The much-criticised comedy The Life and Times of Te Tutu will be back on screen after receiving $1.13 million from New Zealand On Air.
Comedian Pio Terei's jokey take on the arrival of Europeans in Aotearoa received a lukewarm reception when it aired at the beginning of last year.
The show initially drew an audience of about 300,000, which dropped to about 100,000 by the end of the series.
The Herald's Frances Grant was among critics unimpressed by Te Tutu. Instead of satirical edge, she said, the show offered "clunky one-liners" and "groaning puns."
Another seven half-hour programmes, directed by David McPhail, will be produced for TV One and screen in prime time this year.
NZ On Air chief executive Jo Tyndall said Auckland-based Pipi Productions and broadcaster TVNZ had been "grilled" before the funding application was approved.
The producers had taken criticism of the first series on board, she said, and Te Tutu had the potential to grow a larger audience.
"We have a bit of a history in New Zealand comedy of trying something and if it doesn't work brilliantly well, it gets kicked in the guts and then somebody has to start again from scratch.
"You need to give something that has at least the potential to improve the chance to come back and try again."
Terei said Te Tutu would become more of a sitcom-type production with greater interaction between the characters.
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