Hulu has announced that they’ve struck a deal with NBCUniversal for hundreds of episodes of television to add to their already expansive library.
Included in the deal are all seven seasons of Emmy darling 30 Rock (release date: October 1st), which focuses on a television writer (Tina Fey) having to help retool a failing sketch comedy series; weepy family drama Parenthood (release date: early 2018); BAFTA-winning reality series Made in Chelsea (release date: late 2017); and acclaimed Syfy reality competition Face Off (release date: early 2018), which pits special effects make-up artists against one another.
Additionally, Hulu will become the new home to There’s Johnny, a Paul Reiser period comedy set in 1970s Los Angeles that follows a 19-year-old who stumbles his way into a job at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The series was originally developed at NBC comedy streaming service Seeso, which will be shutting down by the end of 2017.
This marks yet another instance of Hulu bolstering its library and differentiating itself from Netflix. The streaming platform recently acquired every season of Will & Grace in advance of its NBC revival and has in the past made deals with ABC TGIF comedies, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld, and a host of shows produced by 20th Century FOX. Rather than solely relying on their originals, which received a boost upon the debut and subsequent Emmy wins for The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu is keeping its identity as the industry’s premier television library – that just so happens to have good originals.
