Act Four: Navigating the television jungle

With so many shows, so many services and so many changes in where things are broadcast, how do you cope?   Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics   (Elise Amendola/Associated Press) While I was taking my daily jaunt through Vulture’s feed of stories Wednesday, I noticed a series of headlines that had been published in close succession, within four hours: “You'll Soon Be Able to Watch ‘Atlanta’ on Hulu.” “Hulu's Livestreaming Service Has Finally Arrived. Here's Everything You Need to Know.” “All HBO Shows Are Leaving Amazon Prime in 2018.” “The Future of Seeso, NBC's Comedy Streaming Service, Is in Question.” Individually, these stories reflect a rapidly shifting marketplace, one in which FX is trying to build audiences for its shows and legacy deals that HBO struck with other streaming services are expiring. Collectively, they’re a reminder of two points that loom over this landscape: how hard it can be to keep track of all of the TV shows that are coming out right now, and how hard it can be to find the show you want to watch if you’re not watching it on the network and in the time slot when new episodes roll out. These are problems that, to a certain extent, will resolve themselves as the TV market sorts itself out. Maybe Peak TV will burn out, and Americans will have fewer than 400-plus original shows to sort through each year. Maybe networks will develop their own proprietary streaming services, or they’ll ultimately decide that it’s too much trouble, and shows and movies will stay in one place for longer instead of hopping around. But I’m also curious as to how this constantly shifting content landscape is affecting the way you watch television. Do you find yourself more loyal to a certain network or streaming service, because at least you know where things are going to be? Do you use a site like Where to Watch, or the roundups published by sites such as Vulture and Entertainment Weekly, to find what you’re looking for? What’s the threshold for adding a subscription service to the roster of places where you watch things? How do you navigate television in a world that’s richer, but also more overwhelming? Let’s discuss this in Monday’s chat, or feel free to email me: alyssa.rosenberg@washpost.com. ADVERTISEMENT   ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is just fine. That’s the problem. If this is the standard for what counts as weird or touching in a Marvel movie, the standards could be a lot more rigorous. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   What do we owe the people who protect us from the worst parts of the Internet? Most of us want to be protected from the worst parts of the Internet. We're ignoring the people who save us from it. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   If ‘The Circle’ wanted to take down the tech industry, it should have been satire, not a thriller Silicon Valley deserves to be mocked to death, not given inflated power. By Sonny Bunch  •  Read more »   Showrunner Dan Goor on the ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ stop-and-frisk episode and the Talk "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" finally did the episode about race and policing its co-creator has been planning for years. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   In Scaachi Koul’s debut essay collection, life is ridiculous–and deadly serious "One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter" is a sharp-elbowed rebuke to limited ideas about what writing can be By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   The Health 202 Your daily guide to Washington's health-care debate. Sign Up »         Share Act Four:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for Act Four. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2017 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071