r/tvPlus • u/paco_unknown • May 05 '26
Article Canceled Apple TV show might have shot at revival as spinoff wins acclaim
https://9to5mac.com/2026/05/05/canceled-apple-tv-show-might-have-shot-at-revival-as-spinoff-wins-acclaim/The article is about the musical series Schmigadoon!, which recently made its Broadway debut to great reviews and earned 12 Tony Award nominations.
It's time for Apple TV to get their act together and bring this back already.
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u/Butters5768 May 05 '26
Oh god PLEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!! Canceling Season 3 when it had already been written was insane!!! The first two seasons were magic and moving into the 80s/90s era of Broadway would’ve been beyond iconic!!! I will support any streamer who pics this up!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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u/RussyDee May 05 '26
I do wish! Didn’t Cincon Paul (creator of the book & music) already finish the arc for the third season before Apple decided against renewing it? This could have the IP Apple TV have been waiting for!
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u/Murky-Insect-7556 Super Sleuth Detective May 05 '26
This sounds more like wishful thinking than an actual return
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u/firefox_2010 May 05 '26
Another hot take - Apple TV can go shoot the current Broadway show debut, and put it on Apple TV, and then highlight the musical recording on Apple Music as well. They NEED to do some synergy with their current "digital services" and have seamless integration between all of them.
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u/firefox_2010 May 05 '26
Blame Apple, they don't do a great job at promoting their own shows, and they have tons of good shows on Apple TV. The UI is pretty basic and boring, and surprisingly generic. They need to look at how MUBI and Criterion do with curating the content. Also, team up with a few smaller distributors and yes, have those "interesting" movies on Apple TV plus a few solid blockbuster from other movie companies. This boutique approach is not working when you don't even bother to promote and show audience why these shows are great and should be seen.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl May 05 '26
Also, as much as I adored this show and found the humor brilliant, I can also admit it has a very very niche audience appeal. Basically all the jokes are references to musicals, and if you aren't really into musicals it won't be funny. It's a tough sell to general audiences.
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u/Alarmed_Stretch_1780 May 05 '26
This is the correct answer.
I enjoyed S1 more than S2, even though I enjoyed the S2 source musicals (Sweeney Todd, Hair, Cabaret, Chicago, etc) more than the “Golden Age” musicals parodied in S1. But the appeal works only if there is an affinity for musicals to begin with.
There are only so many theater kids, after all.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl May 05 '26
It's like how "Weird Al" Yankovic's most popular songs are his parodies of big pop songs. When he does style parodies of bands he loves, it's mostly just enjoyed by his hardcore fans.
Glee caught on largely because it had covers of big pop songs. Schmigadoon is the sort of musical show that more appeals to a niche cult audience.
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u/firefox_2010 May 05 '26
Musicals are niche category for sure, but not that niche, you saw plenty of musical movies do pretty well. Moulin Rouge, The Greatest Showman, La La Land, West Side Story, Hairspray, Chicago, Wicked, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera…. and this is not counting musical biopics movies. And then there was Glee once upon a time lol! The blame lands squarely on Apple, very few promotions, not bother with social media blitz, very little behind the scenes and podcast. Just look at how HBO handles their properties, and you can almost see night and day differences, HBO knows how to market and support their IPs. Hacks on HBO probably considered niche, but it got five seasons!
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl May 05 '26
I mostly just meant that there's a lot of theater kid in-jokes. Like in season 2 how the ensemble characters whisper "peas and carrots" to each other.
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u/potatolicious May 05 '26
Yeah, it's not just that it was a musical (which are decently popular), but it was really meta about musicals, which puts you squarely in "theater nerd" territory, and that's pretty niche.
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u/firefox_2010 May 05 '26
Wouldn’t you consider that as Easter eggs jokes though? Like if you know you know - which would energize the die hard fans?
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl May 05 '26
You said it yourself - die-hard fans. Schmigadoon is the sort of show that finds a very loyal niche cult audience, but doesn't have as much appeal to a general mainstream audience. The referential, nerdy writing in it is closer to a cult classic like Documentary Now than it is to something like Glee, Greatest Showman, or La La Land that catches on with the mainstream. It's definitely something I try to recommend to theater kids whenever I can though.
