How Hulu’s Battleground changed the web TV ballgame

A TV show that won’t air on any TV network? Quite a few people were hesitant when producer J.D. Walsh told them about his political comedy series project Battleground going to Hulu last year.

Fox had fronted the money for a pilot episode, but then declined to pick up the show. “They were very polite as they showed me the door,” Walsh recalled about his exit at Fox during a phone conversation last week. Attempts to take it elsewhere were met with interest, but not commitment. Battleground seemed stuck. Walsh didn’t want that to happen to Battleground, and jumped on the opportunity when Hulu offered to pick it up as the service’s first-ever original scripted show. Others, however, were not quite as convinced. Battleground lead actor Jay Hayden recently remarked in an interview with Lost Remote that his manager and agent were pretty nervous, and Walsh acknowledged that online-only project was a tough sell: “There was definitely a stigma attached to it,” he said.