And yet all these shows were renewed. Of course, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a prestige show for The CW, in the same way Jane the Virgin is — they help with branding, and attracting talent. And those are real reasons for those shows to continue. Yet other shows seem more like filler, if not cannon fodder. And because the networks do have to program a certain number of hours each week, there were some real SMH renewals this season. To name a few additional ones: ABC's Quantico and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; NBC's Blindspot and Shades of Blue; and CBS's Man With a Plan. (This is not meant as criticism of any of these shows: They're just low-rated.)

Networks no longer want to think about live-plus-same-day ratings because they're so often paltry. And yes, it does matter what a show's true audience size is. Yet the problem is, there's no generally agreed-upon and accurate standard to measure all the ways audiences watch TV — Nielsen is a flawed system that relies on horse-and-buggies. And while streaming should be precise, the services aren't transparent with their numbers. The networks have their internal data that they trot out at their annual upfront presentations for advertisers — oh really, all of Earth watches [insert show title here]? — but who knows how reliable that is? In terms of selling ads, the networks rely on data called "C3" and "C7" ratings, which measure how many viewers watch a show's commercials within three and seven days, respectively. They're not available to the public, but reports indicate that they're pretty close to live-plus-same-day ratings, so we're back to thinking those are good numbers to look at.

With the decrease in live viewing, the networks have had to seek alternative revenue streams in order to try to make a profit on each show. Some of these are good for viewers: There are much shorter lag times until a show is available to watch on Netflix or Amazon or Hulu, for instance. And international sales, once the gravy for television, is now an integral part of the main meal.