We, as a society, are entering the dangerous territory of the post-streaming landscape. On the one hand, “peak TV” is supposedly on the horizon, as it has been for the last three years or so. And now, more than ever, there are almost too many options when it comes to which sweaty TV guy you chose to watch after a long day of work. But, as the saying goes, with great power comes something else, and it seems like HBO Max is in its “taking responsibility” phase after a less-than-stellar year.
In case you weren’t aware, there are hundreds (thousands?) of shows and movies on HBO Max, and the titles change pretty frequently. But with all of the changes and new content, most of the time, original HBO shows would stay on the service, because where else would they even need to be, right? That’s not the case anymore, as more and more shows are being quietly yanked from the streamer after being canceled, with basically no other place to watch them.
Variety confirmed that former HBO hit Westworld, Anna Kendrick’s comedy Love Life, and Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series The Nevers would be removed from the streaming platform, in addition to the just-canceled Minx. This way, the streamer will save money by not paying the cast and crew residual payments, in addition to not continuing the shows at all.
Despite being pulled from the service, certain shows might get a second shot at life. Jake Johnson confirmed that Minx is still wrapping up its second season, which the cast and crew hope will air somewhere else. This is good because the world needs more Jake Johnson in a snazzy button-down top.
The biggest issue here is this: With original shows unavailable on other platforms, how will fans get to rewatch their favorite shows? Imagine if Netflix took Stranger Things off of its service. There would be riots until dawn. We might have to go back to watching shows the same way our elders did pre-streaming: by saving up all of their babysitting money to buy the entire DVD collection of Gilmore Girls at FYE. The current season of Westworld is currently on sale, by the way.
