Is television getting better, worse or just more populated?

The answers to the first two parts of the question are up for debate, but there’s no debate about how much content is available these days. Television in all its platforms is lousy with content, and some of it was very far from lousy in 2016.

On one hand, the increased competition for viewers’ eyes means that the possibilities for better TV increase. On the other, it means that the need by providers to fill more hours, regardless of the platform, results in a lot of junk. That makes it even tougher for viewers to find those good shows. And even if you do find them, how do you keep up with everything you want to see? Years ago, some wit coined the phrase “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Today’s version might be “He or she who dies with the most unwatched shows on TiVo loses.”

Plan on the number of unwatched shows to continue to rise. FX Networks Research offers an annual tally of scripted original series on TV and, no surprise, the past year has been record-setting. There are 455 scripted series on broadcast, basic cable, pay cable and online services. Compare that to 2002, the first year FX Networks Research started tracking, and you’ll easily understand why there’s so much to watch: There were only 182 scripted shows in 2002, and online services didn’t begin to show up until 2009 with a single offering. The biggest leap from last year to 2016 was in the category of online services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.): There were 46 shows in that category last year, and 93 this year.

The numbers tell you why it’s so hard to keep up, but they also suggest the kind of pressure TV platforms are under to get your attention. One way, still, is through quality content.

Back to Gallery The boom in TV shows is something to see 11 1 of 11 2 of 11 Photo: Netflix, TNS 3 of 11 Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO, TNS 4 of 11 Photo: John P. Fleenor, Associated Press 5 of 11 Photo: Doug Hyun 6 of 11 Photo: Netflix 7 of 11 Photo: Nicole Wilder, Associated Press 8 of 11 Photo: Associated Press 9 of 11 Photo: Justin Lubin, Associated Press 10 of 11 Photo: JoJo Whilden/Netflix 11 of 11 Photo: NBC





















If you have any doubt about that, try compiling a list of the best of the year. The fact that the task was especially challenging confirms the abundance of contenders in 2016. “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” (FX) surely would have made the cut for me if I could have blocked just John Travolta from my mind. Sarah Paulson and Courtney B. Vance were thrilling as Marcia Clark and Johnnie Cochran, respectively. And though much of the country had watched the actual trial, the FX re-creation was simply great television.

Cable news did not acquit itself well in covering the election, or much else, for that matter. We fret about fake news on social media, but cable continues to confuse news with entertainment too often, mistaking quarreling panels from the left and the right for in-depth, usefully explanatory reporting. Yet, two comedians delivered truth with new shows in 2016. “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” (TBS) and “United Shades of America” with W. Kamau Bell (CNN) are both great shows that make substantial (and often tellingly humorous) contributions to the public discourse on contemporary issues.

“High Maintenance” (HBO), “Better Things” (FX) with Pamela Adlon, and “Mercy Street” (PBS) were among the other welcome additions to the TV landscape in 2016 (although “Maintenance” moved to HBO after six seasons on Vimeo). “Billions,” Showtime’s smart, sexy and neo-Shakespearean drama about money and power, featured delicious performances by Damian Lewis, Malin Akerman and Paul Giamatti and was among the most satisfying shows in a year when Americans’ distrust of the establishment hit an all-time high.

“Designated Survivor” (ABC) and “Kevin Can Wait” (CBS) are two important success stories from 2016, although only one of the shows is really good. Both shows represent smart decisions by broadcast networks as they try to figure out their place in an ever-evolving television landscape. “Designated Survivor” is proof positive that there’s still value in a traditional thriller as long as it has a great concept, great writing and Kiefer Sutherland.

“Kevin Can Wait” is predictable, old fashioned and a Kevin James vehicle. It’s not my favorite show, or even in the same neighborhood as shows I sort of like, but it’s very smart programming. Whatever James does next is going to be the same thing he did before, but it doesn’t matter: A significant part of the broadcast audience, especially for CBS, wants sameness, or, in this case, “Jamesness.”

Broadcast TV banks heavily on the pilots for new shows, knowing that viewers have a short attention span and many other options to consider if they don’t like what you’re airing. That’s why watching a network pilot can feel like speed dating, you’re hit with so much information at once. Yet even shows whose pilots do well enough can suffer ratings losses almost immediately thereafter, with little hope of recovering.

The percentage of bad new shows may have remained pretty much the same in 2016, but the number of cancellations of new shows was relatively low. “Conviction” (ABC) was the first network fall show to get the ax, although it will burn off episodes in January. “Uncle Buck” (ABC) was dispatched pretty quickly last summer. Among other shows that will never see second seasons: “American Gothic” (CBS), “BrainDead” (CBS), “Coupled” (Fox), “No Tomorrow” (the CW), “Frequency” (the CW), “Good Girls Revolt” (Amazon), “Guilt” (Freeform) and “Dead of Summer” (Freeform).

The accompanying list includes only new shows, which was necessary because so many older shows either continued to display greatness or got even better. The third season of “Mozart in the Jungle” (Amazon), for example, is its best yet. The anthology series “American Crime” (ABC) was as compelling in its second season as it was in the first.

“Silicon Valley,” “Veep” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” continue to prove why HBO dominates the Emmys year after year. “Game of Thrones” was good, of course, but its quality slipped this season, even before HBO set an end date for the series. The quality varied from episode to episode, and overall, there was a sense of trying to tie things up, perhaps a bit too quickly.

Speaking of tying things up, FX announced a final season for “The Americans,” and the fact that it seemed too soon is testimony to that show’s continuing vitality. We have some time to wrap our minds around an FX with no “Americans,” but the network also summarily axed the very good “Tyrant” with a less-than-credible statement about how the ending wrapped things up enough but left the door open in case someone wanted to do a finalizing episode sometime in the future.

We said goodbye to “The Good Wife” this year, though, and that was difficult, and to “Downton Abbey,” which for some was not as difficult as it might have been three seasons ago. But for PBS it certainly is a loss, which is one of the reasons it is hoping viewers take to “Victoria” next month (about the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, with a lot of upstairs/downstairs to the plot. Spoiler alert: It’s good). We also said goodbye to “House of Lies,” which had a solid run of five seasons on Showtime, but the premium cable has extended “Shameless” for an eighth season.

We’re going to lose other great shows in 2017 and beyond, but there will be new shows both good and bad to take their place. Future content will certainly be affected by continuing developments on how we access television and what we’re looking for.

But that’s part of the process. Over time, TV has gone from black and white, to color, to basic and premium cable, and it’s now well into the streaming era. Each new development changes the game and increases competition. For the past few years, online originals have been rising in popularity and number. Some online shows have been repurposed for existing platforms (“Web Therapy”), but more and more viewers are finding their own way to inventive content on the Internet. That’s bound to pose challenges to more established platforms.

If we’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that television in the 21st century is a buyer’s market, but only if you work it right and make considered, informed decisions about what you want to watch.

Quality was everywhere on the content playing field in 2016, enough to validate it as a very good year for television. If only we had time to watch it all.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of “The Do List” every Friday morning at 6:22 and 8:22 on KQED FM, 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV