Author: Natalie Jarvey

Robert Voets/CBS

‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’

After nearly 15 years on air, CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation will finally find a home on streaming. 

It’s still anybody’s guess just where the long-running series will land, but CBS CEO Leslie Moonves teased that a domestic SVOD deal for CSI will be announced soon. 

“We’re just beginning to license the domestic streaming rights for our non-serialized current hit shows like CSI,” he said during a conference call with investors Thursday. “These new deals represent an extension of our evolving strategy in terms of how we monetize our content. We have hundreds and hundreds of episodes ready to go, so you can imagine how lucrative this will be.”

Moonves also revealed that he is also looking to sell NCIS to an SVOD distributor, but that deal appears farther off. “CSI is already a multibillion-dollar franchise and new streaming deals will only add to that,” he said. “Going forward we have the whole NCIS catalog in our arsenal to sell, and discussions are already underway to license that show later this year.”

Both shows will be a big get for whichever SVOD player lands the deal. CSI has been on the air since 2000 and has a library of more than 330 episodes. The aging procedural, once the most-watched show in the world, continues to pull in large, though diminishing, audiences. NCIS, meanwhile, assumed CSI‘s mantle as the most-watched global show and regularly propels CBS to lead Tuesdays in total viewers.

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CBS isn’t saying where CSI is going just yet, but The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that it will land at a familiar SVOD player. Netflix already offers the full catalogs for spinoffs CSI: New York and CSI: Miami. Amazon, meanwhile, offers CSI on VOD and has established a strong relationship with CBS for shows including dramas Under the Dome and Extant, which help offset the costs of the pricey summer fare. Hulu, too, offers CSI: Miami as part of its extensive library deal with CBS.

Then there is All Access, the over-the-top network that CBS launched in October. Access to past season of CSI could certainly drive subscribers to the $6-per-month offering, but airing the show exclusively on that platform would mean losing out on a large licensing deal with one of the other distributors. Of course, CBS could opt not to strike an exclusive deal and make CSI available on multiple streaming services, including All Access. 

The fate of CSI, which will bow out Sunday as spinoff CSI: Cyber arrives in March, remains unclear. CBS recently accidentally used an on-air promo billing its “series finale” to plug the season finale.

Nintendo

‘The Legend of Zelda’

Netflix is in the early stages of development to remake the popular The Legend of Zelda franchise as a live-action series, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

The series, about a boy named Link who must rescue the princess Zelda, is being described as a Game of Thrones for families, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. 

Legend of Zelda comes from video game publisher Nintendo and was first released in 1987. It has since spawned more than a dozen versions for Nintendo game consoles over the years. But Nintendo has released only a handful of official adaptions. Among them is 1989 animated series that lasted for one season and several comic books. 

WSJ reports that Netflix is working closely with Nintendo on the series and is still seeking a writer. Netflix spokeswoman declined to comment. 

Netflix has made a name for itself rebooting beloved franchises and is currently working on an adaptation of Lemony Snicket‘s A Series of Unfortunate Events. The streamer has also ordered a live-action series about comic book character Richie Rich from Brian Robbins‘ AwesomenessTV. In addition, Netflix has a comprehensive deal with Marvel for multiple live-action series based on its comic book universe. The first of the adaptations to roll out in 2015 is Jessica Jones starring Krysten Ritter as the title character. 

Other properties that Netflix has revived include Arrested Development and, more recently, Wet Hot American Summer, which is set to arrive this summer. 

Yahoo!

‘Community’

Community creator Dan Harmon is embracing the show’s new home on Yahoo Screen. 

The cult comedy returns March 17 on the tech company’s streaming platform and Harmon said that it’s freeing to no longer adhere to a time slot. “The corset loosens a little bit,” he told reporters Tuesday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. “There’s a little, tiny bit more Britishness to the comedy. It’s a little freer.” 

NBC canceled Community in May after its fifth season, setting off a flurry of interest from digital players. Hulu was in negotiations to buy the series, but it ultimately went to Yahoo. Harmon said Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt, a professed Community fan, called him and had a 40-minute conversation with him about bringing the series to Yahoo, which is making a push into originals. “She turned me 180 degrees,” he said of that call. 

Community has gone through several cast departures since its first season. Most recently, Yvette Nicole Brown announced that she would not return for the upcoming season. Harmon said he’s open for characters, especially Brown’s Shirley Bennett and Donald Glover‘s Troy Barnes, to return. He also addressed whether Chevy Chase’s Pierce Hawthorne, who was killed off in season five, could return.

“If you were to take a man and bring him back to life like that, you would want to keep that secret,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to spread that around. You wouldn’t just run into a hotel in Pasadena and go, ‘I’ve created life! ‘” 

Season six will see some new characters to help fill out the cast. They are Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) and Keith David (Enlisted), who both appeared in a promo video for the upcoming season. “I wanted to be very careful about bringing these new characters onto the show,” Harmon explained. “The tough thing is, you’ve got 13 episodes and you’re very late to the game. How do you make them feel like classic Community characters?” 

Stars Joel McHale, Ken Jeong and Gillian Jacobs, also on stage during the presentation, agreed that the characters are introduced very seamlessly. They also expressed their excitement for the show’s revival. “I was so excited,” said Jeong. “This is the only series that I know how to be on.” Echoed Jacobs, “We had cheated death so many times. I really had mourned the show.” 

As for how will Community’s new online home will change the show, Harmon said it wouldn’t be much, though there will be some new freedoms, such as a slightly larger budget and the option to include swearing and nudity. “Hearkening back to season one of Community, it feels more cinematic,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to make the show feel noticeably different. “It would be very easy to completely corrupt the tone of the show. I don’t want to make the mistake of making the show unrecognizable.” 

Yahoo hasn’t said whether it will give Community more seasons beyond its 13-episode sixth season, but Harmon said he’s open to continuing the show as long as it’s being well received. “I would never feel very comfortable walking away from any version of the show that existed,” he said, later noting that it would be a blow if Yahoo canceled the show. “It will be weird when we get canceled by the Internet,” he joked. “We’ll become a roving band of street performers, doing stunts and stuff.”