Paramount Trolls Netflix Over Fumbling ‘Detroiters’ Release

Detroiters is one of the funniest shows of the past decade, and now it’s finally available on Netflix — but only after Netflix seemingly pissed off every single Detroiters fan on the internet. 

After previously announcing that the Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson-starring show would be available on their service (which also produces Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave) beginning on October 15th, Netflix quietly deleted those announcements and never added the show to their library that day.

As we previously mentioned, people were extremely ticked off, especially since absolutely no explanation was given for the apparent change of plans. It seemed to many fans as though Netflix was ignoring the controversy and betting that the issue would go away — so basically the big tech equivalent of hiding in your home with the blinds closed, hoping that Mormon missionaries will get tired of ringing your doorbell. 

Detroit’s Local 4 News even branded Netflix as their “Chump of the Week,” in reference to the show’s fictional TV news segment featuring real-life Detroit broadcaster Mort Crim, as did a number of irate fans.

Meanwhile, Paramount+, which was already streaming the show, took the opportunity to implicitly dunk on Netflix by posting that they “found” Detroiters and it was “at the bar.” Pretty sick burn for a streaming service most of us forgot existed. 

If the outrage over the Detroiters rollout proves anything, it’s that A) people genuinely love the show; and B) absolutely nobody wants to subscribe to Paramount+ for any reason, even despite the fact that it contains Detroiters, and is the home of infrequent South Park content, the continuing adventures of Frasier Crane and an entire series about Sonic the Hedgehog’s buddy Knuckles for some reason.

It’s also legitimately weird that Netflix hasn’t issued any kind of explanation or apology as to what the fuck happened with the delay.

I mean, it’s one thing for Netflix to delay the release date of a title, but to delete the posts announcing the release, without providing any further clarification, is just creepy. Some fans even complained to the company, whose reps tried to gaslight them into thinking that Netflix had never planned to make Detroiters available on their platform.

Making this situation all the more frustrating, Comedy Central never released Detroiters on DVD, or physical media of any kind (not even so much as a LaserDisc). Which means that people who want to watch the show (legally) are still forced to abide by the whims of vaguely defined corporate nonsense, which has sadly become the norm in the streaming age. 

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