Even more than “How are you?,” the question I get asked most as an entertainment editor is, “What should I be watching?”
It’s a privilege to be able to screen things in advance, know what’s good and what isn’t, and be able to advise friends and loved ones how best to spend their valuable time. But, lately, it’s been awkward. The answer to “what should I be watching?” is…not much.
After years of hearing about the era of #TooMuchTV and the rise of prestige television, we’re in a rare doldrums.
House of the Dragon just finished its second season. Limited series like Baby Reindeer, Ripley, and Fellow Travelers have long aired their last episodes. Presumed Innocent got a lot of attention for its shocking finale. You’d be smart binge Shōgun, the best TV series of the year. If the loud discourse surrounding the new season of The Bear didn’t inspire you to watch it, I don’t know what will. And Hacks aired a perfect season, but that also ended in June.
While there’s plenty of great TV to catch up on, there’s nothing exciting or buzzy airing right now. The water cooler is dry.
After an explosion of content, production is actually down this year. According to FX CEO John Landgraf, whose “State of the Union” on the explosion of series is a must-see ticket for entertainment journalists, production was down 14 percent over the last year. While there were 600 series released in 2022, the tally fell to 516 this last year. To be clear, that is still so many shows. But it also represents the tried-and-true cliché: All these channels, but there’s nothing to watch.
There’s a lot that justifies this drop.
For one, there was a 148-day writer’s strike, delaying production on most series. We’re seeing the effect of that now, in a span of a few weeks when there’s no buzzy new seasons of TV premiering.
There’s also been a massive cut in content spending across most platforms (the exception being Netflix). So, when combined with the dwindling network TV pilot season, that just amounts to fewer series than we’ve been accustomed to in recent years.
One of the reasons the current dearth of great TV options feels so striking is that it’s been an amazing year for TV. It’s also been relentless, with sometimes dozens of new shows premiering each week.
But things aren’t as bad as you may think.
As previously mentioned, you’d be smart to catch up on Shogun, Presumed Innocent, and Hacks. The season of House of the Dragon may be a snooze, but HBO’s real gem, Industry, returns on Sunday night. If you haven’t been watching this show, which is often compared to Succession, you’re in for a treat. And then there’s all the great reality TV that’s currently airing.
One of the spiciest pop culture conversations right now is what to do about The Real Housewives of New Jersey, which produced a finale that was both epic and hints that the show has hit a wall, at least in its current iteration. Also on Bravo, the series that started it all, The Real Housewives of Orange County, is currently airing its best season in years. Plus, there’s The Real Housewives of Dubai, which in its second season is making a strong case to be a cult favorite.
Only Murders in the Building returns on August 27, so it’s a short wait for that. And the fall TV schedule is incredibly strong, especially the new FX series The English Teacher, which is easily the funniest and best new show I’ve screened for the fall season. NBC’s St. Denis Medical, starring Wendi McClendon-Covey, David Alan Grier, and Allison Tolman, is very, very funny. And there’s a new Reba McEntire sitcom coming!
We’re just so accustomed to a firehose of new content that it feels slightly strange to be, at least for this week, twiddling our thumbs waiting for great TV to come back. Luckily, it’s happening soon.
