news Paramount+ and Showtime Are Merging Much Sooner Than Anyone Thought

Paramount+ and Showtime are coming together precisely one quarter earlier than expected. Paramount+ with Showtime will launch on June 27, Paramount Global said on Monday. Previously, the timing for the combination and rebrand was end of September — or the end of Q3, not Q2.

How much is one quarter worth? Well, in the first quarter of 2023 alone, this merger of services cost Paramount Global nearly $1.7 billion. In other words, it could be quite meaningful.

The Showtime OTT (over-the-top) app will be shuttered by the end of the year, Paramount said this afternoon. The linear channel will wait for that timing to rebrand with the same — though more confusing for the format — name: Paramount+ with Showtime.

As previously reported, Paramount+ with Showtime will cost $11.99 per month, up $2 from the tier’s prior pricing. The Paramount+ “Essential” plan (without Showtime) will go up $1 per month from $4.99 to $5.99.

“This summer, Paramount+ will officially become the streaming home for Showtime, further advancing our lead in being the total household service,” Tom Ryan, president & CEO of Paramount Streaming, said on Monday. “By integrating the Showtime premium and critically acclaimed portfolio with the service’s already broad and popular slate, all at a competitive price, we will solidify Paramount+ as a cornerstone in streaming.”

“From ‘Yellowjackets’ to ‘Your Honor,’ Showtime is home to big, premium, sophisticated series which will now be complemented with broad, blockbuster originals and movies in the alignment of Paramount+ with Showtime,” said Chris McCarthy, president & CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks. “Together, Paramount+ with Showtime will provide our consumers a much more rewarding experience with our vast set of unique originals and deep library of iconic shows and hit films.”

Many of those “big, premium, sophisticated series” are going to be mined for any potential remnants of gold until the pans are completely empty. Paramount+ with Showtime is planning multiple “Billions” spinoffs, “Dexter” spinoffs, more from the “Yellowstone” universe, and so on; according to Deadline, more “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie” is also on the docket.

The news of the launch date actually leaked late week via an email from Apple TV to its users that subscribe to Showtime. Per CordCutterNews.com, those consumers received an email that read: “SHOWTIME is being fully integrated into Paramount+ on or around June 27 — meaning your subscription will include even more hit movies and shows under one service, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. No action is required to enjoy the expanded benefits of this Apple TV channel.”

We’re sure Paramount enjoyed that action.
 
From ‘Yellowjackets’ to ‘Your Honor,’ Showtime is home to big, premium, sophisticated series

The only issue I have it's that it's hard to tell which ones are the premium ones, and which ones are the sophisticated ones.
 
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I do have to add here that I don't actually want a Dexter Spinoff. To clarify, I thought the new season was great, and would have been happy to watch another 3 seasons of the comeback version. However....... The writers penned a pretty noticeable death scene for Dexter, and I feel like a lot of people saw that. I mean it pretty much happened directly in front of the camera over a 3 minute period.

This leads me to believe that a Dexter Spinoff would not have Michael C Hall's Dexter in it, which is unfortunately kind of a supporting beam for the quality of the show. Every show has it's chemistry, and Dexter had great writing sometimes, a great supporting cast, and the perfectionist cinematography of Romeo Tyrone. Still, even if the spinoff had literally all those talents, except Hall, it seems unlikely that the chemistry could be recreated. Similar to Michael Chicklis's performance in the Shield, or Penn Badgely in You, it just seems to take a very special type of actor to pull off the genuinely charismatic antihero archetype.

Just to guess what horrors await me, in order of potential terribleness -

1. The Batista Chronicles

His harrowing days at Miami Metro have turned this once jocular homicide detective into a driven hunter of serial killers, but when the system releases a monster to prey on the city over a technicality, he draws inspiration from an old friend, the Bay Harbour Butcher.

2. Breaking Dad

Vince Mosuka is summarily fired from the department after a millenial on the internet sees a video of him talking for 5 seconds, literally any 5 seconds. When his daughter falls victim to a severe accident and needs millions of dollars in surgery to live, Vince is forced to become a meth cook, using his years of lab experience to become a major player in an international drug ring operating out the port of Miami.

3. Young Dexter

It's an unknown teen actor that's probably one of Richard Gere's kids, playing dexter in High school. He's killing squirells, he's getting bullied and showing how he has relateable character by not murdering them in an alley, etc. Hard to see how this one would work??????
 
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