‘Star Trek: Prodigy’, ‘Rise Of The Pink Ladies’, ‘The Game’ & ‘Queen Of The Universe’ Cancelled By Paramount+
The rather frustrating new trend of streaming services, not only cancelling their shows but throwing them into a dark hole, continues, as Paramount+ announces ‘Star Trek: Prodigy‘, ‘Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies‘, ‘The Game‘ & ‘Queen Of The Universe‘ have been cancelled and existing seasons will be removed from the service. Producers of the four series have been given the opportunity to try and shop them elsewhere.
It had previously been announced that the animated series ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’, which featured a motley crew of young aliens who “found” a Starfleet ship, with a Hologram Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), had been renewed renewed for season two. That decision has now been reversed, although the studio will complete post-production on Season 2, and look for a new home for it…
‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’ was a musical series that takes place four years before the original “Grease.” In 1954, before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, four fed-up outcasts dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.
‘The Game’ was a revival of the series which previously ran on The CW & BET – a modern-day examination of Black culture through the prism of pro football. The team tackles racism, sexism, classism and more as they fight for fame, fortune, respect and love – all while trying to maintain their souls as they each play The Game.
‘Queen of the Universe’ was a drag queen singing competition hosted by Graham Norton, and featuring judges such as Leona Lewis, Trixie Mattel, Michelle Visage, Vanessa Williams and Mel B. It ran for 2 Seasons, with the second season only ending yesterday…
Why is this happening?
Not only are all four shows cancelled at Paramount+, but the previous seasons will also be removed from the streaming service shortly… Which I’m sure leaves you with the obvious question… why? Why remove these shows entirely, and not just leave the previous seasons up there? I’ll try and explain…
So, firstly, this does mean the streaming service no longer has to pay “artist residuals” (i.e. money to the creative people that made the show – actors, writers, directors, etc…) for keeping it on the service, just like “repeat fees” you may have heard about on a broadcast channel. However, for a streaming service, this is a rather small part of the overall cost (something the writer’s strike is trying to change, but that’s another issue…)
The second (and bigger) saving is in “license fees”. All these shows are “rented” from someone to be on the streaming service… Now, yes, Paramount+ might be “renting” a show from a sibling company – i.e. CBS Studios or Paramount Television – but that still means they have to balance the books to make sure those studios are being paid. Otherwise, it would look like Paramount+ is making loads of money because it gets its content for “free”, and (e.g.) CBS Studios makes no money, as it is not paid. I know it ultimately all goes to the same parent company, but from a tax & accounting perspective, the bookkeeping needs to be done… And this is where Paramount+ “saves money”.
Here’s how it works.
Paramount+ looks through its catalogue and checks how many people watched a show compared to how much a show costs to make. If those numbers don’t balance, Paramount+ pulls it from the service and “impairs the asset”. Taking an “impairment charge” basically means they think “this item is not worth what we paid for it” and allows them to “write off” the cost of having it on the service, claiming the money back on the tax. But to do that, the “asset” (show or film) has to be removed entirely from the service as if it was never there.
This is somewhat similar to what happened with Warner Bros Discovery and the ‘Batgirl’ movie. However, in the case of that film it was incomplete and unreleased, so could be totally written off and thrown into a black hole, never to be seen at all. In the case of completed and previously aired assets, such as these tv shows, they can be “impaired” for a period of time (usually 12 months), where it no longer costs anything to the streamer, but it can not be added back onto the service for the impairment period. However, they CAN still be shopped around to someone else to air.
So, there is still a possibility that the existing seasons of these four shows could pop up somewhere else. There is also a chance that the studios who make these shows could get someone to pick them up for future seasons. Well have to wait and see.
‘Star Trek: Prodigy‘, ‘Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies‘, ‘The Game‘ & ‘Queen Of The Universe‘ all aired on Paramount+ UK, but will be removed before the end of the month.
