Screengrab
Breaking down the numbers of Peak TV
A look at the year in television, starting with the newest numbers for 2018 original scripted series. There are more than ever before--495, up from last year's 487--but that's not the whole story.
By Michael Schneider • • 5m ListenThe number of new shows on basic cable has actually gone down. What's gone way up, and brings the overall numbers up higher than last year, is the number of new shows on streaming outlets. And that number tells one of the biggest stories of the year--Netflix's continued growth. They're big and getting bigger and fundamentally changing the TV landscape. The other major story from 2018 is of course the fall of Les Moonves, once the most powerful man in television, over sexual assault allegations. And it's not just Moonves, the overall cultural at CBS seems in need of a major overhaul. We'll see if that comes in 2019.