When NBC cancelled Community earlier this month, Hulu was quickly mentioned as one of the most likely places for it to end up, if it could buck the odds and return, as they already had rights to stream the earlier seasons of the show. As Deadline notes, Hulu are making their own aggressive push into original programming but have yet to find a breakout series - and something with a strong following like Community would likely greatly appeal to them, just as it made sense for Netflix to revive Arrested Development.Community creator Dan Harmon had blogged about fan attempts to revive the series, cautioning everyone to essentially keep their expectations in check and that while his first response hearing Sony was interested in shopping it elsewhere was "Eh", he was coming around to the idea and that ultimately, "I’m not going to be the guy that recancels cancelled Community."
Given how few TV shows are revived after one network cancels them, it's important not to get ahead of ourselves on Community coming back, as there are no doubt many details that would have to be worked out. On the other hand, there are a couple of reasons to be somewhat hopeful. First is that Sony are known for doing all they can to keep their series afloat. As Deadline notes, they managed to keep the likes of Community, Rules of Engagement and 'Til Death going for many more seasons than one would expect, thanks to the deals they made with the respective networks. They also got DirecTV to revive Damages after FX cancelled it and got a couple of rare un-cancellations when Lifetime and CBS brought back Drop Dead Diva and Unforgettable, respectively.
It certainly doesn't always work out though - a year ago, Sony tried to get another outlet to pick up Happy Endings, after ABC cancelled it, but it didn't end up happening.
Of course, there's also the fact that Community's history is just so crazy. A year ago, when rumors surfaced that Dan Harmon was returning, after being fired, it seemed impossible... and yet it happened.
Suffice to say, we'll keep you updated on this one...