The Baker and the Beauty Becomes a Netflix Hit

The romantic comedy The Baker and the Beauty, starring Victor Rasuk and Nathalie Kelley following the whirlwind romance between a Miami baker and a supermodel, was canned at ABC last summer after just nine episodes. But since arriving on Netflix earlier this month, the show has become a bonafide hit. Since the first (and only) season of the show debuted on Netflix earlier this month, the series, which is a remake of a popular Israeli series, has climbed to the top of Netflix’s most-popular television shows on the platform. As of Tuesday, the show is the No. 1 most-popular TV series on Netflix and is the second most-popular title on Netflix overall. That makes The Baker and the Beauty the latest of several shows that stumble on linear TV only to find new life—and a large audience—after arriving as an SVOD title like Netflix. L.A.'s Finest, which Spectrum Original canceled after two seasons and also aired on Fox last fall to fill the schedule until the network's regular lineup could return following pandemic shutdowns, and USA's short-lived teen drama Dare Me have also cracked Netflix's Top 10 most popular shows this year, according to Adweek’s ongoing tracker of Netflix’s Top 10 lists. This is in addition to ongoing shows that have low ratings on linear and then receive huge audience boosts when those seasons migrate over to Netflix. One of the best-known examples is The CW’s All-American, the teen football drama that was one of broadcast television’s least-watched primetime shows. It then topped Netflix's U.S. charts in May 2020 and was the most-streamed series in The CW’s free ad-supported streaming app. In fact, the Netflix bump is such a phenomenon that several networks have used the expected spike in viewers strategically to try to woo those fans back to linear when a new season arrives. The CW has long looked to attract streaming fans back to linear ahead of a new season, something that NBC also did ahead of the third season premiere of Good Girls earlier this year. If the popularity of the show stands, it may even be an opportunity for Netflix to snap up popular IP and continue on the series. The streamer has a history of scooping up shows that have been cast off by their original networks and breathed new life into them. The psychological thriller You, which first debuted on Lifetime, moved over to Netflix after it barely moved the needle on linear. And Netflix brought the YouTube’s scripted original series Cobra Kai to its service last summer to great success; the new season of which debuted in January and was in the Top 10 most-popular shows on Netflix for nearly a month earlier this year. For fans of The Baker and the Beauty, the show’s creators have signaled that they have plans for a second season. Kelley previously said that Universal Television was shopping the show around to see if it might get picked up elsewhere. Nearly 160,000 people have signed a petition asking for a renewal of the series. What Netflix’s Top 10 Lists Say About Streaming Viewership

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The Baker and the Beauty Is the Latest Linear TV Flop Turned Netflix Hit

Canceled after a season it has found a big streaming audience

Kelsey Sutton

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Kelsey Sutton