Network broadcast tv has to deal with tremendous fragmentation in the marketplace due to cable, sat, and the web. Way back when, a show like "The Wild Wild West" used to get 42 million viewers a week, since there were only 3 networks and no video recording. Most network shows are happy just to get 5-10 million a week.

To get that, network shows have to either be "cheap" aka reality TV and game shows with low prodcution costs; or they have to appeal to the lowest common denominators of tried and true sitcom scripts (doesn't Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" look like "Home Improvement" moved to Denver?) and serial multi-character dramas with spin offs.

Good TV is out there, mixed in with the shows about hoarders, barehanded catfishing, cooking with 3# of butter and lard, idiots running a crappy bar in Philadelphia and the zillion ways you can die.