Amazon Freevee executives have vowed that their new season of “Neighbors” will maintain the same quality and production values of its long-running linear predecessor.
“We’re going to do whatever we have to do — in front of and behind the camera — to make sure we deliver a consistent series,” said Lauren Anderson, Head of Original AVOD Content and Programming at Amazon Studios, diverse.
“Some signs are of returning cast members, so we can welcome what the show was like from a production value standpoint, from a cast and talent standpoint, from the producers behind the scenes,” Anderson says, noting that returning cast members Stefan Dennis, Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne will return. And Ryan Moloney.
“We’re continuing the show at least to the same level audiences have loved it for 37 years. The most important thing for us is making sure that those who love the show actually continue to love the show.”
Amazon dropped a bombshell in November when it revealed that the popular Australian soap had found a new home on streaming platform AVOD Freevee.
News of Neighbors’ cancellation broke in March after its primary funder, Britain’s Channel 5, pulled out of the show citing a schedule change. Although show producer and distributor Fremantle was in talks with potential new partners, the frontrunner had not materialized by the time the series finale aired in late July. The Freevee mini-program came nearly four months after the show ended, as many fans had given up hope the soap would ever return.
Shahina O’Mahony, head of licensed content for Amazon Freevee UK, says: “At that point the show ended, we didn’t know we could save it. In a perfect world, you might announce something like this before it ends, but that wasn’t an option for us.”
The London-based newspaper O’Mahoney described a “huge shock” in March when it heard the show was ending. “[It aired for] 37 and this has been a stalwart of the UK broadcasting scene. I was really surprised. Then we saw the reaction from fans and customers, and it grew and grew and grew. “
O’Mahoney says the outpouring among the grieving crowd was enough to convince the Freevee team that they should consider saving the programme. “It was almost irresponsible not to look into it.” she joked.
Still, launching a TV series on the streaming service is “no small feat,” the longtime Amazon executive admits. Although Freevee has some experience launching a daily show on the service thanks to its “Judy Justice” spin-off, which premiered in November 2021, the written proposal is very different.
Freevee, which plans to broadcast “Neighbors” in the second half of 2023, will premiere exclusively, for free, in the UK and the US. The platform has also purchased the streaming rights to more than 2,000 episodes from previous seasons, which will be available prior to the premiere of the new series. . Neighbors will also be broadcast on SVOD Prime Video’s counterpart in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. (Australian Network 10, home of “Neighbours” for 36 years, will retain the rights to the first run in the country.)
So why is “Neighbors” launching on Freevee and not Prime Video? Anderson explains that there are “two facts” at play.
“[It was about] Understanding that an offering like this is obviously huge in the UK and Australia but we know there’s opportunity elsewhere, so how do we bring Amazon together to make this work for customers globally? “That was the beauty of having a service in front of and behind the paywall: We could offer it to Freevee customers who may have a Prime Video subscription but might not have it, and offer the offer to customers in regions where Freevee hasn’t launched yet,” she says. “.
Freevee currently operates in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany.
The new season is currently in pre-production, with more concrete details of the story to be worked out by the end of the first quarter of next year, Anderson promises.
“What we’re driving is what do we want the first season arc to be? How do we create a universe that is both a continuation and the beginning of something new?” says the executive director. “Because that’s basically it: the story will in many ways mirror what happens with the series. It’s a continuation, but it’s in a new place.”
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