16 fantastic shows that have been inexplicably yanked from their streaming services

Removed from: NetflixWhat happened: It’s hard not to look at the plot of as a metaphor for the show itself. The comedy follows Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) as he tries to salvage his currently jailed father’s company via a new housing development, the model home of which is basically held together with Scotch tape and chewing gum. Michael tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to court new investors, much like the show did after Fox canceled it in 2006 after three seasons. Seven years later, Netflix revived it for two increasingly troubled seasons. Four years after that, in March 2023, Netflix removed the show and shipped the first three seasons off to Hulu.Can I watch it anywhere else? Seasons one through three are streaming on . are available on DVD, but not Blu-ray. Season five isn’t available anywhere.

Removed from: StarzWhat happened: Despite strong reviews, never pulled in a huge audience. The costume drama about the teenage years of Queen Elizabeth I provided a new perspective on the English royal, but the audience was so small Starz couldn’t justify keeping it around. Starz canceled the show after one season in 2022, and removed it from its streaming service just a few months later in January 2023.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of the full season and individual episodes on , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: This adorable children’s show came from Sesame Workshop, the creator of Sesame Street. follows the titular duo, a 9-year-old girl and her best friend who just happens to be a monster, as they help other monsters solve their problems by playing fun and unique games. But even Sesame Street’s pedigree couldn’t save Esme & Roy from cancelation after just two seasons, and HBO removed it from streaming in August 2022.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of both seasons or individual episodes on , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: , which aired for three seasons in 2020-2021, follows the goofy adventures of Seth, a mushroom person living in a mushroom town with a dinosaur friend, and it’s as delightfully weird as it sounds. The voice cast includes Jennifer Coolidge and Sam Richardson, both of whom are clearly having a ball, and the show was beloved kids and parents alike. But even all those positives couldn’t save it from in August 2022, when it was removed from streaming.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of all three seasons on , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: was a rare thing on television, let alone on HBO: a family comedy centering the experience of Latinx immigrants. It debuted to incredibly strong reviews in June 2022, but was . In a statement, said it canceled the show because “Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future,” but it’s tough not to take the loss of this one especially hard, given that there are so few stories like this on TV. The least HBO could have done was allow it to stick around on HBO Max, but even that was apparently asking too much, as the streaming service removed The Gordita Chronicles in December 2022.Can I watch it anywhere else?  says it might still be available on American Airlines and JetBlue flights. You’re out of luck if you’re not 36,000 feet in the air, though.

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: pulled off the near-impossible but always welcome trick of being a kid’s show that’s not a chore for adults to watch. In fact, it’s worth checking out even if you don’t have kids, and that’s thanks to its weird, engaging plot. The series takes place on a seemingly endless train that’s in constant motion, and the train’s inhabitants move from car to car by overcoming challenges and puzzles that also help them deal with things like grief and trauma. It absolutely shouldn’t work, but it really, really does, and that’s why it’s such a shame that HBO not only canceled Infinity Train after four seasons, but also removed the show from its streaming platform.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of all four seasons or individual episodes on , , , or .

Removed from: ShowtimeWhat happened? Just one week after Showtime announced the cancelation of , the network also removed the show from its streaming platform. News of Generation Q’s cancelation came at the same time as a report that Showtime is working on a New York-set reboot for , with original series creator Ilene Chaiken involved. Chaiken handed over full creative control of Generation Q to Marja-Lewis Ryan, and it was occasionally met with criticism over its reliance on negative stereotypes.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of all three seasons or individual episodes on , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: Love Life is an anthology series that follows the romantic entanglements of a different character each season. The first season tracks Darby (Anna Kendrick), and the second follows Marcus (William Jackson Harper). While Kendrick’s season drew middling reviews, Harper’s season is where the show really hit its stride. Funny, engaging, and actually delivering on the “romantic” part of “romantic comedy,” the show had a lot of potential, but HBO unceremoniously canceled it and removed it from streaming in December 2022.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of both seasons or individual episodes on , , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: is a dark sci-fi comedy-drama that stars Cristin Milioti as Hazel Green, a tech billionaire’s wife trying to separate from him after an unhappy marriage. He’s put a device in her head that allows him to track her exact location and even see her live, which sounds horrifying—and it really is!—but Milioti manages to convey the dark humor of the situation. It should’ve been the show to finally make her a breakout star, but instead it was canceled far too early, like many of her other TV projects. And now, you can’t even watch it anywhere, making the whole situation even worse.Can I watch it anywhere else? Nope.

