Paramount+ Star Trek: Prodigy (Paramount+) (2 Viewers)

[Edwin-S]

I like how this studio set this series up to fail. They create some bizarre schedule, splitting a single season into two sections with a long pause between them. They put it on a service that *almost* no one gives a fuck about and then cancel it, because it doesn't attract an audience.

Outstanding management. /s

 

[Nelson Au]

I wonder if there is anyway to convince Paramount to reverse the cancellation and keep the series on their schedule. It worked once in 1967-68.

I’ll have to read up on this tax write-off thing that I’m seeing. If there is some mechanism making it easy for a corporation to write off an investment in a series, that sounds like a nice way out for the studios. But bad for the audience that has an investment into a series.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

(edited by the author, who sometimes forgets he talks too much)

 

[Museum Pieces]

I wonder if there is anyway to convince Paramount to reverse the cancellation and keep the series on their schedule. It worked once in 1967-68.

I’ll have to read up on this tax write-off thing that I’m seeing. If there is some mechanism making it easy for a corporation to write off an investment in a series, that sounds like a nice way out for the studios. But bad for the audience that has an investment into a series.

The decision was "data driven," which means the numbers weren't there. Apparently subscribers have flat lined since the decision to order season two was made, which means the numbers would be even smaller if season two was dropped. Given the merge with Showtime is eminent, if not already complete, cleaning house makes sense from a business point of view. The problem for me is, at what point is the diminishing returns no longer worth the money I pay to subscribe every year? I worry with the strike that Strange New Worlds will get lost in delays. I am writing a letter to P+ saying my subscription is contingent on new Star Trek episodes dropping, especially of SNW, in the foreseeable future. I don't know what else to do.

I think the whole streaming model, as is, is doomed, and I have said so for years, but I like good ST, and SNW is very good ST.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Star Trek: Prodigy cancelled and being removed from Paramount+.

Season 2 will finish post-production and it's looking for a new home.

‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’, ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’, ‘The Game’ & ‘Queen of the Universe’ Canceled At Paramount+ As Streamer Pulls Shows From Service & Takes Content Write-Down

I swung by my local Barnes & Noble and picked up the first 10 episodes on Blu-ray today. If this goes the way of some streaming series and disappears into the ether never to be seen again, I wanted to at least have an archival copy of what I could. B&N had the Blu-ray for 30% off; with my 10% member discount on in-store purchases, these 10 episodes ended up being less than $20 even after sales tax.

I like how this studio set this series up to fail. They create some bizarre schedule, splitting a single season into two sections with a long pause between them. They put it on a service that *almost* no one gives a fuck about and then cancel it, because it doesn't attract an audience.

Outstanding management. /s

The scheduling isn't bizarre if you look at it as a Nickelodeon series instead of a Star Trek series. Literally all Nickelodeon shows are made in large order seasons and then released in blocks like this.

It does seem like both Warner Bros. and Paramount are ceding the children/family space to Disney.

In Warner Bros's case, it made a certain amount of sense because there weren't a lot of family subscribers. But with Nickelodeon under Paramount's umbella, that seems extremely short-sighted to me. The only thing I can think is that this series with is way more expensive than Nickelodeon's other youth programming, and the cost/benefit calculation doesn't work out for this one the way it does for their cheaper programming.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

But with Nickelodeon under Paramount's umbella, that seems extremely short-sighted to me. The only thing I can think is that this series with is way more expensive than Nickelodeon's other youth programming, and the cost/benefit calculation doesn't work out for this one the way it does for their cheaper programming.

From what I understand, the show aired its episodes on Nickelodeon months after they debuted on Paramount+. That probably hurt the Nickelodeon ratings, and that could be a problem depending on which unit of the company is responsible for the costs.

It might have made more sense for this to air on Nick first and then go to P+ the day after, the way P+ handles its traditional CBS network content.

