Too Much of a Good Thing

"TV now lives on our phones and our computers; we watch it on tablets and stream it through boxes. Never before has it commanded so much respect; at no time in its history has it been so breathlessly considered, so unabashedly embraced. There may be fewer and fewer things to love, but there have never been more shows worthy of our like. The sheer quantity of options can, on a busy Sunday night, mask the dwindling amount of quality." - Andy Greenwald, Television critic

I love Andy Greenwald as a writer, and I've loved his comments in recent years that there is simply more TV than there's ever been — perhaps too much. His comment above was in 2013, and things have only gotten more crowded. I have been reviewing new shows on my blog for a few years, and even just staying up with all the scripted series that debut is daunting at times.

It used to be that the fall kick-started things, and the networks flooded the air with new shows. They still do, but they also flood the scene with new shows in the winter, spring, and summer. So do the cable networks. Summer, in some ways, feels busier than the traditional TV season. And now we're throwing in streaming services.

Familiar with the "Esquire" network? How about the streaming service Crackle? How about Amazon? Did you know it was more than a place to order Black Friday gifts? All three of those channels/services have launched new shows in the last week. "Spotless," a show about brothers reunited and drug into crime, on "Esquire," "The Art of More," a story about art dealers and shady dealings on Crackle, and "Man in the High Castle," perhaps the best new show of the year, on Amazon.

I love story — particularly good stories — so I'm always excited when new things roll out. You never know what's going to resonate and become a favorite. But with so many options, and everyone vying for your attention, it's never been more difficult to keep up with the next big thing — because it seems to change every week. Today alone two highly touted series debuted — "Man in the High Castle" on Amazon and "Jessica Jones" on Netflix. And both dropped their entire first season. In fact, Netflix has dropped a new series every Friday in the month of November. And that's in addition to the weekly series ramping up to the winter finale, the specials, and the new network shows that keep dropping.

I'm starting to think we've hit the saturation point where we've got too much of a good thing, and that's a bad thing. But it doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.