USA Network Looking to Recapture ‘Blue Sky’ Magic as It Gets Back Into Original Scripted Series Game (Report)

Characters will soon be welcome at USA Network once again.

In light of the recent streaming success of several 2000s-era USA originals — most notably Suits, which dominated Netflix earlier this year, ultimately inspiring a Los Angeles-based spinoff — the network is getting back in the scripted series game, our sister site Deadline reports.

USA is reportedly looking to recapture the magic of its “blue sky” period, which hooked viewers with fun, breezy hits like Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, In Plain Sight, Monk, Psych, Royal Pains, Suits and White Collar. The network later pivoted to darker fare like Mr. Robot and The Sinner, which were not as commercially successful despite receiving critical acclaim.

New shows, which would begin premiering sometime in 2025, will reportedly be produced for $2-3 million per episode, making them considerably less expensive than most of today’s cable and streaming programming.

TVLine spoke with USA brass in July 2011, arguably at the peak of the cabler’s heyday — when White Collar, Covert Affairs and Burn Notice were all burning hot, and Suits and Necessary Roughness had just enjoyed strong debuts — and then co-president Jeff Wachtel remarked, “One thing that is almost beyond belief is in a world where one in every four shows that launches is successful, we have now … nine shows in a row [including Psych and Fairly Legal] that have launched successfully. The fact that nine in a row have come out of the gate is testimony to the creative and marketing teams here, and the spectacular original vision of the shows.”

We’ve already seen several of those “blue sky” hits return in the form of reunion movies, beginning with Psych, which has released three feature-length projects on Peacock with more reportedly on the way. Meanwhile, Tony Shalhoub just got the gang back together for Mr. Monk’s Last Case, which hit the streamer on Dec. 8.

TVLine also recently spoke with White Collar star Matt Bomer, who revealed that there has been “very legitimate talk” about him returning to the screen as Neal Caffrey. “A lot of things need to fall into place,” he told us, “but there is a plan in effect, at least, so we’ll see what happens.”

And if USA is looking to revive Burn Notice, series star Jeffrey Donovan did just leave Law & Order, so… maybe give him a call?

With additional reporting by Matt Mitovich