Brief prediction: In the future, “television shows” we watch will not be shows as we think of them today with actual actors, but rather nearly-infinite simulations that we can both watch and join in (that is, become a character ourselves).

Future entertainment will be like unscripted video games that we can sometimes merely choose to view, sometimes participate in, and sometimes build ourselves. Of course, completely passive, scripted shows will not ever go away.

But like stage plays they will become increasingly unpopular and more a sideline of the culture, though of course still attract passive adherents.