‘Search Party’ Moves From TBS To HBO Max For Season 3, Gets Season 4 Renewal By Streamer

Nellie Andreeva

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TBS’ Search Party is becoming an HBO Max original. The upcoming third season of TBS’ cult comedy series will air on the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming platform, which also has ordered a fourth season of single-camera series.

Season 3 of Search Party, starring Alia Shawkat, Meredith Hagner, Brandon Micheal Hall, John Early and John Reynolds,, will debut on HBO Max at launch in Spring of 2020, two years after it was originally ordered by TBS.

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A critical darling, the dark comedy about a group of privileged, self-absorbed twenty-somethings covering up a murder, was never well suited for a linear network like TBS.

Sensing that, TBS brass gave the series a multi-platform launch, which included a binge release of the entire first season over Thanksgiving week, which drew more than 1.1M viewers per episode across all platforms over five days, showing strong appeal to millennials, with 18% of its audience in the adults 18-34 demo. On VOD, the dark comedy was the fastest TBS original to reach 1M views and delivered the youngest, most diverse audience of any TBS original.

But the promising digital showing did not translate to strong linear ratings. The move to HBO Max represents a lifeline forSearch Party, which, despite its critical acclaim, likely wouldn’t have been able to last beyond a third season on TBS. Similarly, NBCUniversal’s upcoming streamer Peacock, recently picked up a third season of young skewing single-camera comedy series A.P. Bio, which had been canceled by NBC after two seasons.

“With HBO Max we have the unique opportunity to continue this brilliant, acclaimed series and connect with even more of the younger, digital natives who have worshipped it the most,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max and president TNT, TBS and truTV and one of Search Party‘s biggest supporters.

Season three finds the gang swept up in the trial of the century after Dory and Drew are charged for the semi-accidental murder of a private investigator. As Elliott and Portia grapple with whether or not to testify as witnesses, the friends are pitted against each other and thrust into the national spotlight as notorious public figures. As Dory’s sanity begins to fracture, it becomes increasingly clear that they may not have brunch together for quite some time.

“Search Party is alive and thriving!! We are so thrilled to show the world what we’ve been working on the past two years and for new fans to find it on HBO Max,” said Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers. “You’re going to love the two new seasons, but if for some reason you don’t, then you’ll get your subscription fee back. Actually, that’s not true. That’s a joke. We don’t have that kind of power.”

Search Party is executive-produced by Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Michael Showalter and Jax Media’s Lilly Burns and Tony Hernandez.

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