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With One Trailer, Yahoo! Screen Has Become My Favorite Network

I admit it. I didn’t even know what Yahoo! Screen was. If I did hear the name used in passing, I probably just assumed it was Yahoo’s (or is it Yahoo!’s) answer to YouTube. I knew they had some original content on there, but I had never seen any. Then last summer it was announced that Yahoo! had picked up one of my favorite shows for its sixth season. And that changed everything.

Community was coming to Yahoo!

Yahoo!?

Five years ago that would’ve sounded ridiculous, but in today’s world it actually makes a lot of sense. Streaming content is where the world is heading. The biggest paid service for this is Netflix. They started out streaming as almost an “extra” addition to their DVD-in-the-mail members. It wasn’t until they broke apart those two features (oh Qwikster) that I realized what I wanted more was the streaming.

Once the word of streaming became a viable medium for companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Original content was the natural next step. When I first heard about that though, my thinking was – oh they’ll get the shows that all the actual real TV stations turned down.

But that was before I actually saw the shows. Now there are streaming shows that are critically acclaimed – that are Emmy nominees and winners. Suddenly these streaming networks not only become viable mediums technically, but they become a destination. A place you want to pitch your show. A new way to get to your audience. They become real actual networks. Equals.

So it only makes sense that Yahoo! would want to get into this world. For me, the search engine war is over and done with. Google owns that world to the point where it is the term everybody uses when talking about search. Most of the time you’ll hear people say “Google that” instead of “Search that” right? Game over. Sure Yahoo! and Bing work just fine, but they’ll never catch up to the Goliath with a capital G (said the guy typing this on his Google Chromebook).

What makes Yahoo! different is the content. Yahoo! destroys Google on content. Google can articles on sports or news or movies. Yahoo! has writers who make those stories. Yahoo! Sports is a very reputable site. Hell, the first time I’d ever played Fantasy Football was on Yahoo! about 15+ years ago. Google searches content, Yahoo! makes it.

So why not make their own television show?

Now I know, they’ve done shows in the past – but never have they done something on this scale.

Community was on NBC for five seasons. It wasn’t a giant ratings-getter, but it had millions of viewers each week. Hardcore fans, which really I think are the only type of Community fans. I would have to imagine that every viewer is super excited about the fact that their show will live on for that sixth season we’ve all been hoping for.

On March 17th, Community will premiere on the web site. But it will also premiere on the phone app, and the tablet app, and the TV app. I now have Yahoo! Screen on my iPhone, my Samsung Galaxy Tab, and my Roku box. No matter where I am, I’ll be able to watch one of my favorite shows live on.

For months I’ve been wondering, hoping, waiting to see what this show will look like. Would it be different since it didn’t have “NBC Money” behind it? Would it look like it was shot using Flip cameras?

Finally yesterday, most of my questions were answered.

You know what it looks like? It looks like Community!!!

Sure some of the cast are no longer there, but that’s happened before – and who knows, maybe we’ll see some of them at sometime. All I know is that with that trailer, and the fact that #CommunityLivesOn, Yahoo! Screen has quickly become my favorite streaming network.

All it took was one show.

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