John Johnson/HBO
Still mourning the loss of FBoy Island? So are we—especially after Warner Bros. Discovery threw it into a black hole with all its other canceled shows by removing the title from HBO Max’s streaming library. But today brings good news for fans of America’s greatest dating show, and for fans of other now-defunct WBD series like Westworld. Those and many, many more titles are headed to Tubi and Roku, per The Hollywood Reporter.
It seems this has been the plan for series like Westworld at least since last winter, when Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav promised Warner Bros. Discovery would soon be “aggressively attacking” the growing free, ad-supported television (FAST) space—in other words, streaming services that charge no monthly subscription fee but do rely on ads—with more of its titles. Last winter, WarnerMedia and Discovery unceremoniously axed dozens of series and films as they merged. Those titles were subsequently removed from the new company’s streaming platforms—which ensured it would avoid paying residuals to their producers and stars.
The creators of these productions might feel some relief now that their work will at least be available to watch again, but the timing of this news—just as the Writer’s Guild of America prepares for a possible strike, and as some creators are renewing their cries against Warner Bros. Discovery’s maneuvers last year—is a good reminder that these titles are only technically “free” because both fans and workers already paid a price.