Television has been at its peak in popularity for quite a long time. From broadcast to cable to premium to streaming, it's almost impossible not to find high-quality and entertaining programming, both old ("The X-Files") and new ("Master of None"). Of course, in spite of such an influx of great television which spans across all of the airwaves, one problem has emerged within such great wealth: having the time to see all of the great shows people can't stop talking about has become more and more of a chore each consecutive year.
Because of services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, people not only have access to original content but also to hundreds upon hundreds of older and currently airing programs. Before, most shows had to thrive on syndication, or airings of reruns on other channels. It helped continue the longevity and recognition of many sitcoms and crime procedurals, but there were plenty of great shows which either couldn't get a great deal on cable channels or were too serialized and couldn't survive on syndication.
While it's great to have so much content at your fingertips, the biggest issue is trying to watch all of it. At first, you're trying to catch up on the last two seasons of "Scandal" you missed out on, but just then the new season of "House of Cards" released. Everyone's gonna talk about the show and great the new season is, so you'll have to ignore "Scandal" and see "Cards" instead. But as you begin scrolling, you discover there's "That '70s Show." You've seen a couple of episodes but never the whole thing, and a lot of your friends are really into the show, so maybe it's time to put "Cards" to the side and watch a few episodes of "'70s Show." But at the end of the day, you forgot about all three shows, because your friends told you about this new original show everyone has been raving about.
With so much to watch and having to try and keep up with what everyone else is talking about is a huge hassle, making TV watching more like a chore than something fun. Of course, one can make the argument people should just watch whatever they wanna watch, but for TV superfans like me, who watch and enjoy most if not all genres, missing out on great programs everyone else has enjoyed is something I can't afford. Never mind having to watch so many shows is practically unfeasible, considering most people don't have the free time to binge or even watch a couple of episodes, to begin with.
Peak TV might give people endless amounts of quality content, but it comes at the cost of trying to see a good amount of said quality content in little time as each consecutive year expands the television list.
