The three-platform roll-out is unusual but likely a sign of things to come as NBCUniversal and competing entertainment companies work to manage their growing number of television platforms. While new television shows are typically only available on a single platform, companies such as NBCUniversal have a vested interest in keeping their older broadcast and cable networks relevant while simultaneously promoting new platforms like Peacock. While there haven’t been many examples of television shows premiering on multiple platforms owned by a single conglomerate, companies such as WarnerMedia and Disney, which have launched their own streaming services in the last year, have taken steps to synergize their various television platforms. For example, all of HBO’s new and library content is available on WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service, while Disney offers a streaming bundle that includes the ad-supported version of Hulu, ESPN+, and its Disney+ streaming service, the latter of which launched in late 2019.
As for NBCUniversal’s “Joe Exotic” (working title), the show was originally set up at the conglomerate’s Universal Content Productions last September and was written by Etan Frankel. McKinnon will star as controversial big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin, who has a dangerous falling out with Joe Exotic (casting TBD), who was convicted for a plot to kill Baskin in 2019. Frankel will executive produce alongside McKinnon, Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy, and Aaron Hart. The Joe Exotic craze peaked earlier in the year when Netflix released its popular “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” docuseries, which quickly became popular with the streaming service’s subscribers. Other entertainment companies were quick to announce their own takes on the Joe Exotic phenomenon; Fox aired a TMZ special about the Netflix docuseries’ subjects in April and Nicholas Cage is slated to make his television premiere in a “Tiger King” show he’ll star in that is produced by Imagine Television Studios and CBS Television Studios. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
