Photo: Left: Getty Images, Center: Paramount +, Right: Getty Images
Amy Schumer is bringing back her Emmy and Peabody Award winning skits from Comedy Central Inside Amy Schumer – but not for cable. Instead, the renaissance is going to Paramount +, where it will be one of the centerpieces of a Comedy Central brand hub on the new streaming platform. New chapters of well-known titles from Comedy Central, such as Workaholics, Reno 911! and The Daily Show, along with a new Beavis and Butt-Head film, are also going into service, according to MTV Entertainment Group President Chris McCarthy. The executive unveiled plans for the last iteration of the 30-year-old cable network on Wednesday during a ViacomCBS investor conference outlining the company’s overall streaming strategy.
In an interview earlier this week, McCarthy told Vulture that the Comedy Central hub will “define the comedy” on Paramount +. “It will serve as an anchor for the public, [telling them] that this is home to all the comedy content within the service, both iconic franchises and new things, ”he said. This does not mean that all comedies in the new streamer will come from Comedy Central: Paramount + will also house half an hour from CBS libraries (I love Lucy), Paramount TV (Frasier, taxi, the love boat), and even the ex-ViacomCBS UPN network (Everyone hates Chris) But, at least initially, the original comedy productions on the platform will rely heavily on refreshing franchises that started at Comedy Central or sister network MTV. “We wanted to do the biggest projects to rekindle the biggest volumes of our iconic library,” explained McCarthy. “We want to remind the audience that Paramount + is now home to this great comedy.” Among the projects announced or confirmed today:
• The original cast of Workaholics are scheduled to return for a film about “how to deal with the pandemic,” said McCarthy. The film is being made with the aim of following a sequence of the original. “You can start to see the next generation of cast spread to a new Workaholics it might seem, ”added the executive.
• The Daily Showin Trevor Noah will present and produce a weekly series for the provisionally voiced streamer … The Weekly Show. “He is going to go very deep into a topic or interview … in a way that the traditional linear show does not allow us to do,” said McCarthy. The streamer commissioned six episodes of the new project. In addition, Paramount + will broadcast episodes of The Daily Show hours after its debut on the Comedy Central cable channel.
• Reno 911!, last seen in Quibi, will return on Paramount + for a film event entitled The hunt for QAnon. The title reveals the story line.
• As previously reported, the Comedy Central cable network is working on a revival of the weekly series of Beavis and Butt-Head. But first, the famous teenagers will appear in a still untitled Paramount + film, which McCarthy says was designed as a bridge between the old series and the reboot, setting the storyline for the final series.
• Schumer agreed to do a series of specials under the Inside Amy Schumer flag. The initial order is for five half-hour installments and, although the project is being described as a limited series, “Who knows where things can go?” McCarthy said. “She is one of the talents that helped to define the [Comedy Central] brand. “The executive says that two or three episodes of the new project are likely to launch at the beginning, with half an hour thereafter every six weeks or more. The renewed Comedy Central cable network Inside Amy Schumer for the fifth season in 2016, but as Schumer’s career exploded, she and the network postponed the production of new episodes, at one point saying that there were no plans to resume production anytime soon. In 2019, however, Schumer told New York Times she was once again interested in returning to the outline format.
McCarthy, who says the Paramount + commitment represents a “whole new business”, has been working for months to bring Schumer back, as well as other Comedy Central vets. “We talked to all the talents we relate to and said, ‘We’re doing something very special with Paramount + and we’d love to talk about how we can help deliver something unique and exciting to you, but it also helps to rekindle your fan base and remind them that this is now the new home [of various legacy series]. ‘Amy was one of the first to raise her hand and said she was very excited to create a series of specials. “
While restarting existing franchises does not represent an innovative strategy for streaming (two words: Disney Plus), doing so seems particularly important in the case of Paramount + because, in many cases, it does not have exclusive streaming rights for programs in its library. In fact, in some cases, the new streamer will share programs with several streamers: Inside Amy Schumer it is also on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video. Through continuations or developments of green light, Comedy Central at Paramount + can present itself as the best place for passionate fans of a program to try the series – and perhaps prepare for a future in which ViacomCBS decides to stop licensing its library for platforms external. Paramount + is executing this strategy in areas other than comedy. There will be reboots of the MTV brand franchises on the streamer, and today’s platform has also confirmed that the long rumored Frasier reunion will be broadcast exclusively on Paramount +.
Just as Disney did not completely abandon its FX cable channel when it launched FX on Hulu, McCarthy says the linear iteration of the Comedy Central brand will continue to play a key role in the company’s strategy. “The wonderful part of streaming is that you really go deep into what your passion is and drink from it,” he said. “Linear is a much more common experience. So, we think about these prisms. On the linear platform, we are leaning much more towards topical space and adult animation, and we will launch this list later this year. ”As Vulture reported last summer, a major investment that Comedy Central is making on the linear side is a new talk show from radio Titan Charlamagne Tha God, which McCarthy says is still on track to debut this year.
And on the streaming side, McCarthy expects development to increase noticeably in the coming months and years. “There will definitely be a lot more. It really scratches the surface, ”he said. “When looking at all of our brands and studios, both nationally and globally, there is an incredible wealth of content. That’s what we’re going to start with. McCarthy wouldn’t talk about other programs in the past that could be resurrected for Paramount +, but during Wednesday’s show, among the handful of previous shows that he specifically verified as having a home on the streamer was the beloved series of parodies from late 90s Strangers With Sweets. Is this franchise preparing a return? “We love the show and we love Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and the entire cast, but nothing new to share today,” said a McCarthy rep on Wednesday.