What Should Netflix License Next From Sony Pictures Television?

2020 and 2021 are big years for Sony Pictures Television as it continues to cash in from streamers licensing out its top tier content. With the news Dawson’s Creek is now coming to Netflix, let’s take a look at some of the other titles Netflix could choose to license from Sony over the next few years. 

Netflix licenses a huge array of titles from Sony already. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul immediately comes to mind as some of the biggest. They’ve also acquired licenses to The Blacklist in the US but in the past year, Netflix has acquired a number of streaming rights to their shows as other providers focus on their own in-house streaming services. Recently licensed titles include Community, Hannibal, Seinfeld and Outlander.

Editors note: this article is pure speculation and more than anything a bit of fun. It doesn’t indicate that any of these titles will come to Netflix rather acting as a sort of wishlist. Reality may prevent this from happening of course with licensing being extremely complicated. When covering who the series is streaming with right now, this will refer to the US only. Other regions will vary. 

We’ve sourced this list from Wikipedia and one thing that’s fascinating is the hit rate for Sony seems to be incredibly low. The number of titles that only survived for a single or two seasons tops is quite remarkable.

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The King of Queens (9 Seasons)

Currently streaming: Peacock

This one wouldn’t likely be able to be picked up by Netflix for a while as Peacock, the new NBCUniversal streamer picked it up as part of its launch lineup.

The Kevin James comedy ran for nine seasons on CBS between 1998 and 2007 before Kevin James went on to have a productive movie career plus recently featured on another sitcom, Kevin Can Wait.

Comedy sitcoms always do well on Netflix so this seems like a natural title to gun for as and when it comes available.

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The Shield (7 Seasons)

Currently streaming: Hulu

Originally airing on FX, The Shield was one of its biggest shows from a long period of time.

The action thriller was part of a wave of high production titles at the time such as The Wire and Justified.

With the FX on Hulu partnership, the likelihood is that Hulu will want to keep this locked down but with that said, we’ve said the same for a number of titles that have ultimately ended up being shared.

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The Goldbergs (7 Seasons)

Currently streaming: Hulu

Again, sitcoms are like gold dust for streamers and one you often don’t hear a huge deal about is The Goldbergs. The series continues to air on ABC and then arrive shortly thereafter on Hulu.

Once the show concludes though, those rights will likely then be decided for a long-term new home. With a few big sitcoms on their way out from Netflix, could they foster The Goldbergs and give Netflixers a big new binge-watch? We think it’s a good fit.

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Justified (6 Seasons)

Currently streaming: Hulu

As with the above (and the next pick), Hulu has a vested interest in keeping this one given it originally aired on FX.

The excellent crime drama series was released around the same time as Breaking Bad but arguably was caught slightly in its shadow. The series featured Timothy Olyphant and remains an excellent watch to this day.

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Damages (5 Seasons)

Currently streaming: Hulu

For a long time Netflix subscribers, you’ll know that Damages has actually streamed on Netflix in the past. In fact, it was available up until October 2017 when it was yanked away from service and went to Hulu.

With that said, it’s unlikely we’ll see Damages return but given the excellent reviews, the show still maintains, and without a big legal drama of its own to speak of, it could make sense to try and relicense it.

Once again though, this show originally aired on FX making the Hulu connection seemingly harder to get out of.

That’s our top picks, what are yours – would you like to see these shows come to Netflix and have we missed a hidden gem? Let us know in the comments.