Warner Bros. TV Head Peter Roth on ‘Too Much TV’ Debate: ‘Good Is No Longer Good Enough’ (Video)

Exec disagrees with FX boss John Landgraf’s enduring TCA comments, and says it’s a matter of quality

Warner Bros. Television Group’s president and chief content officer Peter Roth is the latest to weigh in on FX boss John Landgraf‘s controversial comment that there is simply too much TV these days.

Speaking on stage next to his frequent collaborator, producer Greg Berlanti, during a Paley Center conversation Thursday, Roth disagreed with Landgraf’s take on the current state of television.

“I think that quote, ‘there’s too much TV,’ was amended by another very wise TV executive, who said, ‘there is not enough great TV,’” Roth said, who could have been referencing similar remarks made by AMC Networks CFO Sean Sullivan. “That is the point. There are clearly many more choices available to viewers today, as there should be. There are now over 400 scripted series available to anyone at any given time. What we aspire to do, and the reason Greg Berlanti is sitting up here – our job is to hire the best people. And then to try to encourage them and galvanize them and inspire them to do the best work. Great has to win out. Good is no longer good enough.”

Landgraf made the remarks at this year’s Television Critics’ Association summer press tour, and it’s been an ongoing conversation with top TV executives ever since.

Most executives, like Roth, seem to disagree with Landgraf’s sweeping statement. Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, ABC boss Paul Lee and Showtime president David Nevins have all have publicly rebuffed Landgraf’s statements.

“I certainly do not think there is too much TV,” concluded Roth. “There is simply not enough great TV. The great TV, in my 41 years of experience, the great TV series always rise to the top. It always finds its audience.”

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