 

[Museum Pieces]

I was so naive when streaming got well under way. I thought Disney plus would dump the Fox catalogue on there. Why not? I thought shows that rated poorly would stay up on the site for viewers that liked them. Why not? I thought more would be available. I didn't think disc releases would be curtailed. That shows would be removed. I think what is happening with Disney pulling shows and now P+ is the first signs of the death throes of the current streaming model. It's unsettling. That's why I have never regretted a single second of the two years it took me to transfer my disc library to hard drives at original quality. As long as I curate and back up, I will have what I treasure, though the streaming heavens may fall.

 

[NeilO]

At least with most of the streamed Star Trek shows they have appeared on Blu-Ray fairly consistently and quickly.

 

[jayembee]

Seems to be the case with non-Trek Paramount shows as well, including the various Taylor Sheridan series, Halo, and the two Paramount-produced-but-Prime-streamed Reacher and Jack Ryan.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, that was quick. Unceremoniously wiped from P+ already.

Had thought they'd at least wait til end of month, but nope, it's already gone... and much like w/ almost all of Young Sheldon (as I mentioned in the general P+ thread), you wouldn't have known that was coming so very soon if you're just the avg customer who doesn't follow such things so closely like we do here...

Gotta be some of the absolute worst customer service I can think of... if we can even actually call theirs customer service at all... instead of (passively?) hostile relations perhaps...

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

if you're just the avg customer who doesn't follow such things so closely like we do here...

Devils advocate position: if you’re just the average customer, you’re not watching this show anyway. They’re not removing this content because it’s popular; they’re removing it because no one’s watching it.

 

[Nelson Au]

This stinks! And the Blu ray is temporarily out of stock at Amazon. I’ve been looking for a while. I’ll have to find a copy soon before it’s gone. Ironic if the Blu ray and DVD sales spike.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Devils advocate position: if you’re just the average customer, you’re not watching this show anyway. They’re not removing this content because it’s popular; they’re removing it because no one’s watching it.

They don't need a devil's advocate unless they really are a devil... which I'll grant you they probably are, LOL!

Either way, they're just antagonizing customers w/ what they're doing... and ST: Prodigy (or whatever more obscure titles) isn't the only one being pulled from P+ so suddenly afterall (as I also pointed out)...

I get the cancelation of the show and not releasing S2 on P+, but it's the virtually unannounced suddenness of removing content that's really bothersome.

Customers shouldn't have to follow this closely to have a clue at all... and then, still wouldn't actually know it'd be *this* sudden(!).

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

FWIW, at one brief point several months back, I noticed P+ did seem to have a "Last Chance to Watch" row/section on the app's homepage. It wasn't as good as some others since it didn't provide expiration date(s), but it was definitely better than nothing. And yeah, it only seem to last for a month or so before disappearing for whatever reason... much like actual content disappearing virtually unnannouced.

They actually seem to be regressing, not improving at all near as I can tell... and that's very bad since they were barely any good at their best...

Maybe all this is just in keeping w/ the parent company's longstanding MO/philosophy anyhow... and that's very unfortunate...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

I can see it both ways. In a similar situation, I hemmed and hawed and dragged my heels about watching The Nevers on MAX. When the decision was made that it was going to be pulled from the service, and it was unclear if the second half of the one-and-done season would ever air, I figured "This is my chance." I started off with ep #6, as it guest-starred Claudia Black (of Farscape and Stargate SG-1), figuring that I would at least like to see that one (especially after having read a long blog post by her about the episode and what she was trying to do with it).

I liked it enough to want to see how the premise of the show played out, so I went back to ep #1, along with my wife, and got through ep 3 when the show was unceremoniously yanked. As with Prodigy, I expected to be able to see it until the end of the month, but no...

I ended up buying a copy of the blu-ray of the first six eps, but I've no idea if I'll ever be able to see the rest. There was this big deal about that second half of the season being seen on Tubi, but there they aired at specific times as if it was a cable network, and the times were inconvenient.

Anyway, as I said, I can see it both ways, because it can be reasonably argued that it was my fault that I didn't make the point to watch it. It's like complaining when something goes Out of Print, and you say, "Damn, I wanted a copy of that!"

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Sure, if they insist on approaching it that way, they're certainly free to do so (or whatever the heck else for that matter)... and we as customers are also free to hate it and complain and/or just take our business elsewhere too.

