Read This: Now that they’re irrelevant, TV ratings matter more than ever

For decades, it was easy to identify hit television shows: They were the programs with the highest Nielsen ratings. It was simple Darwinism, heartless but comprehensible. Then, everything went kablooey because of the internet, and now, nobody knows what a “hit” television show even is anymore. Are we talking live viewership? L+3? L+7? Just the 18-to-49 demographic? What about people watching on their phones? And do tweets count for anything, for the love of Christ? Slate television critic Willa Paskin sorts through all this puzzling evidence, non-evidence, and pseudo-evidence in a provocative article entitled, “Nothing’s A Hit Anymore.” Television ratings, Paskin argues, may be more difficult (if not impossible) to calculate these days, but they might also be TV’s only remaining “tether to realty” at a time when the entertainment industry routinely caters to niche audiences, seemingly without much thought given to mass popularity.