There’s thousands of channels and absolutely nothing to watch. That’s become a sort of cliché that all TV audiences can completely relate to in recent years. Although we certainly live in the new golden age of television where innovation constantly takes place, that doesn’t change the fact that there’s still quite a bit of – for lack of a better word – crap out there. As it turns out, we’re not the only ones who think that; even some fairly big names at Hulu think contemporary television could use some serious improvements.
According to a new report from The A.V. Club, Mike Hopkins – CEO of streaming giant Hulu – spoke out at the Code/Media Conference in California about the current state of television, and the quality of shows that hit the airwaves:
My personal point of view is that there are too many crappy shows out there and not enough good shows.
So Hopkins seems to think that, while television has come a long way over the years, the airwaves are still flooded with numerous low quality shows. A series like Better Call Saul may become a critical darling, but that doesn’t change the fact that crap like 2 Broke Girls remains on the air.
It also seems that other members of the community share Mike Hopkins’ opinion on this particular matter. The report from The AV Club indicates that John Landgraf, FX president of basic cable, recently spoke out in opposition of the numerous low quality programs being produced. Such an influx of this “quantity over quality” system works to the detriment of well-produced shows, such as The Comedians, and leads to unnecessary early cancellations.
In many ways it's this influx of low quality television that has allowed streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime to become major players in the TV content community. As these companies have less concern over weekly ratings, they have the opportunity to focus on creating high quality content that can be marketed towards niche audiences. That’s why programs like Daredevil, Master of None, Transparent, and many others have been able to push the envelope so rapidly.
Mike Hopkins knows an opportunity when he sees it, and as such has endeavored to make sure Hulu is in the conversation whenever people talk about the latest and greatest original content:
We’ve been very aggressive… We’ve been in virtually every conversation.
We will keep you posted on the latest and greatest television news, conventional or online, as it becomes available to us. Give us your take on the matter, do you think contemporary television is experiencing a renaissance, or is there still too much “crap” out there?