I'm not exactly the kind to complain a whole lot or regularly, generally believe in being reasonable (and not that "the customer's always right") and would usually give such some benefit of the doubt, but this has become a general trend of extremely shoddy service w/ P+ (that may well be just part of the overarching, general culture of the parent company that extends to other areas too).

It's 2023, and there's long been such things as best business practices and good management of customer expectations across all sorts of businesses and corporate cultures, but seems completely missing w/ P+... as if they're going backwards, instead of forwards...

And yeah, (HBO) Max has not been a whole lot better, but they definitely have better excuses (at least for recent past)... and they actually seem to be doing some things about some issues at least -- and while they've also regressed some w/ the rebranding and newly merged platform and app, they're definitely still well ahead of P+ in at least some such areas...

_Man_

 

[Nelson Au]

I can’t help but think of the traditional network broadcast of television programming. After a few episodes or a season have aired and the ratings numbers are not making the grade, the show gets unceremoniously removed. So by that model, we’re not seeing anything different here with streaming.

Though I also feel like because it is a streamed program, and there was a time when the streamers wanted content, they’d leave the shows on the service for the viewer to still watch. Perhaps it’s a matter of clearing room to add new programming. You’d think though they could create a section for shows that are now legacy. Especially because this is a Star Trek show, it should join the legacy Star Trek shows.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

That's the thing. It's almost as if they're just gonna treat P+ in 2023 like they would/did w/ broadcast TV going back to the 70's and earlier -- well, of course, not quite completely so, but definitely not too far off, especially if you also go w/ their cheaper, ad-supported service so you get to feel like that more, LOL.

Only thing they haven't done so far is copy Peacock and actually make traditional network TV channels a very substantial part of the platform/app. Ok, I apparently missed just how much they actually seem to mirror Peacock on the network TV streaming front -- it just isn't nearly as prominent and in-your-face as w/ Peacock, LOL, though the UI for it (at least the web version) also seems quite obnoxiously offensive in different ways than Peacock.

But still, even Peacock at least tells you what stuff are "Leaving Soon" on their app/site (and even actually gives a countdown on each such content's main page)...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

Though I also feel like because it is a streamed program, and there was a time when the streamers wanted content, they’d leave the shows on the service for the viewer to still watch. Perhaps it’s a matter of clearing room to add new programming. You’d think though they could create a section for shows that are now legacy. Especially because this is a Star Trek show, it should join the legacy Star Trek shows.

The issue is that as long as they are made accessible, and occasionally get watched, Paramount (or whoever else the streamer might be) must pay residuals to the actors, directors, writers, etc. By taking them off their servers, they avoid this cost. This has become one of the sticky points in the guilds' negotations with studios and streamers.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The issue is that as long as they are made accessible, and occasionally get watched, Paramount (or whoever else the streamer might be) must pay residuals to the actors, directors, writers, etc. By taking them off their servers, they avoid this cost. This has become one of the sticky points in the guilds' negotations with studios and streamers.

That’s exactly it. And with that being the lay of the land, some of the comments here that seem to want it both ways don’t necessarily seem entirely fair. If someone hasn’t found the time to watch this show since it debuted in October 2021, I don’t think Paramount+ can necessarily be blamed for interpreting that as lack of interest and not being willing to pay residuals in perpetuity for something that isn’t being watched.

I also want to again repeat that while Paramount+ (the streaming service) has canceled the show, Paramount (the studio) hasn’t, and is actively looking for a new home for the season 2 that is all but completed. And then there’s the matter that Paramount Home Entertainment will almost certainly release the remaining season 1 episodes on disc, as there has yet to be a Trek film or show that they haven’t. Unfortunately, because all three of these entities share the same name, some people are reading the news that the streaming service has canceled the show and (understandably) interpreting that to mean that the studio has pulled the plugs on the season 2 episodes and canceled future disc releases, and that’s not accurate either.

Prodigy originally wasn’t going to be on P+ at all. It might have been better had it not. There’s too wide a gulf between how children’s programming is traditionally made and broadcast for cable networks and how streaming originals are distributed, and it doesn’t seem like this wound up being a good fit.