The first golden age of television is generally considered to be from the mid-1940s until around 1960. TV shows were mostly live back then and included everything from “Peter Pan” to “Twelve Angry Men” — as well as Shakespeare, ballet, and classical music performances by the likes of Leonard Bernstein and Toscanini. That’s some serious high culture.

In the early 1960s, technology, in the form of videotape, which allowed producers to make movie-like shows easily and cheaply, swept across the business and effectively ended the era.

Today we’re in another golden age of TV, also brought on by new technology, in this case cable and now streaming. As was true 70 years ago, we’re also seeing some amazingly high-quality content. There’s also a massive quantity of shows being produced (more on that in a second) all of which has created a highly unsettled business environment for TV producers (positive for them) and TV distributors such as networks, cable companies, and streaming services (mixed for them).

There’s sure to be a shakeout, but for now the customers (this is us), are basking in the rays of endless, dare I say, peak content.

View photos Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall on location for "Sex and the City: The Movie" on September 21, 2007, in New York City. The TV show debuted in 1998. (Photo by Brian Ach/WireImage) More

The new golden age of TV began some 20 years ago with the likes of HBO’s “Sex and the City,” (first broadcast in 1998) and “The Sopranos,” the following year. But streaming services by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and others have taken the quantity and quality to a whole other level. As IAC Chairman Barry Diller said to me recently, “...while there is more than you need...there's still an enormous amount of quality on television. I mean, consistent quality, far greater than movies by a zillion miles.”

There sure is a lot to see. It used to be that I’d at least heard of the shows people talked about in the office. Now it’s gotten to the point where there’s too much to keep track of, never mind watch.

‘TV is in deep, deep trouble’

How much more? Analysis by the go-to guy for tracking this, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf, shows the number of scripted shows (no reality, sports, news, kids shows, etc), has climbed from 182 shows in 2002 (pre-streaming), to 216 in 2010, to a mind-boggling 495 shows last year, including 160 from streaming services, a tally that exceeded broadcast for the first time. Wow.

Netflix, the king of streaming, with some 700 shows on its platform (including non-English programs) now has a reputation of being so profligate with its billions of dollars of production spend, that it has been satirized on both “Saturday Night Live” and “South Park.”

View photos A television monitor displays the home screen for the Netflix Inc. original series "Stranger Things." Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty More

I recently sent out an email to the Yahoo Finance newsroom asking folks about their favorite shows. The response was fast and furious, (like a sign-up for free tacos or some such) i.e., people really care about their TV shows! Fifty-seven people weighed in, naming 146 different shows. Of that total, 50 were from streaming services, 37 network, 34 cable, and 25 premium (like HBO.) Favorite shows: “Game of Thrones” (22 mentions), “Big Little Lies” (19), “The Crown” (10), and “Stranger Things” (10).

Of course, this is a tiny sample of a coastal media elite, but nonetheless, I find it eye-opening and a real power display by streaming, which bodes well for Netflix and Amazon, et al (even with HBO’s GOT at No. 1). Rich Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG, agrees. “Streaming is going to win, TV is going to lose. I think TV is in deep, deep trouble. [There is a] loss of advertising dollars, [and the] best content is not on TV. TV is for sports and people who can afford for it,” he says.

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