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: somehow got a worse deal than most of the other shows on the list, which is almost impressive, given how many series creators were left in the lurch by sudden cancelations and removals. The show, a delightful comedy set in the 1970s that follows Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond) as she sets out to create the world’s first erotic magazine for women, was actually while the second season was in production. At least that made it a no-brainer for Starz to step in and rescue the series, though.Can I watch it anywhere else? Not yet, but it should be on soon.

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: stars Kathryn Hahn (which should already clue you in to its quality) as Eve, a divorced mom whose only child has just gone off to college. Eve experiences a sexual reawakening, dating around, flirting with younger people, and giving herself permission to finally embrace her sexuality. The show was billed as a limited series, so it’s not a huge surprise that it never got a second season, but it’s still a lovely, empowering series that deserves to be seen. Unfortunately, that can’t happen right now, because HBO removed it from streaming and it’s not available to watch anywhere else.Can I watch it anywhere else? Nope.

Removed from: ShowtimeWhat happened: In , Kirsten Dunst absolutely nails her portrayal of Krystal, a woman clawing her way to the top of a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme. It’s got alligators, waterslides, and an ATV used as a commuting vehicle; it’s a deeply weird show, the kind that comes around only once every few years. Showtime initially renewed it for a second season in 2019, but canceled that renewal in 2020 after the pandemic hit. Three years later, it from its streaming platform entirely, as part of a move to “divert investment away from areas that are underperforming.”Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of the whole series or individual episodes on , , or .

Removed from: HBO MaxWhat happened: is a TV adaptation of Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 film of the same name, and it’s the second show on this list about a huge, perpetually moving train. Snowpiercer is more concerned with class warfare than internal struggles, though. This makes sense, given that the train’s passengers—every human left alive after an apocalyptic event causes the earth to become covered in snow and ice—are divided into cars based on rigid social classes. The show aired its first three seasons on TNT, though there was a moment when it seemed like it would be shipped off to TBS. Snowpiercer was available for streaming on HBO Max until sometime around June 2022, when it mysteriously disappeared from the service. Then, January 2023 brought the both clarifying and confounding news that, though season four was fully complete, . The show is reportedly being shopped to other networks, but so far, no one’s picked it up.Can I watch it anywhere else? All three seasons are available to stream on , if you’ve got a Spectrum cable subscription.

Removed from: ShowtimeWhat happened: The disappearance of Super Pumped is weird, given that season one got a relatively big (by Showtime standards, anyway) marketing push. Narrated by Quentin Tarantino and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, the show is a Social Network-esque tale of Silicon Valley excess. Season one focused on Uber, and season two was set to tackle Facebook, until Showtime pulled the series from its streaming network in January 2023, offering no explanation about whether or not they’d still be producing season two.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of the full series or individual episodes on , , or .

Removed from: Paramount+What happened: Jordan Peele’s fresh take on should’ve been a much bigger deal than it was, and its impact was likely lessened by the fact that it premiered on CBS All Access (which later rebranded to Paramount+). This was the early days of networks branching off into their own streaming services instead of selling everything to Netflix and Hulu, and a lot of the early shows on the new streamers struggled. The Twilight Zone lasted only two seasons, never really reaching its full potential before being canceled in 2020. In February 2023, Paramount+ removed it from the platform entirely.Can I watch it anywhere else? You can buy a digital copy of both seasons and individual episodes on , , , or .