You’ve spent most of the week harboring the hope that Netflix might revive a long-dead cult television comedy involving a man in disconcertingly short shorts, so what’s one more? Vulture reports that the service is currently in talks about creating all-new episodes of Reno 911!, reviving the cop mockumentary two years after it abruptly ended in 2009. Do we even need to mention that there’s a catch? Well, there are several catches, actually: While executive producers Michael Shamberg and Stacy Sher have been in “active discussions” with Netflix since even before the company’s Arrested Development talks began, that’s pretty much as far as it’s gone.
For instance, no deals are currently in place with co-creators and stars Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and as of now it’s way too early to tell whether they’d even be interested in returning to the show. (For what it’s worth, Garant has said that they would have gone on “for years” had they never been canceled—but of course, he and Lennon suddenly have plenty of screenwriting duties to keep them busy.) Furthermore, Comedy Central still owns the copyright to show, and would have to sign off on letting Netflix have exclusive rights to new episodes, meaning the cost of actually producing those episodes may end up being the cheapest part of this whole process.
Still, the fact that they’re even trying to bring back Reno 911!—as with the attempts to resuscitate Arrested Development—hints at an interesting future business strategy for Netflix and/or Hulu, one that could involve providing a home for canceled shows with still-fervent niche followings. So maybe that whole Firefly revival movement just needs a new place to focus its energy?