Paramount Plus scrapped Breaking Bad star’s TV show, and fans are furious

Paramount Plus once had a TV show involving a major Breaking Bad star on their hands, but they let it go for one very annoying reason.

Just days after finding out that the Netflix algorithm ended up cancelling a potential sequel for A Knight’s Tale, it’s just been revealed that Paramount Plus killed an incredible-sounding TV show for a similar reason. This time, it was a cult-centered comedy starring Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk and Arrested Development’s David Cross.

Speaking on the Whiskey Ginger podcast, David Cross revealed that the show Guru Nation — which was written by both Cross and Odenkirk — got caught in a bidding war between four different networks. Eventually, they opted for the Paramount Plus streaming service.

“We went with Paramount Plus,” Cross said, “And we wrote up the first four episodes and then a really specific, extensive bible for the last four — all of which we had pitched, like, ‘Here’s the story, here are the characters and here’s how it would work’. And then they said no, which was weird because it was what we pitched.”

According to Cross, the main reason for Paramount Plus dropping the show was due to the “marketing and analytics department not getting it, not wanting it.” As such, he said that the whole event was a reminder that “they have all the f**king power!” He added: “If the marketing department doesn’t have the imagination to take a preexisting idea, and figure out […] how to sell it, then they can say no.”

Guru Nation was announced back in 2022, and was said to be a docu-style eight-episode comedy that would follow two rival cult gurus competing against each other while manipulating their followers. Frankly, this sounds like an incredible concept.

With some of the best documentaries covering the subject of cults, and both Odenkirk and Cross being the comedy-centric duo they are, this might have had potential to be a real hit. It seems that fans think so too, with many taking to social media to express their annoyance.

“This sounds hilarious we’ve actually been robbed,” said one X user. Another wrote: “Feel like we missed out on something really special.”

“A legit insane lose for the dumbest reason of all time,” said a third.

Another added: “I’m sorry but this is the greatest TV pitch I’ve ever heard and we should all be angry it’s not happening.”

Unfortunately, we won’t know what the end result could have been, unless the show ever gets picked up by another network again.

While we keep our fingers crossed, check out our guide to all the best new TV to watch on streaming this month. (Ones that actually ended up working out!)