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Axed: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Queen of the Universe, Star Trek: Prodigy, The Game

Four titles axed and set to be removed from their platform.

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Several shows have been axed in the USA by Paramount+ and will be dropped from platforms.

“The Paramount+ series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Star Trek: Prodigy, Queen of the Universe and The Game have completed their runs on Paramount+ and will not be returning to the service,” a Paramount+ spokesperson said. “We want to extend our thanks to our tremendously talented cast and crew and our producing partners for their passionate work and dedication on these programs, and we wish them all the best on their future endeavors.”

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies has been canceled after one season.

Star Trek: Prodigy will not be going proceeding with its previously announced second season on Paramount+ but post-production is being completed on Season 2 and the studio will attempt to find a home for it.

Graham Norton-hosted reality series Queen of the Universe is been axed after two seasons.

The Game has been cancelled after two seasons.

Studios also plan to shop other titles to rival broadcasters and streamers.

Pink Ladies creator Annabel Oakes wrote on social media, “In a particularly brutal move, it is also being removed from @paramountplus next and unless it finds a new home you will no longer be able to watch it anywhere. The cast, my creative partners, and I are all devastated at the complete erasure of our show.”

Removing content from platforms is a way for streamers to avoid residual payments and licensing fees. “Much like syndication of Hollywood’s yesteryear, streaming services must pay for the right to host a title,” explained Brandon Katz, an industry strategist at Parrot Analytics.

By removing the content specifically made for streaming rather than licensed shows and movies, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney can immediately cut expenses. Warner Bros. Discovery saved “tens of millions of dollars” after eliminating content, CNBC previously reported.

Source: NBC News, Deadline

14 Responses

  1. The higher the residuals that Guilds extract, the higher the number of subscribers a show needs to generate to stay on servers. Subscriber numbers have peaked in the US and we are past the rapid growth phase, so streamers are battling over subscriber churn. It you take shows down you don’t have to pay the residuals and you can depreciate them generating losses that reduce your taxes. There are 600 dramas and comedies being produced in the US a year. There are a few great shows but most of it is mediocre TV that is just being binged because it’s available on demand, in bulk and without ads. There was always going to be a reckoning eventually.

  2. Really disappointed to see Queen of the Universe end. Trevor Ashley did Australia so proud, I was really excited to see who we might put up next season! Although I guess this explains why the last four episodes of season 2 dropped so suddenly and we were only given a week to watch them!

  3. It’s news like this that reinforces my love for home media (DVD, Blu Ray, 4K UHD). None of these shows appeal to me but if they had and it was something I could see myself rewatching I’d go out and buy it on disc. Not only is it more environmentally friendly than streaming, but it can mean I can rewatch it as many times as I like for as long as I have the disc without any ongoing costs. In saying that though the Studios are moving away from home media to get more people to pay for streaming (example – Succession’s home media announcement has it for DVD only despite being produced in HD, meaning you have to watch it on Foxtel/HBO Max to see it in HD). Perhaps this is something Producers have to look at – if it gets a home media release than it won’t see “the complete erasure” of shows.

    1. There are still plenty of people who enjoy collecting DVD’s (especially of older shows) and buy them from all over the world, especially from the USA. Unfortunately the era of DVD Blu-ray players is coming to a close as manufacturers remove these products from production. Maybe only Chinese electronics manufacturers will continue producing multi region DVD players in small quantities in the future, and mainly for the Asian market.

  4. Paramount+ is obviously reviewing its production budget costs, but the choice of titles that they cancelled is interesting, though anything with Star Trek in its title does struggle to become popular it seems, Paramount should have left the original canon of their classic 60’s Star Trek franchise property well alone.

    1. Like a lot of legacy franchises, they put people in charge who don’t understand them, who aren’t really fans and then try and make something that appeals to no one.
      The best of new Trek was Picard season 3, where those in charge abandoned the show and an actual Trek fan made a season of what the show should have been from the start. Showing how it’s not hard to deliver for legacy franchises.
      The next best is Strange New Worlds, which was a show that went directly against a lot of creative choices they did in Discovery. Yet is still plague with bad current era writing choices. Will struggle during it’s second season with them and hopefully in the third season will be settled into something good.
      Of course the person who did the best recent Trek, Picard s3, wants to do a follow up new series and despite delivering the goods. That still isn’t greenlit. As those that run Trek hate that he showed up how much of a failure they are.

  5. This doesn’t bode well with their Drag Race franchise (Mexico, Brazil, and Germany which are produced by Paramount rather than their local network). Eek! I afraid they each will only last a few seasons.

      1. Mexico and Brazil filmed back to back in Colombia to save the cost. I can’t confirm if German queens also need to travel to Colombia or has already filmed.

  6. Strange for Star Trek prodigy to be nearly done making season 2 and they’ll sell it off, why subscribe if their content being sold elsewhere. Interesting to note re the ongoing payments though.

  8. It’s a damn shame, because I really enjoyed Rise Of The Pink Ladies (I have 1 ep to go). The amount of work that has clearly gone into the show is staggering, the costume and set design, the wonderful songs (seriously not a dud one in the bunch), the homages and over-the-top performances, the characters… it all aligns so well with the original behemoth imo. The script is ok too with some genuinely funny moments but as with all shows these days, even ones set in this period, it was unnecessarily woke… some of the kids deal with things that were certainly never discussed back then… the only downfall I had with it is that it was all very predictable, it plays out exactly how you would expect, but then again that could be viewed as appropriate when messing it against the film. Regardless, I’ve had a great time with it and am disappointed it’s being removed so callously. David will it have a similar fate here by being removed from P+?

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