Dean Lorey, the creator behind the series Big Shot, starring John Stamos, spoke out about how Disney purged Big Shot and many other series from Disney+, leaving nowhere for audiences to watch it legally.
Big Shot followed John Stamos’ Marvyn Korn, a hothead coach who gets fired from his job leading the basketball team at the University of Wisconsin. One thing leads to another, and Korn soon finds himself across the country coaching a basketball team of elite high school girls.
As of writing, the project is sitting at a 78% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 87% audience score.
While it was previously streaming on Disney+, as part of cost-saving measures by Disney CEO’s Bob Iger, it was removed from the service in 2023, two years after originally debuting.
Dean Lorey on What He Thinks About Disney+ Purging Big Shot
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim while promoting his latest animated Max series Kite-Man: Hell Yeah!, Dean Lorey shared what he thought of how Disney+ completely purged one of his other projects, Big Shot, from its service.
"I hated it," Lorey candidly admitted, adding how they "wanted people to be able to continue watching it:"
"Well, I hated it. You know, we liked the show. We wanted people to be able to continue watching it. So it's really kind of a bummer that people can't. I know that they have reasons for it. But I sure wish that it was available to watch. I mean, I guess I feel like anybody would."
The Terrible Habit of Purging Projects From Existence
Big Shot was far from the only project on the chopping block when Disney+ made that move in May 2023. Some others who were axed included the new Willow series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Just Beyond, The World According to Jeff Blum, and more.
The decision to all but wipe projects from existence has caused uneasiness and outrage from both creatives and audiences.
One of the biggest examples in recent years, and the moment that arguably started the terrible trend, was the cancelation of Batgirl by Warner Bros., despite it being wholly filmed. The live-action Looney Toons film Coyote vs. Acme was also written off for taxes recently, despite being a finished movie—so it will now never see the light of day.
While those examples are arguably worse than what happened to Big Shot and those others (since they were actually released), they are all in the same vein. It's a disgusting habit that is highly anti-consumer.
Sadly, as it currently stands, studios don't seem to have been dissuaded enough to stop. So, that means Big Shot is likely far from the last to get such treatment.
Hopefully, in the future, these companies can find better ways to make the projects available in some regards, even if they feel the need to cut them from their respective streaming services.
