David Duchovny Drama "Aquarius" Renewed for Second Season by NBC
by Nellie Andreeva
June 25, 2015


Need more proof how little relevance linear viewing has in networks’ pickup decisions? NBC has just given a second-season order to 1960’s-set drama "Aquarius", starring David Duchovny as an LAPD cop on the hunt for Charles Manson.

The show represented an experiment for NBC, with the entire season made available online following the TV premiere. "Aquarius‘" linear ratings have been soft — a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.8 million viewers overall in most current numbers — but NBC is touting its digital performance for the renewal decision.





Said NBC’s Jennifer Salke, “With its riveting drama and innovative release strategy, Aquarius has excited the critics, hooked millions of viewers and energized our summer. It’s no secret that the way people watch television is evolving, so we took a unique approach to how we delivered Aquarius and it’s driven some record numbers for NBC Digital and helped us reach viewers who might have otherwise overlooked a great summer drama.”

Per NBC, "Aquarius" delivered the most-watched first 24 hours for a summer series premiere ever on NBC.com and the NBC App and helped NBC Digital (NBC.com, the NBC app and Hulu) to log its biggest summer weekend ever.

Through 28 days, it’s the #2 most-viewed drama premiere ever on NBC.com and the NBC App, behind only "The Blacklist". "Aquarius" is also delivering an upscale audience, indexing at a 105 among adults 18-49 living in homes with $100K+ incomes.





"Aquarius", which co-stars stars Emma Dumont, Grey Damon, Gethin Anthony and Claire Holt, is executive produced by writer John McNamara, Marty Adelstein, David Duchovny and Melanie Greene.

The series is a production of Tomorrow Studios, a joint partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios.

http://deadline.com/2015/06/david-duchovny-aquarius-renewed-season-2-nbc-1201456274/

NBC's Bob Greenblatt on "Aquarius" Renewal
by Nellie Andreeva
August 13, 2015


Greenblatt was asked about the decision to renew summer drama "Aquarius" despite soft ratings. “I’m never going to apologize for renewing a show that I think is creatively superb for a second season,” he said.

“The network’s move to make the entire season available on premiere night actually helped viewers’ perception of NBC,” he said.



“We’re obviously in a changing world. We’re looking every day for what are the ways that we can really respond to the way that the audience wants to watch television. We all know that the binge-watching is a thing and people demand it. And so we thought, well, maybe we could do that with this show and see what happens.

The upside of what happened is that people automatically thought better of the network. We did some early research and people were more favorably disposed to NBC for having a show that could be binged than they otherwise would be.”



But overall, 94% of "Aquarius’" audience came from linear viewing on NBC and only 6% from online (though at a much lower median age).

http://deadline.com/2015/08/nbc-live-dramas-alf-reboot-aquarius-renewal-bob-greenblatt-1201498942/

Now I can get to see the first season to get ready for the next season.