Update, Tuesday, June 27: As Paramount+ rings in its merger with Showtime today, a few more titles like Inside Amy Schumer and Dave Grohl’s From Cradle to Stage have been removed from the service, a Paramount+ rep confirmed. A slate of Nickelodeon titles that were reportedly taken off the platform at the same time — including the shows Monsters vs. Aliens and Peter Rabbit — were part of a the regularly scheduled monthly churn of content on and off the platform.
The current list of titles removed from Paramount+ as part of the Showtime merger:
• Fantasy Football
• From Cradle to Stage
• The Game
• Ghislaine: Partner in Crime
• Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
• Inside Amy SchumerÂ
• Queen of the Universe
• Snow Day
• Star Trek: Prodigy
• Tell Me a Story
Original story from June 23 follows:
Its second-season finale may be exactly one day young, but ​​Queen of the Universe has been canceled and will soon be unceremoniously removed from Paramount+ — along with three other shows, as part of the streaming service’s plan to merge with Showtime on June 27. “We are removing select programming as we look to optimize Showtime’s robust slate of premium originals,†said a Paramount+ spokesperson. In addition to Queen of the Universe, Paramount+ announced that the series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Star Trek: Prodigy, and The Game have been canceled and are due to be removed as well, and while no other titles have been confirmed yet, those won’t be the last ones to go.
It’s a similar move taken by Showtime earlier this year, HBO Max last year, and Disney+ and Hulu just last month. These days, “content impairment,†or purging your library, is in — a way for a company to write off shows or movies that comparatively underperform on a streaming service — even if it means spiking original (though all four of these titles are based on preexisting Paramount Global IP), beloved, or even brand-new titles. Queen of the Universe will be removed on June 30, giving viewers of that show barely a weeklong window to watch the final four episodes, which were rolled out at the same time on June 22. Streamers like Paramount+ would argue that losing that content allows for them the financial wiggle room to pivot to grow more subscribers.
Paramount+ has said Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Star Trek: Prodigy, and The Game may be able to find new homes on other streaming services (like how Max titles such as Raised by Wolves or Minx, originally a Max show, wound up on the WBTV ad-supported channels or Starz, respectively), but it’s unclear whether Queen of the Universe will. Star Trek: Prodigy, currently in production on its second season, will be able to finish producing its order of episodes. But for now, we don’t know where any of those shows will end up. At this point, we’re no strangers to heartbreak.