NBC’s Canceled ‘A.P. Bio’ Gets Season 3 Reprieve On Network’s Streaming Service

A.P. Bio, NBC’s canceled Mike O’Brien-created comedy starring Glenn Howerton, has been given a reprieve: The series, co-starring Patton Oswalt, will get a third season on NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service.

“I’m so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the fans,” said showrunner O’Brien. “The cast and I are thrilled that we get to make more and I’m excited to work with the NBCU streaming platform.”

“I am overjoyed,” Howerton tweeted, thanking fans (see it below).

O’Brien exec produces the series along with Lorne Michaels, Seth Meyers, Mike Shoemaker and Andrew Singer.

Though A.P Bio was never a hit in the ratings, NBCU, in announcing the third-season streaming pick-up, noted that A.P Bio‘s most recent season “generated 46% of its L+35+digital 18-49 rating from nonlinear sources, the #2 biggest percentage on the NBC schedule behind only Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Among the younger streaming demo, NBCU said, the pilot launched to a 0.4 in 18-34 rating in February 2018 but now stands at a 5.9 – an example of “long-tail discovery.”

In addition to Howerton (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) and Oswalt, the series, produced by Universal Television, Broadway Video and Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions, co-stars Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Jean Villepique and Paula Pell.

The series follows a disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar (Howerton) who returns to hometown Toledo, Ohio, as a high school Advanced Placement biology (hence, AP Bio) teacher.

NBCU’s ad-supported streaming service is set to launch in 2020, and will feature both original programming and content from outside partners. Among the service’s offerings will be all nine seasons of The Office, to which the service has exclusive rights for five years beginning in 2021.

When A.P Bio was cancelled in May after two seasons, fans of the show launched a social media campaign to save the series.