Please Save 'Vienna Blood': A Cri de Cœur

Vienna Blood is (probably) dead; long live Vienna Blood. The pre-Great War murder mystery series featuring the highly effective odd couple of young British Freudian Dr. Max Liebermann and veteran Viennese homicide detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt’s fourth season wrapped up on PBS at the end of January, and though the series’s cancellation hasn’t been formally announced, we here at Telly Visions have been bracing ourselves for unwelcome news on that front. The show’s production company, Endor, closed up shop in 2024, and as of this writing, no new home for the series has emerged to rescue it. 

Rescuing a show after it is canceled at one network is an idea with some precedent. Thus far, these rescues have mainly involved comedies like Brooklyn Nine-Nine (picked up by NBC after being canceled at Fox) and Girls5Eva (rescued up by Netflix after being canceled at Peacock); however, there are some genre shows that have benefitted from the practice as well. Some recent examples include The Expanse (picked up by Prime Video after being canceled at SyFy), Agatha Raisin (scooped up by Acorn TV after Sky TV dropped it), and Sanditon (rescued by PBS Masterpiece after being canceled at ITV). I think it’s time for Apple TV+ to become the hero that crime show lovers need and deserve. 

If Vienna Blood 1.0 is headed for the chopping block, it’s not due to plummeting ratings. It just needs a new home at a functioning production company. Apple TV+ has *checks notes* slightly more money than God, and that’s just what they’ve got as cash on hand, so they should be pretty stable, business-wise, for at least a few more years. They have done a bit of belt-tightening in the last six months (more due to social pressure than actual need), and more austerity is on the way, but Vienna Blood isn’t a particularly lavish production. 

When compared with the streamer’s sci-fi shows like For All Mankind and Foundation, which feature massive sets on multiple planets and spacecraft, intense action sequences, and casts of hundreds, the costs of producing a series like Vienna Blood could be covered by Tim Cook’s pocket change.

Apple TV+ is also the home of Vienna Blood creator and head writer Steve Thompson’s new series Prime Target. Having an established relationship can only be a boon for all parties. Vienna Blood’s on-location shoots in its titular city and Budapest are a good fit, too. Apple has also been branching out with international series, including Bad Sisters, Pachinko, La Maison, and the forthcoming Berlin ER, showing that they have the confidence to create popular art in a wide variety of countries and in many languages. 

One area where I hope Apple TV+ would spend some extra ducats on Vienna Blood is its credit sequence. This streamer cares about opening credits. The elegant simplicity of For All Mankind, the infectious joy of Pachinko (don’t ask me to choose between Season 1 and Season 2; they are both pure and perfect in every respect), the compelling creepiness of Severance (ok, I do prefer Season 1, but only because Season 2 has exceeded my personal threshold for compelling creepiness enjoyment) – it’s evident that these teams know what they’re doing. The bones of compelling, thematically cogent imagery and a jaunty tune are there in Vienna Blood’s credits; they just want zhuzhing up with a healthy dose of graphic design sophistication.

Good shows deserve good homes and solid viewership. AppleTV+ and Vienna Blood are natural pairings, such as the raspberry preserves, almonds of Linzer tarts, poppy seeds, and sweet yeasted bread of mohnstrudel. Let’s do this!  

All four seasons of Vienna Blood are streaming PBS Passport for members and on the Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.