Modern Families: How 20th Television Landed No. 1 Hits Outside Of Disney With Netflix’s ‘Nobody Wants This’ & CBS’ ‘Tracker’
In 2008, a comedy about the behind-the-scenes of the TV industry, Back To You, co-created/executive produced by Steve Levitan, was canceled by Fox, the broadcast network then-aligned with Levitan’s longtime studio home, 20th Television. Shortly thereafter, another comedy co-created/executive produced by Levitan, Modern Family, was sold to a rival network, ABC, where it went to series and became an instant hit.
In 2023, a comedy about the behind-the-scenes of the TV industry, Reboot, created by Levitan, was canceled by Hulu, the streamer aligned with his studio 20th TV. Shortly thereafter, another comedy, Erin Foster’s Nobody Wants This, which Levitan executive produces, sold to a rival streamer, Netflix, where it went to series and became an instant hit.
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In both cases, Levitan had been vocal in his displeasure over the cancellations, directing it at the network/platform: More bluntly about Back To You, “I have sworn off the Fox network. I’m done,” and more subtle about Reboot, “Haven’t seen it? Check us out on Hulu if you can find it.”
The parallels are not lost on industry observers as Nobody Wants This, created and executive produced by Foster, shot to No. 1 on Netflix’s weekly Top 10 for English series last week in a strong start that has earned the comedy a quick Season 2 renewal.
Meanwhile, another 20th Television series, CBS’ Tracker, came back strong Sunday with 8.3 million Live+Same Day linear viewers for its Season 2 premiere, ranking as the No. 1 entertainment program of the week across broadcast and cable in total viewers.
Given Netflix’s reach, this means that 20th TV likely had the most watched streaming and linear original series in the U.S. over two consecutive weeks — and neither of them is on a Disney network or platform.
That would be almost unthinkable just a couple of years ago when Disney was largely walled off from the rest of the marketplace. It harkens to the time when 20th TV’s predecessor, 20th Century Fox Television, had a top series on every network: The Practice on ABC, This Is Us on NBC, How I Met Your Mother on CBS and a slew of hits on sibling Fox including 24, Glee, Empire and The Simpsons.
In its current incarnation, 20th Television also produces hits for its own platforms, including 9-1-1 and freshman Doctor Odyssey for ABC, Only Murders In the Building for Hulu and Percy Jackson for Disney+. (It is in the process of absorbing sibling ABC Signature, home of ABC standouts Grey’s Anatomy and newbie High Potential.)
But, under Karey Burke, 20th TV has branched out, allowing top talent to take projects out if they don’t sell within Disney, much like Universal Television let Dick Wolf take FBI to CBS having already filled two nights on NBC with the Chicago and Law & Order series.
That is what happened with both Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, and Tracker, headlined by Justin Hartley. While Modern Family was not taken to Fox in 2008, Nobody Wants This, created and executive produced by Foster, was pitched to Hulu and got a pass, I hear. It went to Netflix which has carved out a rom-com niche with series like Emily In Paris. The streamer evolved the project, originally titled Shiksa, into the show that has been #1 or #2 for three straight weeks after some behind-the-scenes changes.
That also was the case with Tracker, which was shopped to ABC before being taken in by CBS, ordered to pilot, then series and given a post-Super Bowl launch pad. (20th TV retained global streaming rights, with Tracker Season 1 launching on Hulu Sunday.)
The expansion is part of the loosening up of self-imposed restrictions since Bob Iger returned as Disney CEO and signaled right away that the company would be licensing more film and TV content to rivals.
While it’s still hard for canceled series to leave the ecosystem (I hear there was interest from Netflix in FX’s Dave), Disney recently licensed to Netflix for a limited time marquee library titles such as Prison Break, which has been a mainstay on the streamer’s Top 10 for the past month and a half, Lost and This Is Us, in exchange for getting to share Grey’s Anatomy on Hulu.
That was accompanied by Netflix’s pickup of Nobody Wants This, the first 20th TV original series on the streamer since the studio was acquired by Disney.
In a TV world left divided by the streaming wars into media companies focused on building their SVOD platforms like Disney, WBD and Paramount, and arms dealers like Sony, 20th TV is among those trying to be both.
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