No, really, we do have too much TV

Peak TV has been a bit of a meme in TV circles; ever since John Landgraf used the phrase on the TCA Press Tour, I've seen it used over and over. We're in an explosion of TV, but there has to be a point at which there can't be anymore, that we just cannot sustain so many scripted series all running at once.

Which is where we run into the tombstone shortage.


Most people have looked at Peak TV as there being too much for everyone to watch, but this is suggesting another side. It's easy to forget that these shows are not just willed into existence. While a lone person with an idea and some time might be enough for something such as an aimless blog about nothing, there's a huge apparatus that needs to run under TV shows. A prop store in Queens runs out of tombstones, and suddenly shows have to move around or rethink scenes shot in a graveyard. Sure, it can be worked around in some ways, finding novel places to shoot or other workarounds, but those only work for so long. The actual infrastructure for shooting so many TV series and movies is being heavily strained.

Some contraction in the near future is inevitable. I'm landing at exactly the place John Landgraf was, which isn't a huge leap to make. I don't really want it to happen, since I'm never going to watch everything anyway, so go ahead and make as much as you want and I'll find what I want eventually. I'm also currently living in Atlanta and used to leave near Detroit, so I want to see the expansion take place. I want to see places that I know get a boost from all of this. It's just not only an issue of time and attention by viewers.

I don't want to call it a TV bubble necessarily, but it's going in that direction. If you love the way it is now, make sure to hold on to it, since it's not going to last forever.