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Peak TV

Now What? The Five Crises Confronting a Post-Strike Hollywood

As brutal as 2023 has been for the entertainment industry, it’s possible the town will someday look back on this moment wistfully. And not just because of the picket line solidarity or cozy mogul hangs in the bargaining room. The strikes helped earn gains for Hollywood workers in such areas as streaming residuals and AI, […]

Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far)

Over the course of a few months, several Zoom meetings, lots of emails and countless Excel spreadsheets, three THR TV critics joined forces to hash out, and rank, what they consider the greatest shows since 2000.

Peak TV Climbs Again in 2022, Nearly Reaches 600 Scripted Series

FX head John Landgraf coined the term “Peak TV” in the summer of 2015; that year, according to the annual tally of scripted series FX puts out, 420 such shows aired in the United States. Aside from the pandemic-affected 2020, the total has risen every year since then. According to FX research, 2022 brought 599 […]

Does New Year’s Silence Signal the End of Peak TV?

We’ve all seen the memes: January is the time when our out-of-office messages give way to “circling back” emails about unfinished business left over from the pre-holiday frenzy. And while everyone is sending and receiving a fair amount of those, the start of 2023 on the TV beat has been near total radio silence. Outside […]

Deciphering Warner Bros. Discovery’s Recent Moves; Plus Peak TV Talk With FX’s John Landgraf

Welcome to the 180th episode of TV’s Top 5, The Hollywood Reporter’s TV podcast. Every week, hosts Lesley Goldberg (West Coast TV editor) and Daniel Fienberg (chief TV critic) break down the latest TV news with context from the business and critical sides, welcome showrunners, executives and other guests, and provide a critical guide of what to watch (or skip, as […]

FX CEO John Landgraf Predicts Peak TV Will Peak in 2022 With Another Record

FX CEO John Landgraf is going out on a limb and predicting that the so-called “Peak TV” boom of scripted originals will truly peak this year. The executive, speaking to reporters Tuesday via the virtual Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, provided a rare mid-year update on the total volume of U.S. scripted originals with […]

Peak TV Update: Scripted Series Volume Hits All-Time High in 2021

A downturn in the number of scripted series in 2020 turned out not to be the start of a trend. The number of scripted series available in the United States hit an all-time high in 2021, according to FX’s annual count of shows across streaming, cable and broadcast outlets. The year featured 559 English-language scripted […]