyed the same profile, if it were a regular year.”
We’ve also seen an uptick in game shows and reality content, which is cheaper and easier to produce than scripted series, in addition to people dipping back into old favorites like The Golden Girls or The Sopranos. So there’s still plenty to watch, and some are enjoying the break from the non-stop onslaught of new content. “The more and more and more thing — who was that good for?” said Slate critic Willa Paskin. “We are ravenous content monsters, but isn’t it nice to have it be chiller and have some time to get to catch up on something?”
The New Yorker writer Naomi Fry expanded on that: “For the last year, it feels as if we’ve been watching TV on a plane. We’re kind of locked in a vortex, flipping between various options. You’re waiting for time to pass. Some of it is very good, but there’s also a sense of glut and not a sense of excitement and specialness about it.”
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
