Following the shocking move by Paramount+ to cancel four shows and remove them from their service within the week, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies creator Annabel Oakes has shared her response. In addition to the Grease prequel, Paramount+ cancelled Star Trek's animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, which also only ran for one season, singing competition Queen of the Universe and the comedy-drama revival The Game, though their final date on the streamer is currently unknown.
Shortly after the reveal, Annabel Oakes took to her Instagram story to address Paramount+ cancelling Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies after just one season. The showrunner expressed devastation at both the axing and plan to pull it from the platform entirely, while also thanking those who ed the show for their love since its premiere and inviting them to watch the show before it's gone. See what Oakes said in a screenshot of her post below:
Paramount+'s Cancellations Continue A Worrying Industry Trend
Paramount+ is the latest of the larger streaming services to make the shocking move to not only remove their content from their platforms, but to be written off as part of "cost-cutting measures". In late 2022, a large list of movies and shows were removed from the then-named HBO Max, namely the original productions Minx, The Witches, and The Nevers. Disney+ would soon follow with their own removals in May 2023, as highly marketed shows including Willow, Diary of a Future President, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum faced cancellation and removal from the series.
Each has enabled the services to avoid paying the studios and creatives behind the series to host the titles on their platforms. While each project is unable to be hosted on the original platform for a certain period, it is possible that the productions could find a future home and even be renewed by other seasons, as seen with both Paramount+ intending the recently canceled show to other services and certain HBO titles being hosted by Netflix. Regardless of whether a production can find a new home, the decisions have been met with negative responses by creatives and audiences, who fear for the shows they created and love seemingly being made legally inaccessible to cut costs.
While Paramount+'s decision to shop around each show to other services may leave some with hope, the latest wave of cancellations and removals is still an unfortunate thing to see. It is heartbreaking for both creatives, such as Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies' Annabel Oakes, and fans of the shows to potentially lose access to these works forever. While Paramount+ will wait to see what effect this will have on their finances, this latest wave of cancellations continues a worrying trend that casts doubt on the future of streaming among audiences.
Source: @annabeleoakes/Instagram