Showtime Scraps 4 Shows
As Showtime gets comfortable amidst its merger with Paramount+, the network has swung the ax and scraps a total of four shows, two of which were still in development, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Homeland duo Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa were preparing for the Gattaca reboot, but that, unfortunately, is one of the shows that has been passed on. Comedy Seasoned, which had a series order and was inspired by the lives of Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, has gotten a reverse order, meaning that it is also no longer happening. Split and Sweetness round out the group, as the two were previously in development.
It's not all bad news, however, as the studio behind Gattaca and Sweetness, Sony Pictures Television, reportedly plans to shop both projects in the hopes of getting them new homes. From Emerald Fennell, Sweetness was a female-driven anthology and would have revolved around a town of grieving widows and other women who may not be all that they seem like. Meanwhile, Craig Borten was attached to Gattaca to adapt the 1997 dystopian movie of the same name with Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. While it initially looked like it had a lot of support from Paramount Global, that ended up not being the case.
Seasoned had a six-episode series order at Showtime and comes from Jax Media. Gideon Grody-Patinkin and Ewen Wright co-created the series and even co-wrote the pilot, which would have focused on the "delightfully tumultuous relationship and life of a successful, gregarious, deeply committed, slightly insane married couple." Last but certainly not least, Split was a thriller and a double-agent genre that was built around the double life of Josh Solomon. It's unknown whether Seasoned and Split will be shopped elsewhere.
The reasoning for the axes is that Showtime will put its focus on investing in properties that the network owns rather than licensed content under Paramount exec Chris McCarthy. The four shows add on to the growing list of content that Showtime has reviewed, canceled, and passed on since his arrival, including Three Women, The L Word: Generation Q, I Love You for That, and more. McCarthy plans on focus content on Showtime in anti-heroes, powerful worlds, and diverse cultures.
Many networks and platforms have been reviewing their content and, unfortunately, canceling a lot of shows, with some even removing content in a content purge. It's definitely a disappointment that these shows won't be premiering on Showtime anymore, but there is still hope that one or some could find new life elsewhere.