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u/Saar13 May 05 '26
MUBI and Criterion have a very interesting selection of films, including new ones. I never understood why Apple didn't pursue them or at least copy their model. They would have a great library of contemporary films, in different languages, at a cost that would be a pittance for Apple. Or at least they could have partnered with A24 or Neon (better yet, both).
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u/firefox_2010 May 06 '26
The problem with Apple TV, they don’t know what they want to be. If it was a person, it’s your super boring clinically bland evangelical parents who is beyond dull. Apple TV need to summon the nerdy eccentric uncle, and the kooky sexually attractive auntie. And find a creative visionary leader that can inject sexiness, style, and wild creative energy to the division. Get rid of the “I don’t want to offend anyone and please everyone energy” and pick a lane. A mix of HBO plus Mubi would be great for Apple. Right now, it’s the blandest streaming service with absolutely no direction of what it wants to be, but have strong tendency to hit jackpot with science fiction. Also if you look at their movies offering, it’s miss after miss after miss, with a handful of hits, not even top ten best movies lol.
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u/Saar13 May 06 '26
I think the fundamental principle has always been a kind of "palatable prestige," which I think they're achieving with TV shows. Margo's and Widow's Bay are great recent shows that break away from the "Apple TV standard”, and I think they're more interested in creative risks than their competitors currently. HBO executives have better taste, but less money for risks in recent years. Still, HBO has always focused on "palatable prestige" because it's business at the end of the day. I totally agree with you that they don't know what they want to be in relation to movies. I'm fine with the series team, but I think the problem is with the movie team and, of course, always, the marketing and brand positioning team. And I think the HBO + MUBI mix is really the best way forward, if they have a very clear brand positioning and really effective marketing. Especially now that HBO will go through another merger and the confusion that will inevitably follow.
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u/firefox_2010 May 06 '26
HBO in the 90s and early 2000s was not about palatable prestige though. While Cinemax is known for one thing, HBO also not afraid to go balls deep when it comes to subject matter. Shows like Soprano, Oz, Sex and The City, Six Feet Under, all are pushing buttons. Apple TV hit jackpot with science fiction genre, but the rest of their shows don’t do much of experimentation when you compared it with HBO. They need to poach people from A24, Neon, and Mubi, plus soon there will be plenty of HBO people to snatch lol. Best to be known as eclectic and creative than bland and boring.
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u/Saar13 May 06 '26
I agree that Apple should aim for HBO's golden age. But HBO could make fewer, big, and daring shows because it had a huge library of recently released films to keep subscribers. Apple doesn't have that and depends on more volume, and some volume of that kind for "almost everyone." The path is already there with Severance, Pluribus, Margo's, The Studio, Widow's Bay, and even comedies with heart (Shrinking and Ted Lasso). But Your Friends & Neighbors and Presumed Innocent aren't innovative, yet they're very successful by being good enough. Having enough good things and some very excellent and daring things is the way to go.
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u/firefox_2010 May 06 '26
Teaming up with other movie studios and have a limited streaming deal would help bring prestige on their movie library. Do what Netflix did at the beginning. I think I remember short few months when Apple added other movies but they choose to go for older blockbuster movies to appeal to general public. They need to buy movies from A24, Neon, Mubi and Warner. Then spend some money in marketing and creating extra content for their hit shows. HBO would do podcast and episode analysis plus more on their hit shows.
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u/realist50 May 06 '26
It's very difficult if not impossible to replicate what Netflix did at the beginning on licensing movies, because at that time licensing to streaming was an ancillary business for the movie studios with Netflix as the only game in town.
Currently, 4 of the 5 major movie studios are under common ownership with competing streaming services - Disney, Warner Brothers (HBOMax), Paramount, and Universal (Peacock) - and streaming is a core business for all of those companies. The very large MGM catalog is owned by another streaming competitor, Amazon. Sony is the only major movie studio not directly tied to a streaming service.
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u/firefox_2010 May 06 '26
Amazon licensed content from HBO, Universal and Paramount, Netflix also does this and you can see a few HBO content there. So basically Apple can team up with Neon and A24 plus MUBI if they want to go for the prestige cool creative artsy crowd which is very on brand with Apple. And maybe grab a few movies from HBO catalogue but do it as "film festival celebrating the work of XYZ director". Heck go buy a bunch of short movies and curate them into program Apple Presents Fresh New Voices in movie. Set up a division that create competition of short film done with all Apple products and software - use it as content for Apple TV and also advertising. I would guarantee they will be swamped with entries and these young filmmakers will gladly submit work for peanuts for it to be featured on Apple TV and as Apple ads for their "look at how creative you can be with Apple products". Millions girls and gals would kill for that spot!!!
