Over the last few years, streaming services have developed a worrying habit: Completely removing excellent original programming from their platforms entirely — and, in some cases, leaving those shows without a home.
Warner Bros. Discover CEO, David Zaslav, made the jaw-dropping decision to shelve the nearly-completed “Batgirl” film in August 2022, and ever since, the door has been open for other studios and companies to start disappearing parts of their catalogue. Unfortunately, these kinds of ruthless — usually cost-cutting — measures rarely discriminate on quality, so both great and not-so-great series (and movies) have sadly been upended by the snowball effect.
With that in mind, we decided to round up a select few excellent shows that were put out to pasture by the streaming services that put a roof over their proverbial heads. Prepare to be a little annoyed about it.
Westworld
This might be the most obvious and well known case out of the bunch, but nothing stings harder than knowing Warner Bros. Discovery decided to remove “Westworld” from HBO Max. The show, which was a big hit for the majority of the four seasons it was on air, was unceremoniously removed from streaming in December 2022.
The studio asserted that removing it and other original programming would be helpful to their bottom line. It showed, following in the footsteps of “Batgirl,” that even major legacy properties and successful hits were vulnerable to removal in the modern <a href="https://comicvibe.com/why-is-caesars-entertainment-czr-reassessing-guest-safety-after-a-liability-verdict/” title=”Why Is Caesars Entertainment (CZR) Reassessing Guest Safety After A Liability Verdict?”>entertainment landscape. About a month after it was wiped from HBO, “Westworld” ended up on FAST channel streamers like Tubi and The Roku Channel. As of now, the show is now only available for purchase on Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Snowpiercer
The 2020 adaptation of the highly regarded 2013 film, “Snowpiercer,” set up the exciting prospect of expanding the story’s rich universe when it began airing on TNT — but it didn’t end well for dedicated fans of the series.
The show followed a separate set of characters within the same post-apocalyptic landscape as Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi stunner. “Snowpiercer” spent three seasons on TNT before being shopped and picked up by AMC for its delayed last season. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company under which TNT operates as a network, so the movie was believed to be a cost-cutting measure.
The series was also removed from its HBO Max streaming home some time in early summer 2022, just months before the sad purge that saw “Westworld” lose its original home. These days, “Snowpiercer” is available across many other streamers, including free options like Tubi, Roku, and Plex, as well as subscription-based services like Hulu, Peacock, Prime Video, and AMC+.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
“Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” was lauded as a fun and funny prequel that served as a modern update on the original 1978 film, and how the titular Pink Ladies became the menacingly cool presence they were only a few short years later in “Grease.” The show aired on Paramount+ for just one season, from April to June 2023, before being axed by the network.
Right after, the series was taken off the streamer alongside several other original properties. The “Grease” prequel’s moderate critical success and the fact that it was mostly a hit with audiences — enough to inspire a core group of fans who supported creator Annabel Oakes when she pushed back on its cancellation and erasure — couldn’t save the musical series from the chopping block. Currently, “Rise of the Pink Ladies” is only available for purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.
Vinyl
HBO’s 1970s rock and roll drama, “Vinyl,” seemed destined for generational acclaim when it premiered. It was created by none other than Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, and “Boardwalk Empire” creator Terence Winter, and starred powerhouses like Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, and Juno Temple. The show was well-received by critics and audiences, with 74% critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes. But, like nearly every sad story on this list so far, that positive sentiment couldn’t keep “Vinyl” from suffering multiple devastating fates.
The series — which ran for one season from February to April 2016 — was originally renewed for a second season, but HBO changed their mind just two months after Season 1 ended. Nearly a decade later in August 2022, “Vinyl” was unceremoniously ripped from its HBO Max streaming home. This removal was part of the same 2022 wave of write-off measures from WBD that affected “Snowpiercer” and “Westworld,” despite this show being quite a bit older.
Currently, “Vinyl” is only available on Blu-ray and DVD — but the caveat there is that audiences can only acquire used copies on sites like eBay at this point.
The Twilight Zone (2019)
Not every reboot is worth its salt, but the most recent reimagining of “The Twilight Zone” was truly a valiant effort. The series, which starred modern horror maestro Jordan Peele as the Narrator and rebooted some classic “Twilight Zone” episodes while expanding the universe with new stories, managed to nab a 70% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes for its first season. But eight months after Season 2 was released, the CBS show was puzzlingly canceled in February 2021.
The complete 20-episode series was living on Paramount+, as CBS is owned by Paramount, following its cancellation. But in February 2023, Paramount, who was in the process of merging with Showtime at the time, did a purge of original Paramount and Showtime content on the streamer, which “The Twilight Zone” fell victim to. Currently, the series is only available for purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.
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