EXCLUSIVE: Amazon is not proceeding with a second season of half-hour action police drama On Call, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, sources tell Deadline. The series, starring Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente, has been shopped to other platforms, and two of them have engaged in discussions about a potential second season, I hear.
This is a somewhat surprising development as On Call, created by Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf, has done well, reaching the #1 slot on the streamer in the U.S. following the January 9 drop of all eight episodes and earning 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (The series received mixed reactions from critics.)
Indeed, Amazon a few weeks ago approached the producers of the show about a two-season renewal, sources said. It was looking good until the offer was accompanied by a request to reduce the premium on the series, I hear. Under the widely used current cost-plus streaming compensation model, the license fee producers get from the platforms covers the cost of the series plus a premium on top, which goes to the project’s profit participants and studio in lieu of backend.
This is not a surprising development — virtually every renewal conversation in the current tough economic environment across broadcast and streaming has come with strings attached involving license fee/budget reductions. The process is even harder when outside studios are involved as they face an ever higher threshold for renewal consideration. (Universal Television is the lead studio for On Call, co-producing with Amazon MGM Studios in association with NBCU-based Wolf Entertainment.)
According to sources, Amazon’s argument for the cut was that the company was losing money on the show, also something we hear often, especially on series that are not owned. For Wolf Entertainment and Universal TV, reducing a premium that was not big to begin with was not economically feasible, so the status of On Call at Amazon went from a pending two-season renewal to cancellation within the span of weeks.
All things considered, the parting of the ways was amicable, with Amazon allowing the producers to take back the rights to the existing season if they find a new home for the series, something not all streamers agree to.
I hear there are active conversations with two places. Not surprisingly, one of them is believed to be NBCUniversal’s Peacock, streaming home to Dick Wolf’s NBC Chicago and Law & Order dramas as well as his Peacock original Law & Order: Organized Crime, all ranking among the most watched programs on the platform.
Sources for Amazon and Wolf Entertainment declined comment.
Bringing back the half-hour drama genre from the early days of television in the streaming age has been a passion for Wolf. Like he has done with Law & Order, Chicago Fire and FBI, he has envisioned On Call as a franchise, with a second half-hour drama in development behind it, I hear.
The franchise potential is being shopped alongside On Call, Wolf’s first original streaming series. Still, it will likely come down to financials, with sources pegging the odds of the police drama continuing elsewhere at 50-50.
On Call was originally set up in 2021 at Amazon’s AVOD platform IMDb TV, which became Amazon Freevee before shutting down last fall. By then, the series had migrated to Prime Video. On Call stars Bellisario and Larracuente as a veteran officer and rookie duo who patrol the streets of Long Beach, CA. Incorporating a mixture of bodycam, dash-camera, and cellphone footage to create a cinema verité effect, the series explores the morality of protecting and serving a community.
The recurring cast includes Lori Loughlin, Eriq La Salle and Rich Ting. Dick Wolf, his son Elliot Wolf, Walsh, La Salle, who directed multiple episodes, and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.