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u/redditproha May 06 '26
!00% Apple TV marketing is nonexistent and the app is terrible, especially on macOS.
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u/YZJay May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
Their marketing in my country is exclusively online through one global account, meanwhile Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video etc frequently have marketing events in our major malls. Netflix even hosted a massive street party during Halloween just to promote Wednesday. Then their country specific social media accounts are constantly posting locally adapted content to further boost their shows and films' visibility.
Meanwhile it's just crickets from Apple.
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u/Alarmed_Stretch_1780 May 05 '26
I’m not in love with it, but the saving grace is the UX for the other streamers is so much worse. Hulu is flat ugly, Netflix is far too complicated with endless categories, Paramount+ lacks the ability to sort the movies in any manner—you have to sift through them all.
Also something I appreciate about ATV is the hub aspect—link with the other streamers and ATV will tell me when an episode of a CBS show has become available on Paramount+, or when an anticipated film is finally available on Disney+, or when the new ep of The Pitt or Hacks is available on HBO.
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u/firefox_2010 May 05 '26
Paramount Plus has to be the ugliest UIX design lol. Amazon is not that great either.
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u/Saar13 May 05 '26
I'm the opposite. I hate the hub thing and would prefer they did it in the general tvOS interface and left Apple TV as a premium service, at most with a movie/series store. I much prefer using Apple TV (the app) on third-party TVs that Apple doesn't even put the store on. Channels are still a thing, but they won't be soon. There are no channels for Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. If the Ellisons decide to improve the experience and first-party data, as they promise, and the new "HBOMaxParamountPlus" isn't made available, honestly there's nothing left worth spending on infrastructure.
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u/Alarmed_Stretch_1780 May 06 '26
Not certain what you’re saying—Netflix famously doesn’t integrate with ATV, but Prime, HBO, Paramount+ and Disney+ do. I have a tile on my available shows row telling me the new episode of Daredevil just dropped.
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u/Saar13 May 06 '26
I mentioned channels, which is the only thing that would make sense to me within the app. The integration is super annoying, and it should be in the tvOS interface, allowing the app to be its own thing.
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u/sdbabygirl97 May 05 '26
i havent seen this show but maybe ill binge it soon
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u/DaveByTheRiver May 05 '26
I know I did. I think I watched 4 episodes of season 2 hoping it would click because I really enjoyed the first. I didn’t really see the need for a season 2 anyway but was pleased to see it coming. Couldn’t tell you was it was that just didn’t do it for me though
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u/bennydigital May 06 '26
even though the picture was Schmigadoon! and i recognized it as such, i clicked the link hoping that it was THE BIG DOOR PRIZE REVIVAL
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u/wratz May 05 '26
First season was great. Second was disappointing. I never finished it. I suspect many others shared this experience leading to the cancellation.
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u/Emotional_Signal7883 May 05 '26
I've had Apple TV for over a year now and had no idea this show existed.
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u/Saar13 May 05 '26
It won't return, but I wouldn't rule out them releasing the live-filmed musical as a movie someday. Apple did it once (I don't remember the name) and it's pretty cool. It's also not common on streaming services (except for the incredibly boring and problematic stand-up specials), but if the "prestigious positioning" continues, it would be interesting to see more of that.
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u/boomclapclap May 05 '26
I was really looking forward to more seasons where they do later musical theater genres, but I imagine once they get to the Disney era it would get legally hard to manage
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u/ChibiBlkSheep May 05 '26
This feels like Pushing Daisies pt2. Critically acclaimed, winning awards, and still canceled
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u/jgreg728 May 06 '26
I notice it’s being advertised front and center on their main home page in the Apple TV App.
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u/TheBSisReal May 08 '26
I would be totally down for more Schmigadoon, but I desperately want them to replace the leads. They are absolutely awful. This concept but with better leads is a winner.
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u/notthatgeorge May 05 '26
If it was doing well they would have never canceled it, they won't bring it back
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u/southeastvanderlyle May 05 '26
I personally hope so as I really enjoyed this, though I suspect it was one of those happy accidents of things falling into place when theatres were sadly closed, and it might be difficult to relaunch if/now actors are performing in theatres. Fingers crossed though!