Class is back in session for AP Bio.
The critically lauded comedy which was cancelled this past spring after its second season has been picked up for new episodes by NBC Universal for their forthcoming, currently unnamed streaming service.
The pickup marks the services first scripted comedy series and its first half-hour original program for the ad-supported platform. The service is set to offer a mixture of original content and such library content as The Office.
Despite being a critical hit, AP Bio never had much of a breakout with its ratings However, The Hollywood Reporter states that executives were impressed with the numbers that the show generated on streaming platforms such as Hulu. It demonstrated that the core audience for the show is more ready to use newer distribution to see it, making it a good fit for the upcoming streaming service.
Created by Mike O’Brien, AP Bio stars Glenn Howerton as a disgraced Harvard philosophy professor now teaching an advanced placement biology class in an Ohio high school and who spends most of his class time using his students to help develop schemes to get his old job back. Patton Oswalt stars as the school’s harried principal and former Saturday Night Live writer Paula Pell has broken out with her role of the incredibly ditzy office secretary Helen.
The pickup comes after the expiration of the cast’s original contracts at the end of June. As such, new contracts with the cast will need to be negotiated, which does suggest the possibility that some members may not return if they try to price themselves too high compared to what NBC Universal is willing to pay. Hopefully that will not happen though, as the AP Bio cast is one of the best ensembles on television today.
