Following ‘Yellowstone’ Model, Showtime to Become Home to Franchises Built Around Hits Including ‘Dexter,’ ‘Billions’

After the announcement last week that Paramount Global was rebranding its premium cable channel Showtime as the clumsily named “Paramount+ with SHOWTIME,” it was obvious that changes were on the way for the network. Now, thanks to an exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal, it appears that some of those plans are coming into sharper focus.

Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and his team are reportedly planning on turning the pay-TV channel into the home for franchises born from the company’s vast archives. Showtime is already preparing expansions of the “Billions” and “Dexter” cinematic universes with new series to add to the stories told in the original incarnations, but Paramount envisions a much broader scope to Showtime’s future. The company hopes to rebuild the channel in the image and likeness of the Sheridan-verse.

Inexhaustible auteur Taylor Sheridan has been the undeniably most consistent creator in television in recent years. Starting with his breakthrough hit “Yellowstone” and then it’s multiple prequels — “1883” and “1923” — as well as non-Western themed series like “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Tulsa King.” He’s produced hit after hit for Paramount, so it’s no surprise that the company wants to pursue a similar strategy with Showtime, though Sheridan likely won’t be involved in these new series.

The announced transformation will mark a big departure for the network that was home to such prestige TV hits as “Homeland,” “Queer as Folk,” “Dead Like Me,” “Shameless,” and more. Instead of producing the unique, sometimes idiosyncratic content that Showtime became known for in the early 2000s, Paramount is focusing its expansion on content that the company knows has been a success on the channel in the more recent past. That doesn’t mean that Showtime won’t produce series outside these franchises, according to Paramount executive Chris McCarthy, but those franchises will be the cornerstones that the company builds around.

“Of course we’re going to do new shows,” McCarthy said. “But we’re going to do [originals] in a way that has a much more stable base because we’ll have these big tentpoles that bring and hold the audience.”

That will certainly help the company bring production costs down, as well as give it the peace of mind that it will be producing content that has a higher chance of becoming successful. Paramount is in the midst of streamlining its content budget, meaning that a reduced programming lineup for Showtime is just what the accountants ordered. Paramount has already cut several series from the on-demand SHOWTIME app in preparation for its merger with Paramount+.

Still, the move is an undeniable gamble for Paramount. The Sheridan-verse is successful because its shows are consistently able to bring in viewers. “Dexter” and “Billions” were popular shows, but the streaming marketplace has more content than ever, and competition for viewers is fierce. Will the creators of these new spinoffs be able to recapture what made users tune into them in the first place?

Recent history suggests that perhaps they can. “Dexter: New Blood” became the most-watched Showtime series ever when it debuted in 2021, and former “Dexter” showrunner Clyde Phillips has returned to help develop new stories. “Billions” co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien have also returned to produce new spinoffs of that franchise for Showtime and Paramount, so at least the content that the companies are leaning on most heavily will be in the hands of the creators who first brought them to fame.

It’s also worth noting that Showtime audiences are definitely more drawn to some titles than to others. New users cited the same six series as the reason they signed up for Showtime 77% of the time in 2022, while the 21 worst-performing series on the network collectively drew just 17% of all subscriptions last year.

This is a creative solution by Paramount to draw more viewers into a struggling network by offering them more of what they love. If it’s successful, it could prompt companies like Warner Bros. Discovery and others to do likewise with popular franchises on their linear networks.