Let’s get the bad news out of the way first – critically acclaimed comedy The Mindy Project has been terminated by Fox after three low-rated seasons. But hold back the tears, because here’s the good news, fans – online streaming giant Hulu is already angling to bring the series back, potentially for multiple seasons.
Universal Television is reportedly in talks with Hulu for two additional seasons of the Mindy Kaling vehicle, which has emerged as one of the funniest, most progressive comedies on television over the course of its run. The series has also accumulated a rabid fan base, which was quick to condemn news of the cancelation.
Though its ratings on Fox were never particularly impressive (this season saw it average a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.9 million viewers), The Mindy Project has always been an exceptionally strong performer online, drawing a large amount of its streaming audience from Hulu. As such, it makes sense that The Mindy Project could find a new home there.
Former Fox president Kevin Reilly was a fan of the series’ humor and greenlit it as part of his niche comedy approach to programming. Since his replacement by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Fox’s style has skewed more toward broad, crowd-friendly series and away from wittier, pointed shows like The Mindy Project, so the network’s lack of interest in continuing with it is understandable. Notably, Reilly and Kaling had discussed the possibility of moving the show to Reilly’s current network, TBS, before Hulu got involved. Needless to say, the cancelation didn’t come as much of a surprise, and the creative team behind The Mindy Project had been eyeing other avenues for some time.
Hulu has been pushing into original programming, following in the footsteps of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Yahoo. The Mindy Project joins a roster of other buzzy originals including Jason Reitman comedy Casual and the ambitious Stephen King adaptation 11/22/63, in which James Franco plays a high school English teacher who travels back in time to prevent the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Published: May 7, 2015 08:12 am