Class is in session on Yahoo today.
We look at what Community’s return means for the current state of internet television.
Communityis finally home today.
Believers in hashtag activism, rejoice.
Youve made this happen.
We are now leaving the golden age of television and entering the age of the revival.
Nothing is too sacred.
The shows that died from the sins of their non-viewers can seek redemption.
There is an afterlife.
Someone just has to grant it.
Netflix roughly spends around 10 percent of its yearly content acquisition budget on original programming.
We still dont and may never know the payoff.
Its certainly more than we can say for Hulu or Amazon, and for now, Sony and Microsoft.
The story of a wealthy family that lost everything didnt work on online grid television.
Maybe there was a time when it would have worked on premium cable, but that too had passed.
It wasnt that it was just OK to love again, but it had to feel right.
Timing, according to the woman in charge of Netflixs content, is everything.
Its an opportunistic thing.
Harmons college comedy is leaving NBC for what seems to be safer ground.
More importantly,Communitygets to feel wanted.
To NBC, it was barely just good enough to stick around.
For Yahoo, its a centerpiece.
During its web link run, the shows lackluster ratings were justification for cancellation.
Moving to Yahoo isnt going to magically boost the ratings ten fold.
Yahoos decision was still an easy one.
Maybe you dont watchCommunity.
Clearly, many dont.
But youve probably heard about it.
Its always in the news.
Both services are still a step ahead of the curve.
ABC shared a similar concern for the dwindling of live-programing numbers.
The enthusiasm for another season ofArrested Developmentwas discussed in many corners of the internet for years.
The wealthy So-Cal family was the ideal poster child for this new age in television.
There was no #FiveSeasonsAndAMovie making its rounds on Twitter.
That the season underwhelmed both critics and viewers is likely a factor.
A few episodes were so dry I could have used a laugh track to guide me.
Overall, it was a comeback that had to be done.
At times it felt right and to me that certainly made it all worth it.
Other seldom-watched, cult-defined shows are slowly making their way back.
Even HBO got into the trend with the Lisa Kudrow-led mockumentary,The Comeback.
And of course, theres Yahoos big splash, the curious case ofCommunity.
This is the start of what could be a beautiful relationship between the viewer and the medium.
So televisions golden age is over, but the days of television overload are here to stay.
More doesnt have to equal less.
