Paramount Minus
Paramount's struggles continue, while Amazon's remake hits the mark.
Paramount Lays Off 800
Just days following its airing of the Super Bowl on its linear channel CBS and streaming service Paramount+ (where I watched a disappointingly buggy Chiefs win), Paramount Global announced layoffs of 800 people, or approximately 3% of the company. The job losses included the entire team of Noggin, the Nickelodeon subscription app for kids with a reported 2.5M subscribers, which will soon be shut down. Its a dire move for Paramount, which is trying to find a future in an increasingly-streaming centric world. Paramount+ has been a success in the sense that its amassed 60M+ subscribers. But it continues to lose money ($238M in the last quarter). That’s likely motivating its reported talks with NBC to combine their two services, Peacock and Paramount+. Even combined the two services would be well behind rivals Netflix and Disney+, but it could be necessary to join up to survive as losses continue to pile up for both.
What I’m Watching: Amazon Prime Edition
Having never seen the original “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” movie, I can’t comment on how Amazon’s eight-episode series compares. I can say that I did find it amusing and relatable, even if not exactly the spy thriller I thought I was signing up for (Vox accurately described it as “an odd little marriage story disguised as a spy thriller”). Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star as the Smiths, two agents working for a mysterious company that we learn little about. And while there are several missions throughout the series, from delivering a bomb in cake form to extracting a high-profile businessman, they’re far from the focus of the series. Instead, it’s the relationship between Glover and Erskine that is the center of attention, with the two of them navigating all the same vulnerabilities of love and commitment of a non-spy relationship. The ambiguous ending may not have delivered the satisfying storyline closure I would’ve wanted, but I’d be happy to see another season.
Bonus Tip: Max Edition
I don’t know if it’s new or if I’ve just noticed it - when you hold down your remote’s select button on a show or movie on Max, it gets added to your list. Good example of smart user experience, which is frustratingly rare when it comes to streaming services.