Nearly 500 different scripted TV shows in 2018

I ran across this statistic:

Almost 500 Scripted Shows Aired in 2018, But We Still Haven’t Hit Peak TV

Between the traditional TV networks, the cable networks and the streaming ones, there were 495 different scripted TV shows in 2018.

First - these are boom times for writers. If you can put a screenplay together competently, you can make a living.

Second - most of these shows need music. If you can get your music to the ears of a shows music supervisor, you may well be able to license it to a TV show.

 

Does that include so-called "reality shows?"

 

Not according to the various articles I've read.



Source: *Estimated by FX Networks Research as of 12/5/18; culled from Nielsen, Online Services, Futon Critic, Wikipedia, Epguides, et al. ^Includes PBS. ◊Includes Audience Network (DIRECTV). Online Services = Acorn TV (as of 2018), Amazon Prime, BritBox, Crackle, DC Universe, Facebook Watch, Hulu, Netflix, Playstation, Seeso (thru 2017), Shudder (as of 2018), Sundance Now, Vimeo, Yahoo, and YouTube Premium. Excludes library, daytime dramas, one-episode specials, non-English language/English-dubbed, children's programs, and short-form content (< 15 mins).

 

I was being facetious.

There's never been more variety in the TV (or broadcast) landscape in the history of the medium. Ironically, I've never been so disinterested as most shows seem to be cookie-cutter junk. Oh, another family sitcom. Oh, another police drama where everybody is a model. And so on, so forth. There are exceptions, such as Netflix' Bosch and a slew of TV shows which *are* original but aren't interesting to me personally.

It'll be interesting to see which shows starting this year or which were recently aired people will still watch 20-30 years from now.

 

It's true that does seem like there's a hundred varieties of the same old crap, but as a music fan it's fascinating to hear how many different venues are available for bands and musicians to get their music heard.

Within The Context Of All Contexts: The Rewiring Of Our Relationship To Music

From the article - the rider was talking to the two heads of the Numero Group:

"Ten years ago, it didn't take any effort to sell 5 to 10,000 CDs," Shipley told me. "Now you're lucky if you can sell 3,000." Just recently, as they noticed in their last round of royalty statements, Numero has started to sell more LPs than CDs. And though there has been a gradual rise in the sales of LPs, the few small (actual) stores that sell them, as Shipley explained, prioritize LPs that young people are actually going to buy. The Beatles' Abbey Road, Metallica's Kill 'Em All, and so on. There may not be room in the bin for obscure soul records after that. The LP revival does not lift all boats.

Not long ago, they realized the vastness of their interests was outpacing the market. They'd been great at the game of reframing the past, and have been nominated for multiple Grammys for that work, but were now sitting on dead stock. As a consequence, they are putting out far fewer records now, a fifth as many as they did four years ago. And their priority, increasingly, is to be able to administer the "sync rights" (synchronization rights, for songs to be used in movies or TV or in ads) themselves. They've negotiated for songs — mostly American music from the '60s and '70s — in many movies: The Circle, The Trust, Loving — lots and lots. Take my word for it. If you don't talk about music while pointing at the ceiling in bars, perhaps you are doing it while pointing at the television. Same thing. You are pointing at the means of production. Secondary use.

"Our business is changing away from being a record company to being a copyright company, which is kind of ugly," Shipley said. From primary to secondary. "But: You make these records, they're really beautiful, and the record audience is actually really minimal. I don't care who you talk to" — here he named four other pre-eminent "reissue" labels — "Light in the Attic, Ace, Rhino, Now Again. Physical business is not the business any more, it can't survive on selling CDs and LPs. It's not a sustainable way of thinking about copyrights. The sustainable way is to figure out: One, how can you get something to stream as many times as possible? Two, how can you put it in a film, television show, or advertisement? Those are the two avenues for historical music that are available to finance it."

 

Golden Age of TV!

 

Chris. Love ya man. But it just ain’t that easy. I went into the arts and I’m living in a ratshack motel at the moment because of it. There isn’t a single child, including my own children, that I would encourage to go into the arts. If you’re beautiful rich and connected might be s different story. What percentage of actors out there are related to another famous one? That’s the only question you have to ask yourself. I was in screenwriting class is at USC with 80 writers. Only two ever sold anything And that was because their professors hooked them up (Hollywood is so tough I had two professor say to me “if you ever get anything going don’t forget me.”) And it was their first and last time They sold anything. I grew up around the actors and now that they’re in their 60s and the 70s theyre all bitter about having wasted their lives. The arts is a chump game akin to playing the lottery. It might be personally enriching but don’t expect to make any coin from it. I mean we have a famous recording engineer on this forum, but how many others have you heard of Out of the thousands that get cranked out every year at these technical schools? Quite frankly I think a “Sunday painters” and “bedroom guitarists” have the right idea.

 

And half of them you can't even get to without streaming.

My wife and I have a fair expansive cable TV package, and yet I'm shocked when I look at the Golden Globes nominations (for instance), just how many shows are either on networks I've never heard or -- or never heard of, and can't even access.

The running joke in our house if it's on a streaming service, it must be because they don't want anyone to watch it.

At least we're not as 'off-the-grid' as my 92 year old father -- who's never had cable-TV in his entire life (and only does broadcast). Every year there's less and less football he can access (major bowl games, etc), and certain pro games too -- which drives him crazy. When the hell did the Rose Bowl become cable-only?

My wife will occasionally stream some obscure ESPN-3 games on our laptop (to watch her beloved Jayhawk basketball) -- but other than that, we stream nothing -- other than random YouTube videos on a laptop.

I have to confess, but I don't know the first thing about how to get all that streaming stuff on our real TV, to save my life. I suppose we're missing out on some stuff, but I figure what I don't know, I can't miss.

 

This is depressing to read as still a very active consumer of CD reissues. Those are some of my favorite music labels and I hope they can carve out a niche to continue servicing this market.

As for scripted television content, we are seeing fewer and fewer breakout hits with this onslaught of fresh shows. The business is starting to resemble current music in that way. The audience is quickly getting divided up into smaller niche streaming services.

 

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Americans are probably my two favorite shows in the history of TV. Lots of other shows I enjoy: The Crown, Glow, Veep, etc. There is a lot of junk on TV now, there always has been. But the best TV shows now are better than TV has ever been.

 

Don‘t think the internet helped at least for selling media, returns ..making a living. There’s no long terms jobs, unless your a electrician/plumber. What’s that old adage “ better to run the race than not run it at all” hard when your young and want to follow your dream. Maybe a part time job, rest of the time hustling. Still marvel at Quentin Tarantino he seemed to get into Hollywood at the right time. Selling True Romance script must have bolstered his ego and help finance Reservoir Dogs.