The other day, another show was removed from the streaming platform to save money. Earlier Friday, Paramount+ turned off Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and Star Trek: Prodigy, Queen of the UniverseAnd A game, becoming the latest streaming service to write off content for removing content from its catalog. After the decision Rise of the Pink Ladies creator Annabelle Oakes took to social media to criticize the move to not only cancel the series, but “brutally” make it unwatchable unless it finds a new home.
Released earlier this year, Rise of the Pink Ladies was a prequel to the classic musical Lubricant and traced the origins of the titled Pink Ladies, a cabal at Rydell High made up of four fed-up outcasts ready to rock the world with big performances. In the series, set in 1954, before the T-Birds ruled the school, Jane (Marisa Davila), Olivia (Chaine Isabelle Wells), Cynthia (Ari Notartomaso), Nancy (Trisha Fukuhara) found the group and took over the halls of Rydell High, causing a moral panic that would forever change the very fabric of school culture. Oakes was commissioned to bring the series together as one of several attempts by Paramount to revisit iconic franchises on the small screen.
“I’m sorry to say it’s true. @riseofthepinkladies has been canceled,” she wrote in her Instagram stories. Cancellation is one thing, but like creatives before it who saw their work thrown away for money, the removal was the really annoying part. “A particularly brutal move was to remove him from @paramountplus next week, and if he doesn’t find a new home, you won’t be able to watch him anywhere else. The cast, my creative partners and I are all devastated by this complete erasure of our show.” Paramount is currently buying the series.
Removal Rise of the Pink Ladies Continues the depressing trend in the industry
Again, this is hardly anything new. Warner Bros. Discovery made the technique popular by removing a wide range of content from HBO Max, including many animated, children’s and family series. Disney joined the massacre earlier this year when it gutted a roster of shows, including Willow And The Secret Society of Benedict among other things. What definitely stings about being removed Rise of the Pink Ladieshowever, this is what happened during pride month. The series has been praised for representing LGBTQ+ both on and off screen, with Notartomaso, a non-binary actor, playing Lubricantthe first openly LGBTQ+ character, Cynthia, who found her place in Rydell thanks to the Pink Ladies. Justin Tranterexecutive music producer of the series, also non-binary.
Oakes thanked fans for their support of the series, assuring that even once Rise of the Pink Ladies gone, the music remains. “I liked your art, your tik toks and even, especially your wild fanfic and spikes,” she continued. “People are already sending in messages and videos about how much the show means to them and I love hearing and seeing them.”
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies still available on Paramount+, but not for long. There is no guarantee that the series will find a new home, so this may be the last chance to see it legally. “The first thing we’d like to do is get you to watch the show before it ends,” Oakes finished. Check out the trailer for the series below.
Source: Collider
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