Drowning in video in the age of ‘peak TV’

In this “peak TV” era, there are simply more TV shows I want to watch than I have time to watch.
Recently I binge-watched the first two seasons of “Travelers,” a time-travel, science-fiction series, on Netflix. I loved it and I’m happy that a third season is coming.
It’s not unusual for me to come into a TV series late. Such was the case with “Dark Matter.” I watched all three seasons of that space adventure show on Netflix instead of its original home, the Syfy channel. I suspect Syfy canceled the show after underestimating its viewership numbers. Netflix doesn’t share its viewer data.
Outside of streaming video channels, TV series still rely on third-party viewer ratings for their survival. TV measurement leader Nielsen uses “live plus 7” numbers for its ratings. It adds those who watch a show live with how many watched it as much as 7 days later on digital video recorders.
Ratings from people like me aren’t captured by Nielsen’s L7 metric. That’s because I often wait weeks to start watching a new season of a show on linear TV. I like to store up several episodes on my DVR and then binge-watch. Fast-forwarding through commercials is a time-saving bonus.
One Nielsen study showed that viewership for some shows can rise as much as 58% after the L7 window, depending on the genre of programming.
This year more than 500 English-language scripted TV shows are set for release, according to FX CEO John Landgraf, who coined the term “peak TV.” I pity professional TV critics who have to keep up with all this new content.
As a fan of the medium, I know I can’t keep up. My DVR still has the premiere season of “Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger” on Freeform and second season of “Westworld” on HBO.
I only recently finished the fourth and final season of “12 Monkeys,” which had been on my DVR since the series concluded on July 6.
To enjoy the embarrassment of riches brought by peak TV, I’ve had to quit subpar shows such as “The Walking Dead” on AMC.
On Netflix alone, I have 19 series that I have yet to watch that are in my queue. Plus, there are 15 more shows that I’ve watched and plan to watch new seasons.
I also have several series I’ve been meaning to watch on DVD from Netflix’s separate disc-by-mail service. And there are shows I could watch on Amazon Prime Video, but I just don’t have the time.
I recently read some glowing reviews for “Sharp Objects” on HBO. How am I going to squeeze that one in?
And the fall broadcast TV season is just getting started.

Photo: “Travelers” on Netflix.