The premiere of “Con Man” took place on Sept 9, 2017 on the Syfy channel. This is a dream come true for Alan Tudyk. The show was originally created in 2015 and for the past two years has been distributed to fans via the web. Fans could catch it there, but until recently the shorts had never been aired on television. SyFy picked up both seasons one and two and “Con Man” fans have something to celebrate. Stars of the fan convention world have been featured which include Tudyk, Seth Green, Will Wheaton and many others and while the web viewership numbers have been decent, it will get even more exposure now. Here are five things that you didn’t know about “Con Man.”
“Con Man” started as a crowdfunded project
Viewers who enjoyed the Sept. 9 premiere of the new show probably do not know that the series started out as a Kickstarter project. In fact, the campaign on the popular crowdfunding site was so successful that it broke records for bringing in the funding needed to bring the project to life. The campaign was launched by Tudyk, Nathan Fillion and P.J. Haarsma. It turned out to be a very good idea and people who believed that the series would be a worthwhile production flocked to help make it a reality.
It started out on Vimeo VOD
The first season of “Con Man” premiered on the web via Vimeo VOD with season two being distributed by the Lionsgate owned streaming platform Comic Con HQ. Tudyk was just looking for a way to get his production out there so people could enjoy the series and have a few laughs. Getting it out on the web was brilliant, because the viewership shot to thousands, but despite humble beginnings, the series has now made it to a major television network. Tudyk is hoping that the viewership will increase from numbers in the thousands, to in the millions.
Season 3 is a possibility
According to Haarsma, Seasons one and two of “Con Man” are set to be aired on Syfy. This is going to be a sort of proving ground for the series, and if it generates enough interest and if the viewer numbers and ratings are high, it could become a regular show on the networks. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the ratings on television are as good as they were on the web.
“Con Man has already been eyed for awards
Even though “Con Man” just aired a day or so ago, it has already been nominated for two Emmy awards for 2017. The response from the web version has been so popular that it generated interest from the right viewers. Tudyk and Mindy Sterling were two of the stars on the show that were mentioned at the nominations. This helps to increase the odds of the show being picked up by SyFy for a third season and maybe even more.
“Con Man” is also a comic book and a mobile game
For new viewers who just tuned in to catch the series, it has been around for a couple of years, it just wasn’t picked up by a network until now. Fans have been enjoying it on the web. Thanks to the big success of the Kickstarter campaign, the creators had the funding to move ahead and make a comic book and mobile game for “Con Man” which helped to move the franchise forward. “Con Man” is much more than just a new show about nerds on Syfy.
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The crowdfunding was done with IndieGOGO, not Kickstarter.