As one of Netflix's earliest original series, BoJack Horseman immediately proved itself exemplary of the streaming service's verve to create refreshing and abundantly creative programming. Now, the soul-crushing animated comedy could be adding another interesting notch to its belt -- or its horse reins, or whatever -- as its production company and distributor are shopping BoJack around to cable companies for a syndication deal that would give non-Netflix subscribers a chance to witness all the Hollywoo hubbub they can stand. Plus, a Christmas special.
When BoJack Horseman first showed viewers its hard-drinking and hard-living former sitcom star, it was in the days before Netflix had "perfected" distribution deals for its original series, which basically keeps later releases like 13 Reasons Why and Big Mouth globally locked within the Netflix-only family. As such, BoJack Horseman's production company Tornante Co. was able to keep the show's off-network rights, making a later syndication deal a possibility. Which is definitely exciting for Tornante's Michael Eisner, since Netflix's lack of syndication deals has resulted in all manner of missing profits for producers.
With 48 episodes in its library so far, BoJack Horseman is still years away from the 100-episode mark that most shows traditionally use as a syndication benchmark, but this obviously isn't "most shows." If BoJack Horseman's syndication deal proves to be lucrative for Tortante and distribution company Debmar-Mercury, then we could see a boost in premium streaming series getting snapped up by cable networks, though Netflix's complicated deals will likely keep the majority of that studio's library exclusive to its own audiences. But perhaps Hulu, Amazon and others will get inspired. (Amazon did already allow Transparent's non-streaming release, so a precedent is already set there.)
According to Variety, Debmar-Mercury's head honchos Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein are quite excited to bring BoJack Horseman to cable TV, especially in the current television climate.
In an era when addictive, laugh-out-loud comedies are in short supply, BoJack Horseman delivers what cable networks have been missing.
Perhaps the biggest question here is what cable company would buy up BoJack Horseman, since the show's subject matter is particularly uncensored. Would we see it airing in its original form on FX, where language and adult situations run rampant? Or will it get bought up by TBS, where certain episode elements would need to be excised for time and content purposes? We're just going to put on a few episodes of Horsin' Around while waiting for the deal to go through.
BoJack Horseman fans are currently anticipating (likely with a suitcase full of intoxicants nearby) the already-ordered Season 5, which will likely happen later this year, probably around September. While waiting, though, tons of other shows will soon arrive to take over your attention spans, and you can start marking your calendars using our 2018 Netflix premiere schedule and our midseason premiere schedule.
