ABC Eyes More ‘Only Murders In The Building’ On Linear

Peter White
·3-min read

Only Murders In The Building, the Hulu comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, could remain on ABC in addition to streaming.

The Hulu original premiered on its sibling linear network earlier this month, coming as the network had a largely unscripted fall slate due to the Hollywood strikes. It remains on the streaming service.

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ABC and Hulu boss Craig Erwich, speaking at the TCA press tour, said, “We’re certainly open to doing it with Only Murders again and or other shows. When we look at both ABC and Hulu, it’s one big chessboard, so you’re able to see where certain audiences watch certain shows, some migrate from one platform to another. Only Murders was really a perfect show to put on ABC, not only did we know that not a lot of people had watched it yet, as popular as it is, which is hard to believe, but Only Murders has that broad, comedic, aspirational tone and quality that I think aligns very well with the ABC brand.”

It’s not clear if there are concrete plans to launch season two on ABC but the series has three seasons on Hulu and has been renewed for a fourth.

But Erwich added that it pairs well with its hit comedy from Quinta Brunson. “You can imagine watching Abbott Elementary and Only Murders In The Building in the same session. That’s why we think the experiment was very successful, we were really happy.”

Erwich said that Only Murders In The Building generated “hundreds of millions of hours of viewing since it launched on Hulu in 2021”.

“Everything Steve, Marty and Selena do, wear, say, becomes part of the zeitgeist… And yet, we realized there were still viewers who hadn’t seen the show, that we knew would love it,” he added.

He said the results were “fantastic” and that the series has reached over 11M viewers on linear.

“But the impact on streaming was even greater. Many of those ABC viewers migrated over to Hulu to continue watching the series,” he said.

Erwich pointed out that after it launched on ABC, first streams increased by 40% and hours streamed rose by 39%.

“Again, underscoring how these platforms are additive and complementary to one another. This experiment created an incredible opportunity for us and our audience. As we evolve the broadcast model, this is something we will look to do again,” he added.

From co-creators and writers Martin and John Hoffman, the first season of Only Murders in the Building follows three strangers (Martin, Short and Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth. As they record a podcast of their own to document the case, the three unravel the complex secrets of the building, which stretch back years. Perhaps even more explosive are the lies they tell one another. Soon, the endangered trio comes to realize a killer might be living amongst them as they race to decipher the mounting clues before it’s too late.

Martin and Hoffman executive produce along with Short, Gomez, Jamie Babbit, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal. The series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.

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