Reboot Nation: Paramount+ Content Strategy
It may be a new year, but that doesn’t mean traditional entertainment studios have slowed down in their push to become direct to consumer juggernauts. The latest to join the fray is also one of the oldest in the new guard of streaming services – Paramount+, set to launch March 4th, is actually a rebrand of CBS All Access which originally launched back in the D2C prehistoric year of 2014.
But with a new name comes a slew of new content – and ViacomCBS showcased all of it during a corporate streaming event on February 24th, highlighting 44 new Paramount+ original series across Drama, Kids & Family, Reality, Comedy, Music, New, and Documentaries. The vast majority are reboots, remakes, and extensions of valuable IP, showcasing both the breadth and depth of ViacomCBS’s expansive brand catalog. Below are some of my favorites I’m most looking forward to in the coming year:
1. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (S6) – after a near shift with Season 5 from VH1 to Showtime, it looks like RuPaul and her squirrel friends are ready to make the jump to streaming with Season 6. The internet has been running wild with rumors on which queens will return to the Werk Room and what new twists Mother has in store, but I’m mostly wondering – will we finally be seeing the queens in all their unfiltered & uncensored glory?
2. Halo – long in development since 2013, the screen adaptation of Xbox’s popular gaming series is finally set to premiere in 2022 on Paramount+. The show will be led by Pablo Schrieber as Master Chief, a stoic and commanding helmeted presence (sound familiar?), leading humanity’s fight against the Covenant, a powerful and intimidating alien force hellbent on destroying all human life. While fans are pumped to see their favorite video game come to life, we will have to wait and see how Halo sets itself apart in a new streaming world filled with big budget sci-fi television series.
3. The Fairly Oddparents – one of my favorite Nickelodeon series growing up, Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda are set to get a live action remake on Paramount+ in the near future. It will be interesting to see how some of the more fantastical elements of the original series get translated to live action, especially following the rather hit and miss critical reactions of some of Disney’s own recent animation to live action remakes. Hopefully the team takes a cue from the uber successful Sonic the Hedgehog in celebrating what makes these characters so fun and how to marry the worlds of animation and live action.
4. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies – originally set to hit HBO Max before being brought home to Paramount+, this series produced by Paramount Television acts as a continuation of the classic musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. What was meant as a modern sequel telling the stories of the current class at Rydell high, the subtitle certainly brings a sense of drama to the proceedings – leaving me to wonder if this is actually a prequel to Sandy and Betty Rizzos’s original tale. Either way, I hope they are able to close a deal to include the original film’s classic songs, because it wouldn’t be the same without at least a few “Summer Nights”.
5. The Offer – having long been in development for Paramount+, The Offer is a limited series detailing producer Al Ruddy’s experience working on one of Paramount’s most iconic films The Godfather. Now looking for a new lead after Armie Hammer dropped out of the starring role, the series hopes to extend one of the company’s most valuable IP franchises into the modern age. If successful, I would not be surprised to see a limited series creation of another famous character involved in The Godfather’s production, Robert Evans, whose autobiography The Kid Stays In the Picture has been a mainstay read in Hollywood for decades
Which newly announce series are you most excited about? Find a full list of Paramount+ content announcements here.
