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It is now 2023, which means it is time for me to look back at 2018. Why? Because I like to reflect upon the entertainment landscape in five-year increments every year. By 2018, television had changed. We were in the world of “peak TV,” a time when it was essentially impossible to see half the stuff airing. Streaming services were not quite where they are now, but were a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps by looking back at 2018 in television, we can grasp how far we’ve come.
This was the year The Simpsons surpassed Gunsmoke for having the most episodes of an American scripted primetime show. Of course, the show is still going strong, and actually has had a bit of a revival the last couple of years. Truly, we will never see something like The Simpsons again. Also, Conan O’Brien made his show a half hour instead of an hour, a reflection of the diminished status of the late night show, and also Conan’s increasing apathy about television.
We got a Harvey Birdman special, which was fun, and the final Sharknado movie, which was not. Amy Adams did the prestige miniseries thing with Sharp Objects, and Netflix gave us Maniac, which was at least interesting. American Idol moved from FOX to ABC, though by that point it was largest a forgotten property no longer in the zeitgeist.
Murphy Brown returned and flopped. Roseanne returned, succeeded, but then saw Roseanne Barr get fired. And yet, the show has persevered as The Connors. Mythbusters ended a long, successful run. The X-Files put an end to its reboot. We saw the end of New Girl, Angie Tribeca, and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reboot. Man, I had a lot less TV to watch by the end of 2018.
However, Barry debuted, bringing with it a lot of prestige for HBO. Nailed It! arrived on Netflix, and eventually built a family-friendly cult following. Due to “peak TV,” I could go on naming shows that debuted forever. I will point out one, though, and that’s Cobra Kai. The continuation of The Karate Kid film franchise debuted as a show on YouTube’s premium channel. It got some buzz, but it and the concept of YouTube Red, never really took off. Then, Cobra Kai got a chance with Netflix, and that breathed a second life into it. The story of Cobra Kai is the story of the modern TV landscape.
