Fire Country is coming to Netflix. Season 1 of CBS’ popular drama will be available on Netflix in the US beginning August 1 in a deal made by series producer CBS Studios. This is an additional domestic streaming window for Fire Country, co-created and starring Max Thieriot, whose first two seasons are on Paramount+. It is designed to give the show additional exposure ahead of its Oct. 18 Season 3 premiere on CBS.
Paramount Global has been the most open to content windowing among the vertically integrated traditional media companies, with CBS Studios at the forefront of that, opening non-exclusive streaming windows for some of its current series on Netflix in the US after selling the shows internationally.
In a similar move, the studio in September 2020 licensed the first seasons of its CBS series Evil and The Unicorn to Netflix in advance of the shows’ second seasons on CBS that had been delayed by the pandemic. The one-year domestic deal was envisioned as a promotional tool to expose Evil and The Unicorn to new audiences. (Like is the case with Fire Country, Evil and The Unicorn continued to stream on Paramount+ predecessor CBS All Access. In the case of Fire Country, CBS Studios is likely hoping for a dual boost for both CBS and Paramount+ as new viewers who discover the series on Netflix would have to head to Paramount+ to watch Season 2, with the upcoming Season 3 available on CBS and Paramount+.)
Evil has since moved to Paramount+ but its exposure on Netflix, which currently offers Seasons 1 and 2 in the US, has continued. It is a rare ongoing streaming original series with a partial second window on a rival platform. That has worked out well, CBS President David Stapf told Deadline in a recent interview tied to the success of the studio’s former Showtime drama Your Honor on Netflix US.
“The Paramount+ numbers of Evil go up because it’s getting additional exposure on Netflix,” he said.
Stapf compared the impact to the cable syndication model, noting how a decade ago, repeats of NCIS on USA Network lifted the ratings for new episodes airing on CBS.
“I sort of equate this to being similar,” he said. “You’re exposing the show to that many more people, so potentially some of those people are new viewers, and then they, in turn, go back to watch previous seasons or future seasons.”
That has helped veteran series like NCIS, which, in addition to being a cornerstone of CBS’ schedule and a main draw on Paramount+, also has been a Netflix staple, with Seasons 12-17 currently available on the streamer in the US. (Another CBS veteran, Blue Bloods, also had a domestic run on Netflix alongside Paramount+, it is now on Hulu.)
The flagship NCIS has spawned a massive franchise. CBS and CBS Studios have similar ambitions for Fire Country, which, two seasons in, already has a greenlighted spinoff, the upcoming Sheriff Country.
In Season 2, Fire Country averaged 9.2 million viewers in live 7-day multiplatform viewing, up +7% from Season 1, while ranking as a Top 6 in streaming on Paramount+.
From creators and executive producers Tony Phelan, Joan Rater and Thieriot, the series follows Bode Donovan (Thieriot), a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, which sends him back to his hometown.
Billy Burke, Kevin Alejandro, Diane Farr, Stephanie Arcila, Jordan Calloway and Jules Latimer also star.
In addition to Phelan, Rater and Thieriot, executive producers also include the series’ showrunner, Tia Napolitano, and Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed of Jerry Bruckheimer Television.
