For a very short while, it looked like TV was in the midst of a romantic comedy renaissance, with several different series digging firmly into relationship humor. Of course, that was until everything started getting cancelled, much like a lot of people’s relationships in real life. In the past month or so, the world has bid farewell to ABC’s Selfie and Manhattan Love Story, along with NBC’s A to Z. Fans of the former two shows will be pleased to find out that the remainder of each series’ episodes has already found a home at Hulu.
Hulu, which has already been the place for audiences to find previously-aired episodes, has made whatever deals are necessary to allow Selfie and Manhattan Love Story to bring their unaired installments to viewers faster than those of most cancelled series. Those without Hulu need not fret, for ABC.com will actually also continue updating Selfie’s episodes for online-only viewing, and I’m presuming they’ll do the same for the other. Though really, even the events surrounding cancellations have become as unpredictable as anything else in the entertainment world. They may both get picked up by Lifetime by Christmas and cancelled again by Valentine’s Day.
Selfie was pulled from ABC’s schedule after seven of 13 episodes (following ABC’s claims that they’d air the rest of the season), and just had its eighth episode hit Hulu. I’m guessing they, along with ABC, will keep them going on a weekly basis instead of putting them out all at once. Created by Suburgatory’s Emily Kapnek, the on-the-nose comedy follows the budding relationship between the trendily self-obsessed Eliza (Karen Gillan) and her boss/mentor Henry (John Cho), who is helping her become a more accessible person, with calamitous LMAO results.
Created by Jeff Lowell, Manhattan Love Story only made it four episodes before having its plug pulled over dismal ratings. It will continue its 13-episode run on Hulu starting next week, according to Deadline. This comedy gave viewers access to the inner thoughts of characters Peter (Jake McDorman) and Dana (Analeigh Tipton) as they meet and begin building a foil-filled romantic life together.
It’s a strange silver lining to a bummer of a story, but it’s at least a sign of evolution in the TV world. It was a complete revelation when DVDs came along and allowed studios to give viewers access to previously unseen episodes for a variety of series, allowing those same studios to earn money back on their investments. By keeping it streaming after taking it off the air, the show still has time to find an (admittedly longshot) bigger audience down the line. And then who knows?
ABC isn’t the first to do this or anything, but it’s still setting a good example that this should always be the case. So postpone those full R.I.P.s for Selfie and Manhattan Love Story for just a little while longer.
