History Main / NetworkToTheRescue

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': The character of Superman was rejected by every comic strip syndicate and comic book publisher twice when editor Sheldon Meyer convinced the publishers of Creator/DCComics to take a chance on it. Result: the Man of Steel is now one of DC's historical icons, and arguably the best known hero in ''all of fiction''.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' was rejected by every comic strip syndicate and comic book publisher twice when editor Sheldon Meyer convinced the publishers of Creator/DCComics to take a chance on it. Result: the Man of Steel is now one of DC's historical icons, and arguably the best known hero in ''all of fiction''.

* The newspaper ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' strip ran as long as it did because Stan Lee liked it and followed it until his death. Once he died Marvel almost immediately dumped it with a hastily-written conclusion, even though weeks of strips had already been completed.
* ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': Carmine Infantino (editor in chief of DC at the time) cancelled it after the third issue, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork after promising Grell a one-year run]]. When Jeanette Kahn, a fan of the series, took over as publisher and found out it was cancelled, she reportedly told her editors "Well, I just cancelled Carmine. Put it back on the schedule." The book was later made monthly, and at one time was the top selling title for DC.

Compare with AdoredByTheNetwork and ChannelHop. Contrast with ScrewedByTheNetwork; some examples of NetworkToTheRescue are instances of networks cleaning up their own messes. Note which article has the most examples (though this may not be a case of [[AccentuateTheNegative Accentuating the Negative]] as much as networks simply screwing over shows more often than saving them).

* The other 'father' of Usefulnotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood, ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'', only came out due to Alan Ladd's faith, as noted by the page quote. Had Fox dumped the film, it is doubtful they would have ever recovered from the abysmal era the studio had entered thanks to bombs like ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' and ''Film/MyraBreckinridge''.

* During the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem in 1957, Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer president Joseph Vogel, inspired by the success of Paramount's ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956'', announced that the studio would produce the 1959 adaptation of ''Film/BenHur1959'' in a desperate gamble to save it. It ultimately worked in Vogel's favor.

** Nintendo revived and published ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2''. Due to the [[AcclaimedFlop not-so-high sales]] of [[{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}} the original game]], Sega had no interest in the project, with other publishers also passing on the idea before Nintendo decided to step in, wanting an M-rated game to help push their new UsefulNotes/WiiU console. Nintendo would go on to fund the development of ''VideoGame/Bayonetta3'' as well.

** The series has long been labeled a holy grail of localization, with plenty of hardcore fans in the West who knew there was little reason anyone would give the games a chance. Enter [[Creator/NipponIchi NIS America]], who in April 2010 decided to give the US [[VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove the fifth game]] in the series. Which was originally released in 2005 on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, a system that had been long since succeeded by the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3. And they even went through the trouble of having it ported to the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}.

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRevolver'' was originally being developed by Capcom but was dropped. Rockstar Games bought the game in 2002 and completed it while giving it a SpaghettiWestern feel. It did well enough to warrant the sequel, ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''.

* Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/SummerMemories'' was pitched to the network as part of the WesternAnimation/NickelodeonAnimatedShortsProgram in 2014, but ultimately turned down, only to be picked up years later by Creator/WildBrain for the Canadian network Creator/FamilyChannel in 2022.

* Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/SummerMemories'' was pitched to the network as part of the WesternAnimation/NickelodeonAnimatedShortsProgram in 2014, but ultimately turned down, only to be picked up years later by Creator/WildBrain for the Canadian network Creator/FamilyChannel.

* Several Creator/DisneyPlus original films that were purged from the service in the spring of 2023, including ''Film/TheOneAndOnlyIvan'', ''Better Nate Than Ever'' and the 2022 remake of ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen'', were made available for purchase on streaming services such as Google Play, Amazon Prime Video and [=iTunes=].

* ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' got into a large amount of hot water with their publisher, ''WebSite/TheEscapist'', over missing pay and other issues (which will not get expanded on here). After they were dropped by the site, ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' swooped in and offered to host their content on their platform.

Studios turn down good scripts, networks {{cancel|lation}}, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screw over]], or fail to pick up good shows, and publishers refuse to publish great books all the time. Usually, ''the suits'' a) never liked it, b) liked it but it was too expensive to produce, c) liked it but didn't think it would get a large enough audience, or d) [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible they just didn't]] '''[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible get]]''' [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible it.]]

