There are plenty of network shows produced every year that have several million fans yet do not bring in enough moolah to justifying returning to network TV for another season. The trend lately has been to take some of these shows, revamp them with a different production budget and return them to television via a new station or service. Cougar Town did it. Community is doing it. Now, Fox’s failed freshman comedy, Enlisted, may be joining the ranks.
On Wednesday, we learned that Yahoo might be picking up Enlisted for a second season. According to Deadline, talks are currently just getting underway, so we don’t actually know if the show will get a second life, but frankly, it’s nice that the Internet giant is even considering taking over the series. The news comes after Enlisted fans reportedly targeted Yahoo and its Second Screen service, hoping for a revival of the recently canceled series.
Last season, Fox’s freshman comedy was well-received and found a passionate fanbase, which is actually pretty impressive, considering the schedule the powers that be gave the comedy. The show was given a 13-episode order and then shelved until spring season, where it premiered on a random Friday night in January. Yes, Friday night. Despite that horrible timeslot, the show managed to stay afloat in the ratings through March, when Fox pulled the series from the schedule, airing the last few episodes in June—after the show was already officially cancelled. Suffice to say, Enlisted had a hard row to hoe from the start.
Twentieth Century Fox has said yes to rebooting shows in the past, most famously allowing new episodes of Arrested Development to be made for Netflix. Yahoo, too, has a history with picking up canceled shows. Season 6 of Community was recently picked up by Yahoo TV just last month. Still, there are obstacles standing in the way of returning Enlisted to television. Parker Young and Keith David recently landed roles in DirecTV’s first original comedy. Granted, Yahoo might be able to work around that schedule, but since those actors and more have moved on to other projects in the months since Enlisted was canceled, I don’t know how easy or feasible it will be. At least it’s a ray of hope for fans of the series, however.
And really, that's more than anyone should have expected for a show that was essentially cast off to die by Fox. Hopefully, Yahoo's determination, coupled with fan excitement, will combine to give the world a dozen or so more brilliant episodes of an underrated comedy and net Yahoo a little bit of money for its time in the process. That would be a win-win for everyone.
