Ever had a show you've been meaning to watch disappear from a streaming service?
Or have your favorite series get quashed? Cara Horton, a self-described “theater kid,” feels your pain.
“I'm getting sick of my favorite shows being canceled after one season when they're left on massive cliffhangers,” says the 15-year-old.
Horton was a big fan of the Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms, which was canceled after one season. Now it's happened to her again with Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, which was recently nominated for two Emmys.
Horton took a cue from a fellow Phantoms fan and started a petition to save the Pink Ladies. Paramount Television Studios is shopping the Grease prequel to find it a new platform. But Horton sees a trend.
“I think streaming services have forgotten that it takes a couple of seasons before a show gets big and picks up,” she laments.
Like pulling the rug out from under you
Disney turned heads recently when it removed the sci-fi teen adventure Crater, a movie that reportedly cost $53 million. It vanished from Disney+ after just two months.
Betsy Bozdech feels lucky she got to watch Crater with her two kids before it got yanked. She calls the movie “pretty emotional” and “intense.”
“It's about friendship and separation. It was a great family movie night for us,” she says.
Bozdech is the editorial director at Common Sense Media, which reviews content for kids (including Crater).
“Sort of the promise when many of these streamers launched was that you got access to the whole catalog forever,” says Bozdech. “So I think it's a little bit of a feeling of a rug being pulled out from under you.”
For creators, the streaming business is…