The Real Reasons These Shows Were Brought Back After Being Canceled

NBC turned back time on their Timeless cancellation when they renewed the show for a second season just a few days after announcing that it wouldn't return for a sophomore outing. The show, which stars Abigail Spencer, Malcolm Barrett, and Matt Lanter as a history professor, scientist, and soldier tasked with traveling through time and altering history, was plagued with low ratings, averaging 4.6 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in the key 18 to 49 demo. 

The show's ratings were too low to justify the budget, but the show had some very loyal fans, and they launched a huge campaign when it was canceled. Although many people thought the show's ultimate renewal came down to tough business dealings between NBC and producers Sony Pictures TV, the network gave all the credit to the fans.

NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt said that they "loved the show creatively" but considered it a "borderline" show thanks to its ratings. They ultimately decided there wasn't space for Timeless on their fall schedule and canceled it, but after the outcry, they "went back to the drawing board" and worked out a new deal with Sony.

Another prestige show that found a second life on Netflix, Longmire was one of the streamer's first saves. The company swooped in to pick up the western drama after it was canceled by A&E after three seasons, despite the fact that it was one of their highest-rated dramas — a decision that led to a lot of consternation among fans, and left producers immediately looking for a new home. 

Producer Warner Horizon pursued this by putting together a pitch showing the show's ratings performance, its fan following, and the outline of where season four would go after the dramatic season three cliffhanger. He targeted Netflix and Amazon as the most likely potential homes, with Netflix taking the lead due to the fact that it already had streaming rights to the show's previous seasons.

For Netflix, picking up the show was a reasonable decision. It had a large fanbase, but its viewership skewed older than the key advertising demo that commercial-supported networks like A&E rely on. In Netflix's subscription-based model, advertisers aren't an issue, making the show a good fit. Longmire wound up running for three more seasons on Netflix before concluding with its sixth season in 2017.

Often the most beloved shows struggle in the ratings, and such was the case for Syfy's The Expanse, which was canceled after three seasons of low viewership. Fans of the critically acclaimed sci-fi show started a petition and even made a GoFundMe page to try to save it — and they didn't have to wait in limbo for long, as it was officially picked up by Amazon for a fourth season after just a couple of weeks.

The show, which stars Shohreh Aghdashloo, Thomas Jane, and Steven Strait as three space travelers trying to untangle a conspiracy that threatens the future of humanity, apparently had a viewer in Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who's a "massive fan" of the James. S.A. Corey novels on which the series is based. He even had the novels pulled up when he first showed off the Amazon Kindle Fire to the press, and was apparently "livid" when the show went to Syfy.

Syfy, meanwhile, got a bit of a bad deal with the series. They only had first-run linear rights, which put heavy pressure on the show's live on-air ratings, which were never exactly stellar. Without SVOD or international rights to bring in extra cash, Syfy shouldered the show's heavy costs without much benefit. The move to Amazon fits with the company's overhauled programming goals, which put a premium on international hits with serialized storytelling on par with HBO's Game of Thrones.

Mindy Kaling was one of the biggest stars to come out of The Office, but her attempt at leading her own sitcom with The Mindy Project was met with a few production speed bumps. First, the show, starring Kaling as an unlucky in love OBGYN, was passed over before a pilot was filmed by NBC; then, after earning a pickup at Fox, it was canceled after airing three seasons. 

Luckily for fans, Hulu swooped in and picked up the show for a fourth season. Bravo and TBS also reportedly expressed interest in the show, which earned critical acclaim despite its low ratings. The move was one of the service's first original content deals, encouraged because they already had streaming rights to the rest of the show's episodes.

This ended up being key to the pick-up, with execs saying that the show did better numbers in online viewing than it had on the network. The show brought an instantly recognizable name to the in-house lineup and would go on to air two more seasons on the service before signing off in the fall of 2017 — and Hulu has continued its strong relationship with Kaling, who is working on a TV adaptation of Four Weddings and a Funeral for the company. 

Community was the weird little sitcom that could, running for a surprising five seasons on NBC despite low ratings and a showrunner change. (Gas leak year, anyone?) However, it ultimately came just shy of six seasons and a movie when NBC decided to pull the plug. Although Netflix and Hulu reportedly turned down the chance to pick it up, Yahoo! wound up coming to the rescue and ordering a sixth season on the day the cast's contracts were set to expire.

Most of the stars (sans Yvette Nicole Brown, who left to care for her sick father) as well as the creative team returned for season six, and things remained pretty similar in most other respects as well. Sony Pictures Television president of programming and production Zack Van Amburg said that the show's $2 million per episode budget wouldn't "be cut one dollar." 

That money was meant to bring audiences to the company's budding Yahoo! Screen streaming service. Kathy Savitt, chief marketing officer for Yahoo, said they were drawn to the show because of its "loyal and ardent fan base," which was meant to keep people watching Yahoo! longer, allowing them to bring in more advertising dollars while also luring fans to other Yahoo! Screen content. Ultimately, their gamble failed, and the company lost $42 million.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine got an early retirement when the police procedural was canceled by Fox after airing five seasons, but it was quickly snapped up by NBC for a 13-episode sixth season. The show's new network is also home to creator Mike Schur's other comedy series The Good Place (as well as his past shows Parks and Recreation and The Office), and Brooklyn Nine-Nine fit perfectly into its workplace comedy brand.

As it turns out, NBC wanted Brooklyn Nine-Nine from the get-go. The show comes from NBC's Universal Television, but the network passed on the series when it first came up. NBC Entertainment Group chief Bob Greenblatt regretted his decision, viewing the show's first five seasons on Fox as a "missed opportunity." 

Although fan outcry was huge after the show was canceled, Greenblatt said that wasn't the reason NBC decided to pick it up, as they "were already there" working on a deal before the social media uproar. He added that the show is "one of the few comedies in recent years to have a really robust international number," giving them "a lot of business reasons" for the show to go on. While he couldn't commit to the show getting a seventh season, fans would certainly love to stick around the Nine-Nine.