Still
searching for its first smash hit, Hulu on Wednesday unveiled a new slate of original programming for 2014. Marking Hulu's first co-production with Lionsgate Television, the video venture said its
supernatural comedy "Deadbeat" will debut in early April.
Hulu also announced the second season renewal of "East Los High," its English-language teen drama with an all-Latino cast. In partnership with Paramount Digital Entertainment, Hulu also plans to exclusively distribute reality TV satire "The Hotwives of Orlando."
Charlotte Koh, head
of development at Hulu Originals, said 2014 would mark the company’s biggest year yet for original fare. Analysts, however, say Hulu has yet to deliver a hit
on par with Netflix’s original series “House of Cards.”
“Hulu launched more than 20 originals in 2013 and stated that it plans to double that number
over the next few years, but it did not seem like any of these series generated the type of buzz that Netflix's originals did in 2013 and that HBO’s series have been doing for decades," Morgan
Stanley analyst Scott Devitt noted in a report released on Tuesday.
Partly as a result, despite a strong 2013, some analysts
have questioned Hulu’s ability to maintain revenue growth going forward.
While Hulu reported $1 billion in revenue, last year, Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research
Group, recently expressed concerns over “deceleration” of ad revenues in
certain areas.
Still, Hulu soon plans to release the original Scandinavian version of the drama series "The Bridge" -- recently adapted for U.S. audiences by FX, as well as the Canadian
reality-style dance drama "The Next Step," acquired from BBC Worldwide North America.
The second season of Chris O’Dowd’s semi-autobiographical comedy "Moone Boy" will make a
return to the service, this spring.
In the second half of 2014, Hulu expects to release second seasons of Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker’s animated hit "The Awesomes," Josh
Greenbaum’s docu-series "Behind the Mask" and John Lehr and Nancy Hower’s Western comedy "Quick Draw."