After years of waiting, one of Disney+'s biggest purged TV shows is getting a re-release from the House of Mouse. As part of the Disney-owned streamer's launch window, the iconic Hollywood studio presented fans with a handful of original programming to entice audiences to try its streaming offering. Some of these titles were more successful than others. These lackluster results led the streamer to reevaluate its initial slate, cutting a good chunk of its Disney+ originals several years after launch.
One of these abandoned streaming projects was Turner & Hooch, a legacy sequel/reboot of the classic Tom Hanks buddy-cop adventure about a U.S. Marshal and his dog investigating the death of his father. The Turner & Hooch TV series debuted in June 2021 as part of Disney+'s second wave of original programming, before it was removed from the service in May 2023.
However, nearly three years after it was put on ice, the Josh Peck-led streaming romp is back. As of January 1, Turner & Hooch has reappeared on the faith-and-family-focused streaming platform The Wonder Project (via Josh Shepard on X). All 12 episodes are now available on the Amazon Prime Video add-on channel.
This marks the first time the series has been available to stream since it was purged from the Disney+ library. The Wonder Project previously licensed Disney+'s The Mysterious Benedict Society, another abandoned Disney+ series that was a part of the streamer's massive May 2023 catalog culling.
The Turner & Hooch release may signal a broader agreement between the faith-based streamer and Disney, allowing these vaulted streaming projects to find a new home outside the Disney+ platform.
Turner & Hooch starred former Drake & Josh actor Josh Peck as Scott Turner Jr., a 'by-the-book' U.S. Marshal whose heart is opened after inheriting an unruly French Mastiff. The project was released as one of several classic Disney titles that made their return as part of the Disney+ catalog. These included other legacy sequel/reboot streaming titles, such as Lucasfilm's Willow and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.
Turner & Hooch Gets Its Day in the Sun
It has been interesting to see these thought-to-be-dead Disney+ projects revived by The Wonder Project over the last six months or so. The faith-based streaming service has now brought back two purged Disney+ series after it was thought they would never be seen again.
When Turner & Hooch was cut from the Disney-owned platform in May 2023, it was assumed that was it. The House of Mouse was calling it quits on one of its major streaming plays (among the handful of Disney+ original titles removed from the service at the same time).
However, it is back now, and it may finally be time for the series to get its due. It is not as though Turner & Hooch was a critical darling when it was released. The series sits at a dismal 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. But this is more of a statement of preservation. Before this latest turn of events, there was simply no legal way to watch the Josh Peck-led comedy.
In this streaming landscape, platform holders can essentially expunge original streaming content from the public record, which is a media preservation nightmare. By taking Turner & Hooch off the streamer, hundreds of people's hard work was blinked out of existence, giving them nothing to show for it.
Now, at least the series, no matter how you feel about it, has a place to hang its hat.
