Here’s Why Dangerous Liaisons Was Canceled After One Season
“Dangerous Liaisons” is the second period drama to be canceled at Starz, after “Becoming Elizabeth,” another new series, was axed last month. The show is produced by Lionsgate TV, Playground Entertainment, and Flame Ventures — and the film and TV studio has clearly been paying attention to their books ahead of their split from Starz next year.
This is just the latest in a series of harmful studio choices made recently that seem to be a signifier of the streaming bubble finally popping. HBO canceled “Westworld” and “Love Life” with their full projects being removed from the streaming app next month — and those aren’t even the first of the terrible “vanishings” of film and TV projects over the last few months. It appears that streamers are starting to realize that removing multiple avenues to make money on a project — for example, physical media sales, theatrical sales, and more — and leaving that mainly up to subscriber fees isn’t exactly the most sustainable business model when you’re producing tons of high-budget work. That all said, completely vanishing projects that tons of folks worked hard on with the intentions of creating tax write-offs and removing the responsibility to pay residuals isn’t the solution, nor is employing a senior team who uninterested in the kind of programming your brand is famous for. And frankly, all these cancellations and removals are upsetting people, and that’s not a good look for any of these companies.
“Dangerous Liaisons” was created by Harriet Warner, who also wrote the series alongside Coline Abert, James Dormer, and Rita Kalnejais. She also executive produced alongside Bethan Jones, Scott Huff, Christopher Hampton, Colin Callender for Playground Entertainment, and Tony Krantz for Flame Ventures, with Barney Reisz producing.
