The long-embattled Heathers TV reboot has been hit with another hurdle: the Paramount Network, where the show was supposed to air, has decided to drop the series.
The show, based on the 1988 cult classic about a pair of high schoolers who murder their classmates, has already had a tumultuous run — despite the fact that it has yet to actually be shown on television. Heathers was initially supposed to start airing its first season on March 7, but the network delayed its release to July 10 after the Parkland shooting in February. Now, the Paramount Network and Viacom (which owns the network) are shopping the series around to new networks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The decision was due, in large part, to the increasing visibility of school shootings — which play a large part in the original movie and, presumably, the TV reboot.
“This company can't be speaking out of both sides of its mouth, saying the youth movement is important for us and we've done all these wonderful things to support that and at the same time, we're putting on a show that we're not comfortable with," Keith Cox, Paramount Network’s president of development and production, told THR.
According to THR, many of the show’s cast members are “relieved” that the series may never be aired. This may be because reboot was not well-received by those who did get to see it. The show, which currently has a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was criticized for its bisexual erasure, overall lack of focus, and ultimate lack of understanding of what teens in 2018 are actually like.
Because the show’s creators are shopping Heathers (which, according to THR, already has most of its second season written) to other networks, it is still possible that it could be picked up. So, there is technically still some hope for the show.
But what this Heathers reboot ordeal shows is something that television executives maybe could have caught onto a little bit earlier: in 2018, irreverent jokes about bringing bombs and guns to a high school may not play quite as well as they did in 1988.