No More NOLA King? What’s Going On at Paramount+?

The very last thing I ever want is bad news about content I love.

Add to the fact that this news comes from one of the few streamers that also carries on (successfully, I might add) with weekly releases and with (for as long as it lasts) TV’s most successful producer, and I’m downright angry.

So, what’s going on at Paramount+? Sadly, I don’t really know, but we’re going to talk about it anyway.

This comes after receiving the latest newsletter from Puck, a publication filled with people who have their ears to every wall in Hollywood.

Back in the olden days of Taylor Sheridan news, when Yellowstone was on top of the world, they were the first to reveal the increasingly dramatic kerfuffle between Sheridan and Kevin Costner.

We all know how that turned out.

They were also the first to announce that Sheridan’s relationship with new Paramount+ owner David Ellison was subpar, and even worse for fans of Sheridan’s P+ shows, the first to reveal that he had been successfully courted away from the streamer to Peacock.

It’s mind-boggling that anyone in this business would drop the ball on a relationship as fruitful as the one between Sheridan and Paramount, which spawned such shows as Yellowstone, 1923, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Landman, and the upcoming Michelle Pfeiffer spinoff, The Madison.

If you look at Paramount+ otherwise, there is very little to celebrate.

The latest Star Trek endeavors haven’t won over audiences, and NCIS: Tony & Ziva was canceled after one season.

Yes, MobLand was a success, but I’d counter that without Sheridan’s work dominating the platform, it might not have gotten the green light. It feels Sheridanesque, which is a compliment to creator Ronan Bennett (who also has The Day of the Jackal at… Peacock).

School Spirits is excellent, but it had to run on Netflix before it found a rabid audience.

Yes, the same Netflix that took the Warner Bros. deal away from Ellison and Paramount.

Why people have decided that Netflix is the only streamer they turn to for content is another story entirely. I mean, really, why? Why do you?

Ellison brought on past Netflix producer Cindy Holland as Chair of Direct-to-Consumer for Paramount, overseeing P+ and Pluto content.

Granted, she’s got some good titles under her belt, everything from Jessica Jones and Daredevil to Stranger Things and Sirens, but she’s got a binge-format background, which is not good news.

She is also partly responsible for the Sheridan relationship falling apart. She just doesn’t seem to want to be in business with him.

Apparently, it was she who made the call to end Mayor of Kingstown, which Sheridan didn’t want to do, and to cut the episode count from ten to eight for the final season.

She hasn’t ordered another Sheridan show since she came on board last year, and Sheridan has three years left with the streamer.

Holland is also not content with the current rollout strategy.

Does that mean moving the release of Sheridan shows into a window beyond the one-year we’ve become accustomed to, or moving to a binge format?

If either or both, I expect to see a photo of Holland without a nose soon. Cutting off your nose to spite your face isn’t a wise move in this business.

Top it all off with the rumor (it hasn’t been confirmed) that NOLA King is now called Frisco King, and I’m left scratching my head. What the hell?

NOLA King, starring Samuel L. Jackson, is a whole vibe in its name. It suits Jackson to a T. It suits the character we met on Tulsa King.

Meanwhile, Frisco King brings up connotations of big cowboys on tiny horses shooting cap guns in the dust.

Is Holland asleep at the wheel?

Look, I know I complained the entire way through Landman Season 2. It was not what I wanted. However, its audience increased 50% season over season. I would expect the finale numbers to have shattered expectations.

Taylor Sheridan has the “it” factor. He writes middle-of-the-road content that viewers on both sides of the aisle embrace. His series grow from week to week, season to season. His content is franchise gold.

But Ellison picked Holland to steer the ship; they ran into an iceberg, and they are letting the ship sink.

They will never be Netflix. They shouldn’t even be trying. Some of us really don’t like Netflix, and we’re saddened that it will soon be the home to Warner Bros. and HBO.

I’m not sure Paramount+ can exist without Sheridan. He doesn’t just deliver hit shows — he gives the streamer a creative identity and a point of view.

That identity is what draws top-tier talent in the first place, and it’s what keeps audiences coming back week after week instead of sampling once and disappearing.

It’s a gift no other streaming platform has, and instead of nurturing it and using it to grow, Paramount+ let it go.

It’s hard to wrap your head around what’s happening at Paramount+, but this wasn’t an accident. It was a choice.