FOCUS
One Day at a Time The Orville The Mindy Project
28
FORTUNE.COM // SEPTEMBER 2019
TECH
OLD SHOWS,
NEW HOMES
O NE D AY
AT A TIME
Original
home: Netflix
2017–2019
New home:
Pop T V
Expected 2020THE EXPANSE
Original
home: Syfy
2015–2018
New home:
Amazon
Prime Video
Expected 2019DESIGNATED
SURVIVOR
Original home:
ABC 2017–2018
New home:
Netflix 2019THE ORVILLE
Original home:
Fox 2017–2019
New home:
Hulu
Expected 2020THE MINDY
PROJECT
Original home:
Fox 2012–2015
New home: Hulu
2015–2017COMMUNITY
Original
home: NBC
2009–2014
New home:
Yahoo Screen
2015discussed viewership numbers for One Day at
a Time, which ran for three seasons.
In general, says Dan Rayburn, an analyst
at Frost & Sullivan, the multiplying number
of streaming services with deep pockets is
at least partially responsible for the rise in
show swapping. In addition to big players like
Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, newcom‑
ers include the upcoming Apple TV+ and
Disney+, as well as NBCUniversal’s streaming
service and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max.
Rayburn says a show like The Orville, a
sci‑fi dramedy that will move to Hulu from
Fox in late 2020, could thrive at its new
home. The series wasn’t canceled. Instead,
its creator, Seth MacFarlane, has explained
the move by saying it was difficult to deliver
the show to the network in time for its
mid‑ season slot. Rayburn says shifting to
streaming can make sense for some shows
because the medium “lends itself to flexibility,
creativity, and a different way of marketing.”
Of course, just because a series is rescued
doesn’t mean its survival is guaranteed. For
example, in July, Netflix killed political thriller
Designated Survivor, which it had adopted
from ABC, after just one season.
A relatively new wrinkle in the show‑swap
phenomenon is the series that switches from
broadcast to streaming but stays in the cor‑
porate family. That happened in July, when
NBCUniversal’s planned streaming service
picked up NBC’s recently canceled high school
comedy A.P. Bio.
Rob Kenneally, an agent at talent firm
Creative Artists Agency, expects show swap‑
ping to continue evolving as Hollywood adapts
to the threat and opportunity of streaming.
What is clear is that second chances, once
relatively rare in TV, are now routine.
Says Kenneally, it’s “a great era” for
creators.Amazon Prime Video in December.
The practice—call it show swapping, if
you’d like—isn’t new. Decades ago, iconic
series like Leave It to Beaver and Diff ’rent
Strokes switched homes during their runs.
But in recent years, the pace has noticeably
accelerated because of the proliferation of
cable networks and new streaming services
hungry for content. Once viewed by Holly‑
wood as “damaged goods,” canceled shows are
now considered to be opportunities. After all,
developing a series from scratch costs millions
of dollars. Furthermore, many canceled shows
have existing fans who will inevitably gush
about the revivals on Facebook and Twitter.
“It’s so hard to get attention to break
through in this peak‑TV climate that you can
be a little ahead of the game by having some‑
thing people already know and love,” says
Brad Schwartz, president of Pop TV, the niche
CBS‑owned network that recently picked up
sitcom One Day at a Time from Netflix.
In March, Netflix pulled the plug on One
Day at a Time, a reboot of Norman Lear’s hit
show from the late 1970s and early ’80s about
a single mother and her kids. Three months
later, Pop TV announced that it would give
the show a second life (or third, if you count
the original).
“We thought it was a perfect fit,” Schwartz
says.
His channel plans to go all out in marketing
its newly adopted series to get as big an audi‑
ence as possible for its comeback next year.
But Schwartz also points out the huge gap
between what Pop TV considers success and
what streaming giant Netflix does.
“If 5 million people watch One Day at a
Time, that might not be a huge hit for them,
but it would be great for us,” says Schwartz.
Netflix, which did not respond to Fortune’s
requests for comment, has never publicly
ON