AP Bio season 3 campaign: Fans rally to try and save canceled NBC show
Since the cancellation, a #SaveAPBio movement has started across Twitter, one fully endorsed by show creator Mike O’Brien, and it’s one that is easy to get behind. Why? It’s because so much of the television industry these days is anchored by what’s going on with live viewers in the 18-49 demographic, and we like to think at this point that things are at least a little bit more complicated than that.
Let’s try to frame it in this sort of way — it’s increasingly hard for comedies these days, especially some outside of the typical sitcom, to find big audiences of live viewers. Why? There’s a sentiment that you can just watch it later, sometimes without commercials, at their own convenience. Viewers, understandably, feel like they should be able to watch television on their own schedule under their own terms. Unfortunately, that is at odds with what is going on with major networks and Nielsen ratings. Eventually, this is a situation that advertisers, networks, and researchers are going to have to rectify. It’s either that or networks need to find more different ways to start monitoring their shows. We’re just not there yet.
Do we think that there will be a season 3 elsewhere? Well, at this point we’ve come to learn that anything is possible. While the live ratings for AP Bio were not fantastic through most of season 2 (which is still technically not over), we are seeing that there is a dedicated audience watching — it may be at other times during the week, but they are watching. Not only that, there is a talented cast from top to bottom here including Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt. It’s the sort of cast who we feel like any streaming service or major network would want.
If we had it our way…
We’d argue that the right venue for AP Bio would be Hulu, given that this is a streaming provider who does still need more potential hits and they were able to make a little magic with The Mindy Project years ago. Netflix feels a little more like a faint possibility, just because at this point, they have so many shows that it is hard to envision them finding a way to bring others on board.
One of the big challenges that AP Bio could have here is ownership — i.e., the big bugaboo for a lot of shows these days. Because the series already had an attachment to Universal Television, it made some sense for NBC to want to keep it. If it ventures elsewhere, it may not have the same sort of inside studio incentive … but we know that the show has a large contingent of fans. It just so happens that the majority of them opted to either watch it on DVR or a streaming platform rather than doing so live.
Do you want to see an AP Bio season 3 renewal happen? Be sure to share right now in the comments, and check back soon to get some other information when it comes to all things TV. (Photo: NBC.)