5 Decisions Warner Bros. Discovery Boss David Zaslav Should Undo Next

Michael Ausiello
·3 min read
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Warner Bros. Discovery Boss David Zaslav’s decision Tuesday to oust CNN boss Chris Licht represents the embattled exec’s first major about-face since ascending to the merged conglomerate’s CEO post two years ago. On the off chance that the newly contrite Zaslav remains in mea culpa mode for another day or so, we are appealing to the Hollywood mogul to undo a few of his other controversial decisions.

RELEASE BATGIRL! The decision last August to shelve the nearly-complete Batgirl movie — which was intended to bypass theaters and premiere on HBO Max — sent shockwaves through Hollywood. “We’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it,” Zaslav explained. “Particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot and we want to elevate and we want to focus.” We say release the pic and let audiences determine its worth.

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GIVE US MORE CHAD! Last July, just hours ahead of the Season 2 premiere of Nasim Pedrad’s promising single-camera comedy, WBD cabler TBS announced that it was pulling the series off the schedule — permanently. The lost episodes were eventually rescued by Roku (premiere date TBD), but Zaslav could save face by ordering a third season and moving the underrated series to HBO Max.

REVIVE SAM BEE! TBS’ scripted exodus continued last July with the cancellation of Bee’s Full Frontal after seven seasons, depriving late-night of one of its few female voices (at a time when we desperately need them). With the 2024 election on the horizon, a triumphant return by Bee would be most welcome.

UN-CANCEL GORDITA CHRONICLES! The family comedy’s demise last July after one season was part of a larger move away from live-action family programming at HBO Max. Adding insult to further cost-cutting injury, Season 1 of the series — which centered on a Dominican girl growing up in the 1980s — vanished from the streamer four months later. As showrunner Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz lamented to Rolling Stone in March, “It felt very unjust. It didn’t matter that our show was beloved, it didn’t matter that we had good audience numbers. It didn’t matter that we were writing about content that was important for underrepresented communities. None of that mattered.” Note to Zaslav: Give us Season 1 back and, while you’re at it, commission a Season 2.

REACTIVATE WONDER TWINS! The straight-to-HBO Max movie, which was to star KJ Apa (Riverdale) and Isabel May(1883) as the iconic DC Comics duo, fell out of development last May — just one month after the project was announced. The project’s steep $75 million price tag was to blame. Here’s a thought: Put the packed-with-potential IP back into development, but as an HBO Max series.

What other “mistakes” do you think Zaslav should fix? Tell us in the comments!

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