UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — April 29, 2015 — To offer viewers the same binge-viewing experience they now enjoy on streaming platforms, NBC will make the unprecedented move of releasing all 13 episodes of David Duchovny’s new series “Aquarius” on NBC.com and the NBC app after the show’s two-hour linear network premiere on May 28, 2015. The entire series will also be offered to all other video-on-demand platforms for release at that time as well.
In making the announcement, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said, “With ‘Aquarius’ we have the opportunity to push some new boundaries to give our audience something no broadcast network has done before. We are fully aware how audiences want to consume multiple episodes of new television series faster and at their own discretion, and we’re excited to offer our viewers this same experience since all 13 episodes of this unique show have been produced and are ready to be seen. I appreciate the enthusiasm we’ve gotten from the producers of the show and our partner Marty Adelstein of Tomorrow Studios to launch this series in a new, forward-thinking way.”
One of the key points of the arrangement is that the show will be available to only a handful of certain advertising partners so the linear broadcast on NBC will mirror the commercial load on the VOD platforms. This will result in limited interruption — both on-air and off — giving viewers and advertising partners an enhanced and innovative experience.
The full 13 episodes will remain up on the various digital platforms for a four-week period, while each new one-hour episode will continue to premiere, as planned, each week in the 9 p.m. Thursday timeslot on NBC.
Los Angeles. 1967.
Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny, “Californication,” “The X-Files”), a decorated World War II vet and homicide detective, barely recognizes the city he’s now policing. Long hair, cheap drugs, rising crime, protests, free love, police brutality, Black Power and the Vietnam War are radically remaking the world he and the Greatest Generation saved from fascism 20 years ago.
So when Emma Karn (Emma Dumont, “Salvation,” “Bunheads”), the 16-year-old daughter of an old girlfriend, goes missing in a sea of hippies and Hodiak agrees to find her, he faces only hostility, distrust and silence. He enlists the help of Brian Shafe (Grey Damon, “True Blood,” “Friday Night Lights”) — a young, idealistic undercover vice cop who’s been allowed to grow his hair out — to infiltrate this new counterculture and find her.
The generational conflict between the two is immediate and heated, yet they’re both dedicated officers and soon realize the need to bring Emma home is more urgent than they foresaw. The immediacy arises because she has joined a small, but growing, band of drifters under the sway of a career criminal who now dreams of being a rock star: Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony, “Game of Thrones”).
Ringing with the unparalleled music of the era, “Aquarius” is a sprawling work of historical fiction that begins two years before the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders. It’s a shocking thriller, a nuanced character drama and, in the end, the story of how we became who we are today.
Writer John McNamara serves as executive producer with Marty Adelstein (“Prison Break”), David Duchovny, Becky Clements and Melanie Greene. “Aquarius” is a production of Tomorrow Studios, a joint partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios.
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Wow, this is a new kind of burn-off.
ReplyDeleteDon't understand the move! O.o
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought CW didn't have faith in TM, NBC topped that.
lmao
ReplyDeleteWell that is definitely something different, so I guess they will be paying attention to streaming views for this one and not overnight ratings. Still seems a bit weird.
ReplyDeleteSo they'll all be released on Hulu as well?
ReplyDeletewell they got some SERIOUS balls to do that!
ReplyDeleteLol
ReplyDeleteMaybe they just wanna have ppl watch.
ReplyDeleteDo they mistake themselves for Netflix?
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any plans to watch it, but now I'll check it out. I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteI am now 100% sure this network is run by monkeys who have zero idea of what they are doing
ReplyDeleteHow can people say this makes zero sense? Online binge watching of shows (like Netflix) is the future of "TV".
ReplyDeleteI applaud NBC for having the balls to try this test run.
I agree. It will be very interesting to see how this works for them.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if the live airing ratings totally collapse or if people will still watch live as well.
Wow, they must seriously have no confidence whatsoever in the show.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a burn-off when they're still airing every episode. I think it's smart to test the waters. It's not just the future of TV, its how ppl have been watching for a long time.
ReplyDeleteAlso according to THR, the online version is a different edit that is "intended to push the envelop on streaming".
ReplyDeleteThe question is-Why would the viewers bother watching it live week after week when they can watch it in 1 or 2 days?
ReplyDeleteThis is unprecedented. Why would NBC do that? I don't know what they are planning with this
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make sense coz Netflix don't have to bother with Live viewership,NBC do.
ReplyDeleteIt's a show with zero odds at a second season, so why not burn it off that way?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it has some success for NBC
Because why would anyone watch it live when they can watch the entire season online weeks before the episodes actually air?
ReplyDeleteThat's an agressive, progressive, surprising and welcome move from a broadcast network....
ReplyDeleteI think that's a bit of a cynical take... Sure, it can be viewed as such, and it might very well be the case.
ReplyDeleteBut since the advertising is being mentioned in the plan, I think they're genuinely trying out a Netflix-like new model. And I applaud them for experimenting.
This is mostly true. I'll probably binge-watch it if I like it. I do that with shows on Netflix a lot.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing: if people watch it online, then there are still adds, therefore NBC wouldn't actually lose anything.
ReplyDeleteBut what people here aren't seeing, is that by releasing it all at once, people will watch it and, if it's good, will spread word, drumming up the hype. This could have two benefits. First is that you may well end up with more people watching the show than originally might have, due to the spread of word. Second, you'll have those who binge-watched the show at the beginning, quite possibly re-watching the show as it airs and experiencing double the ads.
Either way, NBC don't lose, and in reality they stand to gain quite a bit from this, provided the show is good.
The only way that happens is if it's the next Breaking Bad!LOL!
ReplyDeleteLet's see whether this plan backfires or not!
I believe so.
ReplyDeleteHow is it a burn-off if they are still airing the episodes?
ReplyDelete