David Cross Says His Paramount+ Series With Bob Odenkirk Was Dropped Because ‘Marketing and Analytics’ Rejected It: ‘They Have All the F—ing Power’

By Ethan Shanfeld

David Cross and Bob Odenkirk made headlines in 2022 when they announced plans to reunite for the docu-style Paramount+ comedy “Guru Nation,” in which the “Mr. Show” masterminds were cast as rival cult gurus manipulating the minds of their deluded followers. On a recent podcast appearance, Cross said he believed that their Paramount+ series, which was in early development at Paramount Television Studios, was scrapped because the “marketing and analytics department” rejected it.

Cross and Odenkirk wrote and developed the show, which would have been an eight-episode limited series. He said the show’s pitch ignited a bidding war between four different networks.

“We went with Paramount+, and we wrote up the first four episodes and then a really specific, extensive bible for the last four — all of which we had pitched, like, ‘Here’s the story, here are the characters and here’s how it would work,’” Cross said on a March episode of Andrew Santino’s “Whiskey Ginger” podcast. “And then they said no, which was weird because it was what we pitched.”

Cross went on to say that the reason Paramount+ scrapped the series was because of the “marketing and analytics department not getting it, not wanting it.”

Cross said he learned early on in his career how much influence the marketing department has over development decisions, and that what happened to their show is “an ugly reminder” that “they have all the fucking power!”

Cross continued, “If the marketing department doesn’t have the imagination to take a preexisting idea, and figure out […] how to sell it, then they can say no.”

Variety has contacted Paramount+ and a representative for Cross for comment.

Watch Cross’ full appearance on “Whiskey Ginger” below.