Many of my peers, mostly the full-time staff-writer critics, jokingly complain about this idea of #peakTV, that there are simply too many good shows for anyone to watch and that this is a problem because it’s spreading advertising and attention too thin and stuff is slipping through the cracks. First of all I disagree with the conclusion, since basically nothing good gets cancelled anymore. But beyond that–
The nominees for the Best Drama Emmy award this year were as follows:
Better Call Saul
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men
Orange Is the New Black
I realized that you could EASILY put together a second slate of shows with absolutely no overlap and have it be just as respectable, if not better. Certainly you could come up with three shows that were better than Homeland, House of Cards, and the last season of Downton Abbey, a show I love but which was kind of aimless last year, plotwise. To wit:
The Affair
The Americans
Boardwalk Empire
Daredevil
Empire
The Good Wife
Halt and Catch Fire
Hannibal
The Knick
The Leftovers
Manhattan
Scandal
That’s without counting anthologies, dramedies (except for Orange Is the New Black, which changed categories from Comedy to Drama a while back), and shows that aired after the eligibility period. Throw those into the mix and you’ve got…
Fargo
Girls
Mr. Robot
Narcos
Transparent
True Detective
UnREAL
That’s an insaaaaaane number of high-quality contenders. You don’t even need to like all of them, that’s not the point, I’m just saying that based on the standards you can deduce from the actual nominees, any and all of the above shows could have been given a shot and a slot. If you like longform, serial narrative this is fucking hog heaven. #PeakTV is an embarrassment of riches. We’re very fortunate to live at such a time!
If you’re still tempted to complain, just compare it to the nominees for the Best Drama Emmy in the ‘70s, pictured above. That’s what an art form with problems looks like.