It’s that time of year again, when CES, NATPE and the annual Television Critics Association press tour all happen basically at the same time. Which is why TV reporters and critics never want the holidays to end.

But for TV fans, midseason is fall and Christmas rolled up into one, with shows premiering at an almost-impossible-to-follow pace. In January alone, we have the debuts of the final season of American Idol, the reboot of X-Files, the two-hour premiere of MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles and the list goes on and on.

There’s nowhere to get a closer look at everything that’s happening than at TCA, which is taking place over two full weeks, running from Tuesday, Jan. 5, through Tuesday, Jan. 19 at the Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, Calif.

The tour kicked off Tuesday with panels from ESPN, Ovation, Outdoor Channel and Up and wraps up with PBS, which has both the final season of Downton Abbey to promote as well as upcoming period drama, Mercy Street.

In between, HBO will bring such legends as Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter to the stage to promote new series Vinyl, starring Bobby Cannavale. WGN America has John Legend talking about his first TV production effort, Underground, and on-fire AMC has Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg on hand to discuss its new series, Preacher, starring Dominic Cooper. Netflix, this year’s most nominated programming service as voted by the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, will show off its remake of Fuller House, starring The View’s Cameron Candace Bure, and let Jessica Jones’ cast and crew, led by star Krysten Ritter and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, take a victory lap.

Among hot topics at this year’s tour, as predicted by The Wrap, should be subjects we’ve grown familiar with over the year. Two topics that are connected — the rise of cord-cutting and streaming services — are likely to be top of mind.

TCA also is an opportunity for talent to start to build relationships with the people who cover them. Last summer, Quantico’s Priyanka Chopra and new Daily Show host Trevor Noah were found particularly charming. In the past, critics fell in love with Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom, and those two went on to be nominated for Golden Globes this year. Both The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show’s James Corden — both of whom will be featured after this year’s Super Bowl — won new fans at least winter’s tour.

Moral of that story: taking some time to charm the pants off the TCA audience can actually pay career dividends.

Brief Take: Peak TV means that even people who are paid to follow TV can barely keep up.

Read more at The Wrap, Variety

[Image courtesy of The Wrap]

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