'UnREAL' Season 4 to Premiere First on Hulu Before Airing on Lifetime
Talk about "UnREAL" — the Lifetime drama is stepping out with another suitor, Hulu!
In a nearly unprecedented move, "UnREAL's" fourth and possibly final season will stream first on Hulu, instead of its original home network of Lifetime, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"UnREAL," which stars Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer, debuted on Lifetime in June 2015 and garnered both critical praise and cultural buzz for its take on the behind-the-scenes drama of a "Bachelor"-like reality show.
Hulu reportedly paid producers A+E Studios more money for the streaming rights to Season 4 to get the first window and sources told THR that "UnREAL" is a popular show on the service (Hulu, like Netflix, does not release viewership data).
Hulu is apparently eager to stream both Seasons 3 and 4 together; Season 3 recently ended on Lifetime in April. The seasons were filmed almost consecutively, though, so the eight episodes of Season 4 are completed.
A similar deal took place for "Friday Night Lights," which aired first on DirecTV and then on its original home of NBC. It's unclear if Lifetime will actually air Season 4 in a second window — this season averaged just 270,000 viewers live+same day — but if it does, it likely wouldn't be until 2019.