Renewals and Cancellations: Showtime and Hulu Drop the Axe

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 31, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 31, 2023 |

Last week, Peacock and Apple TV+ dropped the axe on a couple of shows, and now Showtime and Hulu are taking a scythe to their lineup. In fact, Showtime is merging with Paramount+ and they’re rebranding with the dumbest name imaginable: Paramount+ with Showtime. Tori had a much better suggestion, although I think it will end up being an interim name before Showtime is eventually dropped:

PARATIME SHOWMOUNT was right there, fuck https://t.co/EyT1akUDjw

— tori preston (@Torionic) January 30, 2023

What’s weird is that Paramount+ — with the Taylor Sheridan slate of series and the Star Trek shows, plus access to CBS’s catalog and a bunch of Paramount films — is considerably better than Showtime these days, which has … Yellowjackets and Billions. Paramount+ subs start at $4.99 a month and Showtime subscriptions are $10.99 a month. The new subscription will run $11.99 a month, which is an excellent deal for Showtime-only subscribers, but not so much for Paramount+-only subscribers who would pay considerably more for Yellowjackets.

What they won’t get, however, will be another season of Let the Right One In or American Gigolo, both of which were canceled by the network. I liked Let the Right One In well enough (primarily thanks to Demián Bichir), but I couldn’t get through more than three episodes of Gigolo despite the presence of Jon “Needs a New Agent” Bernthal. You know a show is bad when you’re rooting for more Rosie O’Donnell.

Showtime also removed those shows from the platform, as well as Jim Carrey’s Kidding, American Rust and On Becoming a God in Central Florida, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Super Pumped, which at one time was renewed for a second season focused on Facebook. That seems unlikely now. The series will probably shift to FAST networks (Free Ad Supported TV) like Freevee or Roku, which is all the rage now. In fact, Warner Brothers and HBO will add 2000 hours of content to Roku this spring, including Westworld, The Nevers, Raised by Wolves, FBoy Island, and The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Showtime also pulled the plug on Three Women, a series starring Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise, and Betty Gilpin that had finished shooting but had not yet aired. It’s based on a phenomenal book by Lisa Taddeo. Showtime says they will shop it around.

Meanwhile, over on Hulu, one of the better sitcoms in recent memory, Reboot, was canceled, much to my dismay. It was funny, it had a great cast (Rachel Bloom, Paul Reiser, Judy Greer, Keegan-Michael Key), and a decent premise. No one watched it apparently. That’s a shame, especially since How I Met Your Father got a 20-episode second season. Hulu also canceled Kindred, and based on the reviews (including our own), it sounds like Hulu did a kindness for the series (and Octavia Butler) by canceling it.