Not to be outdone by Netflix’s latest volley in the Screen Wars, Showtime gave its own surprise announcement Monday. The network will air new episodes of “Twin Peaks” in 2016, a full 25 years after ABC pulled the plug.
The move is unusual in some ways — typically only war horses like “Dallas” come back back after that long of a break — but it’s far from the first cult hit to get a second chance on a new network. In fact, with the rise of premium channels and streaming services, it has become a low-risk way attract an audience — albeit with mixed success. Here are four more recent revivals and how they did.
Arrested Development
Probably the highest-profile resurrection on this list, if only because the fourth season of “Arrested Development” become the “Detox” of groundbreaking sitcoms. Before Fox canceled the show, its characters dropped references to HBO, Showtime and a potential movie. The rumors churned for seven years before Netflix released 15 new episodes all at once in 2013.
The new “Arrested Development” played with the binge-able format by focusing on one or two characters per episode and slowly revealing the plot as their storylines intersected. Some critics loved this puzzle box style of storytelling, but others were lukewarm, even calling the season a “noble failure.” But that hasn’t stopped even more speculation about a fifth season.
Friday Night Lights
After successfully adapting the nonfiction book “Friday Night Lights” into a movie, Peter Berg developed a TV version that would let him explore more ideas left out of the movie. But after a successful first season and a panned, shark-jumping second, the show was on the chopping block at NBC.
DirecTV swooped in, offering to help bankroll more episodes, which would air first on satellite, then later on broadcast. NBC agreed, and the show bounced back for three more critically-acclaimed seasons. DirecTV also brought back the Glenn Close legal drama “Damages,” but only “Friday Night Lights” has gone down as an all-time classic.
The Killing
Against all odds, “The Killing” was actually brought back from cancellation twice. After huge success with “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” AMC tried adapting the Danish series “Forbrydelsen” in 2011. The dreary crime drama started strong but lost viewers quickly, limping into a second season before being canceled.
After renegotiating contracts, AMC resurrected the show for a third season last summer before canceling it again. Netflix picked “The Killing” back up for an abbreviated final season in August, but most critics weren’t interested by then. The streaming service did something similar with Cartoon Network’s “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” this spring, giving the show a send-off after Lucasfilm’s sale ended the series abruptly.
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