"With the advent of the streaming era came an inherent promise: content created by streaming services would always be available to watch. But, in 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav smashed that promise with a sledgehammer and started removing original content from HBO Max. Other streamers, realizing that if Zaslav got away with it, they probably could too, followed suit. Now we're somehow living in an environment that's even more hostile to creatives and antagonistic to consumers, and we're losing access to some truly great television.
Westworld's removal made the biggest impact in the press, but it's far from the only series that's suddenly just been blinked out of existence. The infection has spread to Netflix, Showtime, Starz, and Paramount+, and it'll likely continue worming its way through even more of the series we love. Before we resign ourselves to that fate, though, let's pour one out for these great shows that have been removed from their streaming services."
