The River: Saved from Cancellation by Netflix?

If ABC cancels The River (which they almost surely will), it seems that the TV series might still have a chance for a second season.

Netflix and ABC Studios (which co-produces The River) have had early discussions about possibly producing some TV shows for Netflix and their streaming service. The River apparently came up as a contender as part of those discussions.

Once known only for their DVD rental by mail services, Netflix has been offering streaming services for more than five years and TV shows have become very popular with subscribers. We often hear from readers who’ve only recently discovered serial TV series like The Event, FlashForward and The Gates; shows that were broadcast and cancelled more than a year ago.

Netflix has made a deal to produce a fourth season of cult-favorite Arrested Development some six years after it was cancelled by FOX. The company has recently discussed the possibility of producing a second season of another canned FOX show, Terra Nova.

While The River has amassed a devoted following, the ratings for the ABC series have been poor almost from the start. It premiered on ABC with a mediocre 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 8.35 million total viewers. Those numbers quickly dwindled downward and the season (likely seres) finale came in at a 1.4 in the demo with 3.99 million.

Deadline sites that The River picks up a healthy percentage of viewers from DVR viewing but that’s essentially true of any show. If a show has relatively low viewership, picking up 36% (3.99 million to 5.43 million) still doesn’t amount to much by network standards.

Could that size of an audience be enough for Netflix to justify the cost of producing a second season of The River? We’ll have to wait and see but at least there’s a bit more hope for fans than there was before.

What do you think? Is there a realistic chance that Netflix or someone else will save The River? Is it worth being saved?