* A third installment of the ''[[VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA True Crime]]'' series from Activision was being produced by United Front Games. The first sandbox GTA-style game to be set in Hong Kong, the game's footage looked very promising and there was quite some anticipation for it, until Activision made the [[SarcasmMode extraordinarily wise]] decision to cancel the game two months before its release on the reason that "it wasn't good enough". The game was screwed and thrown into the same heap as ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' and ''VideoGame/TonyHawkProSkater'', which were also canceled at the same time. The game seemed doomed until Creator/SquareEnix took the game under its wing, renaming it ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' since they couldn't buy the rights to the game's original franchise but letting the game remain as it was; even giving the developers extra months to refine the gameplay. They were rewarded hansomely, as the game sold over 180,000 copies within the first few weeks of it's release.

* Creator/WarnerBros stood and backed Creator/RichardDonner's direction of ''Film/{{Superman}}'' even though it was the most expensive movie they'd made to that point, [[Creator/ChristopherReeve the star]] was a ''complete'' unknown, and the effects work was, in many ways, just as revolutionary as anything ''Franchise/StarWars'' did. As history shows, it was worth every penny.

* FOX's treatment of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' was very... bad. It managed to get five seasons before being cancelled, but reruns on Adult Swim kept it alive. Then, Creator/ComedyCentral bought the rights to the show, revived it, [[TooGoodToLast and then canceled it again two seasons later.]]

* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was, believe it or not, hardly the poster child for AdoredByTheNetwork that it is now; the show aired on Fridays when most of its target demographic was at school, and was barely advertised, with the much more adored ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' getting plenty of attention (and inexplicable [[CommercialPopUp logo bugs]] during the show counting down to the next airing of that series, which probably wasn't effective to the show's true audience of young girls). This all changed shortly after the first season finale, when the Hub's schedule changed... and the Ponies moved to a much better timeslot on Saturday morning, and only gathered more support and airtime from there, as well as a steady stream of advertising, becoming one of the network's flagship programs.

* Happens InUniverse in ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'', where the title character explains in one episode that sometimes alien publishing companies will rescue anime and manga titles that got cancelled on Earth but were popular in space. The specific example cited is ''Shonen Blood'', which was a real manga anthology that folded after six issues; no word on its being rescued by aliens, however.

* While Viceland was touted as the network that would bring millennials back to television, the channel's owners didn't count on its target audience being more interested in repeats of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' than the original slate of documentary, lifestyle, and activist-oriented programming. However, the U.K version did manage to accomplish this trope when brought back mature, adult-oriented anime to British television with the help of Anime Limited in 2017. [[note]]Mature anime has been seldom seen on U.K television since the [[NetworkDecay degradation]] of CSC's [=AnimeCentral=], which eventually got the boot in-favor of Sony's True Entertainment channel in 2009.[[/note]] Viceland UK started with the well-rounded lineup of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'', ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', and ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', but they soon got to do an English dub premiere with ''Manga/SeraphOfTheEnd'' in February 2018.

* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023, an AnimatedAdaptation of [[WebComic/{{Nimona}} the webcomic of the same name]], was initially in development at Creator/BlueSkyStudios and was close to being finished until Creator/{{Disney}} shut down Blue Sky Studios in 2021 as a cost cutting measure during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. For a time, it seem like all hope was lost, cue Creator/{{Netflix}} and Creator/AnnapurnaPictures coming in to revive the project over a year later, with plans on finally releasing it in 2023.

* The AnimatedAdaptation of ''WebComic/{{Nimona}}'' was initially in development at Creator/BlueSkyStudios and was close to being finished until Creator/{{Disney}} shut down Blue Sky Studios in 2021 as a cost cutting measure during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. For a time, it seem like all hope was lost, cue Creator/{{Netflix}} and Creator/AnnapurnaPictures coming in to revive the project over a year later, with plans on finally releasing it in 2023.

* A case where the PowerOfFriendship overlaps with this trope: When Creator/RobertDowneyJr was constantly in and out of drug-related rehab, producers were unable to find insurance on him, and thus he wasn't cast in movies anymore. Creator/MelGibson, a personal friend of Downey since ''Film/AirAmerica'', personally paid the insurance on him when he starred in his movie, ''Series/TheSingingDetective''. Downey's performance in that movie ignited the huge comeback that climaxed with ''Film/AScannerDarkly'', ''Film/IronMan'', and his surprise Oscar nomination for ''Film/TropicThunder''.

