David Zaslav continues his grudge against the word “West.”
If there’s one lesson that Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service, has taught viewers since its 2020 launch, it’s that nothing is forever. Sure, shows can come and go on other services as rights shift, but Netflix originals, as a rule, are on the service for good. On Max, however, anything is possible. Fans learned this the hard way in 2022 when a slew of original shows — including hits like Westworld — were unceremoniously removed from streaming.
Now, this ruthless deletion policy has been extended to the Max’s back catalog, demonstrating a reminder that in the age of streaming, nothing is permanent.
UPDATE 1/8: The West Wing has been added to Max as quietly as it has been erased. It’s a satisfied ending, but the grim truth remains.
The west wing was a good fortune during its seven seasons, winning 26 Emmy awards.
From 1999 to 2006, Warner Bros. Television produced The West Wing, a drama set in the White House. Created by Aaron Sorkin, it was a hit that had a huge influence on modern television, most notably for popularizing the “walk-and-talk,” a long, unbroken shot where two characters can have an exposition-filled conversation without looking boring. There are walk-and-talks all throughout Game of Thrones, for example, so you have The West Wing to thank/blame for all that expository strolling through the gardens of King’s Landing.
The western wing has a basis of hardcore enthusiasts and deserves to be a main attraction for Max, however, as the calendar has verified the new year, it was erased without rite of the service; He has never received a “license soon” label. According to the Oliver Darcy prestige bulletin, the program was eliminated as a “cost reduction” measure. Now you want to buy the stations digitally, be it to explore the Blu-ray box.
Although it is possible, some other streamer will take western fences to the future, it is a hard truth for all transmission users. No series, in a specific HBO and Max series, is not immune to virtual oblivion, whether a license show or an original.
The rupture of Le Penguin Cristin Milioti in the past played in the HBO Max Made for Love series, which now has nothing to do.
Such reckless, short-sighted decisions have had ripple effects. Cristin Milioti, for example, garnered acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Sofia Gigante on The Penguin, but it wasn’t the first time she starred in a Max series. In 2021, she led the sci-fi series Made for Love, but after it was removed from Max in 2023, it’s not even available to purchase legally. Penguin fans impressed by her performance could have binged this series — and potentially subscribed to Max for longer — but that’s no longer possible.
There’s no telling what show will be next on the chopping block, but this latest update is a reminder not to take any streaming series for granted. Back in the day, a series would at least get occasional reruns, and unless it was a total flop, it likely got a physical release, too. Now, a show pulled from streaming can simply become unavailable forever, even if that decision hurts fans. Like anything else in life, enjoy what you’ve got while you have it.
This article was first published on January 7, 2025