So, I tossed out a half-formed thought about this on Twitter yesterday, but the cancellation of The Mindy Project and subsequent reports that it’ll be picked up by Hulu for two years feel like it’s the third latest installment in some kind of movement for sitcoms based at a particular demographic to be quietly pushed from television to the Internet. (See also Community and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).
What’s interesting to me is how much of this is self-fulfilling prophecy – are the shows being cancelled (or not even making it to air, in Kimmy Schmidt’s case) because ratings are low as a result of the core audience already watching the episodes online? And if so, does this mean that we’ll see more broadcast TV follow suit outside of sitcoms? Will TV – or, at least, broadcast TV – become the refuge of programming aimed at older audiences, while the Internet becomes the default home for younger-skewing programming?