** The UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague has been with NBC for over-the-air coverage since 2006, and became a sister to its cable partner Versus, now NBCSN, in 2011 following Comcast's acquisition of NBC. Creator/{{ESPN}} and Creator/{{ABC}}'s previous deal was an outright disaster; the games received little promotion, and Disney's only motivation may have been to keep the full package of broadcast and cable rights out of Creator/{{Fox}}'s hands. Once ESPN acquired the NBA's main television package, hockey was shunned to the fullest extent their contract would allow. Despite some of the other issues that have afflicted NBC's coverage, the network and NBCSN still treat the NHL as being among their flagship properties, having boosted its prominence with actual promotion, as well as spectacles such as the Winter Classic, multi-network playoff coverage, and cross-promotion with other major events as part of an overarching "Championship Season" marketing campaign[[note]]As a testament to how well this worked NBC ended up being outbid by a ESPN and Turner Sports for the NHL's TV rights in 2021, ESPN mainly as an anchor (along with UsefulNotes/{{UFC}}) for their ESPN+ streaming service[[/note]].

* [[InvertedTrope An Inverted example]]. ''Manga/OnePiece'' was lagging pretty far behind most of the other shows on Creator/{{Toonami}} when it returned for the Toonami revival, but the Toonami crew decided to hold on to ''One Piece'' for as long as they could. The ratings actually went down when ''One Piece'' came on and went back up after it ended, meaning Toonami viewers were actually ''changing the channel to watch something else''. Ultimately, the show's failure to catch on forced the Toonami crew to let it go in 2017, but it stuck around way longer than any other show with similar viewership. [[HesBack But then, in January of 2022, they brought it back!]]

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' was rejected by every comic strip syndicate & comic book publisher twice when editor Sheldon Meyer convinced the publishers of Creator/DCComics to take a chance on it. Result: the Man of Steel is now one of DC's historical icons, and arguably the best known hero in ''all of fiction''.
* George Herriman's ''ComicStrip/KrazyKat'' was weird, surreal, and incredibly unpopular among the general public in its time. However, William Randolph Hearst ([[Film/CitizenKane yeah, that one]]) loved it and ran it in all his newspapers, eventually giving it a full-page colour spread in the Arts & Drama section. It sometimes ran in his papers only because of his ''direct order''. When Herriman died, Hearst canceled the comic, even though it was common practice to hire a new cartoonist after the death of the author-- Hearst didn't want anyone messing with ''Krazy''.
* Mike Grell's ''ComicBook/TheWarlord''. Carmine Infantino (editor in chief of DC at the time) cancelled it after the third issue, [[ScrewedByTheNetwork after promising Grell a one-year run]]. When Jeanette Kahn, a fan of the series, took over as publisher and found out it was cancelled, she reportedly told her editors "Well, I just cancelled Carmine. Put it back on the schedule." The book was later made monthly, and at one time was the top selling title for DC.

* [[InvertedTrope An Inverted example]]. ''Manga/OnePiece'' was lagging pretty far behind most of the other shows on Creator/{{Toonami}} when it returned for the Toonami revival, but the Toonami crew decided to hold on to ''One Piece'' for as long as they could. The ratings actually went down when ''One Piece'' came on and went back up after it ended, meaning Toonami viewers were actually ''changing the channel to watch something else''. Ultimately, the show's failure to catch on forced the Toonami crew to let it go in 2016, but it stuck around way longer than any other show with similar viewership. [[HesBack But then, in March of 2022, they brought it back!]]

** Paramount has a considerable track record as a Studio To The Rescue. Consider the case of ''Film/ForrestGump''. Or, more famously, another of its Best Picture-winning blockbusters, ''Film/TheGodfather''. Back in 1970, gangster movies were action flicks like the James Cagney version of ''Film/PublicEnemy'', not slow character dramas with lots of talking. And you certainly didn't make one with a completely unknown (and eccentric) director, a washed-up star, and a ton of people no one even heard of. Paramount did it; and the rest is history.