One of the casualties of the 2013-14 television season that hurt the most (behind the cancelled then resurrected NBC cult comedy Community, of course) was Fox’s Enlisted, a frankly hilarious comedy about three brothers on the same military base in fictional Fort McGee, Florida.
Fox never gave the show a chance, pushing it into the Friday deathslot, shifting its premiere to the winter months while the Olympics were airing with nearly no promotion, depriving it of a lead-in, airing episodes out of order and oddly showing reruns instead of new episodes. So when it was axed with four episodes left to go, that didn’t come as much of a surprise – though Enlisted was so good, it was a damned shame.
Creator Kevin Biegel still hasn’t given up, however, on finding the comedy a new home. And now that Community has been brought back from the dead by Yahoo Screen, the show’s fans are turning to that online streaming service in hopes that a similar deal can be reached for Enlisted.
One fan who has been instrumental in lobbying Yahoo Screen recently is Carl Brand, who tweets as MyVogonPoetry. A sample tweet: “RT this if you would watch a #Community #Enlisted Double Feature on @YahooScreen.” When contacted by TheWrap, Brand explained:
“Much of the fan base would love ‘Enlisted’ to find another network home but that is probably not a reality. Yahoo Screen is so new that a property like ‘Enlisted’ would give credibility and deliver an audience that is engaged online.”
Comparing Community and Enlisted, while the former show averaged a 1.5 in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic in its last season on NBC, Enlisted averaged a 1.0 in the demo. Despite that low figure, the love that Enlisted‘s fans feel for the show is palpable. When asked about how the show won him over so quickly, Brand had many reasons:
“It can be funny and touching (sometimes in the same scene), the cast has great chemistry (and are great with fans online), it deals with issues in the military like PTSD without being melodramatic… and it is a show that I can watch with my six-year-old and not worry about it being raunchy.”
Neither Yahoo nor 2oth Century TV, which is shopping the show around, have yet responded to the fan campaign.
To throw in my two cents, I agree that Enlisted would be a very savvy purchase for Yahoo Screen. The streaming service has vocalized its desire to house high-quality shows, and Enlisted was certainly one of the funniest programs on the air this past season. Additionally, the comedy’s fanbase is clearly active and would follow the show online.
Another important consideration should be that the series only made it through part of its freshman run – if Yahoo Screen picked it up, Enlisted could grow and improve for seasons to come. I, for one, would definitely go for a Community/Enlisted double feature – so let’s hope Yahoo Screen does too.
