--- title: Disney+'s 'Big Shot' Is a Surprisingly Lovable Sports Drama description: The platform has dozens of new Marvel and Star Wars series in the works. And yet, its most enjoyable new show isn’t part of any franchise canonical: https://time.com/5954904/big-shot-review-disney-plus/ author: Judy Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-04-16T13:32:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:51:54.002Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'Big Shot' Is a Surprisingly Lovable Disney+ Sports Drama og:description: Disney has dozens of Marvel and Star Wars series in the works, but its most enjoyable new show isn’t part of a franchise og:url: https://time.com/5954904/big-shot-review-disney-plus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7b7d5f852b85c5b/698a18b3096a942ea86a9485/154253_0275_b17caab8.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 154253_0275_b17caab8 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Big Shot' Is a Surprisingly Lovable Disney+ Sports Drama twitter:description: Disney has dozens of Marvel and Star Wars series in the works, but its most enjoyable new show isn’t part of a franchise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7b7d5f852b85c5b/698a18b3096a942ea86a9485/154253_0275_b17caab8.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Big Shot_ Is a Surprisingly Lovable Sports Drama From Franchise-Crazy Disney+  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Apr 16, 2021 1:32 PM CUT  L-R: Nell Verlaque, Tiana Le, John Stamos, Monique A. Green, Cricket Wampler and Tisha Custodio in 'Big Shot' L-R: Nell Verlaque, Tiana Le, John Stamos, Monique A. Green, Cricket Wampler and Tisha Custodio in 'Big Shot'  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Apr 16, 2021 1:32 PM CUT The universes are expanding. The cinematic universes, I mean. Disney+ got off to a [slow start](https://time.com/5728909/best-disney-plus-shows/ "undefined") with its original content rollout, relying largely, in its first year of existence, on the streaming sphere’s most voluminous archive of children’s entertainment, a few no-brainer expansions of popular brands (the [Muppets](https://time.com/5870228/muppets-now-review-disney-plus/ "undefined"), _High School Musical_), several mildly interesting unscripted series and, for the grown-ups as well as the kids, two seasons of [Baby Yoda](https://time.com/5901362/mandalorian-season-2-plot/ "undefined"). Then, in December, [Disney announced plans](https://time.com/5920421/disney-plus-netflix/ "undefined") to ramp up its TV production, stocking its digital shelves with some 50 new Marvel, _Star Wars_, Disney and Pixar series over the next few years. So far in 2021, we’ve seen two major Marvel debuts—[_WandaVision_](https://time.com/5929715/wandavision-review/ "undefined") and [_The Falcon and the Winter Soldier_](https://time.com/5947941/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-guide/ "undefined")—on top of the perfectly decent _Mighty Ducks_ sequel _Game Changers_. And yet, my favorite new Disney+ show isn’t part of any franchise. _Big Shot_, premiering April 16, stars John Stamos as Marvyn Korn, a wildly successful but notoriously temperamental college basketball coach whose NCAA career comes to an abrupt halt following an ugly chair-throwing incident. With no other employment prospects, Marvyn’s agent talks him into accepting a job at an exclusive girls’ private school in California. Not only does the gig take him thousands of miles away from his own teenage daughter, Emma (Sophia Mitri Schloss of Amazon’s _The Kicks_), who lives with her mom on the East Coast; it also requires that he control his anger. “Coaches here are not just coaches,” Marvyn’s skeptical new boss, played by the wonderful [_Community_](https://time.com/41776/community-six-seasons-movie/ "undefined") alum Yvette Nicole Brown, informs him. “They’re teachers. They’re expected to be role models.” Though it isn’t an expansion of any existing cinematic universe, many of the elements here are pretty familiar: a losing team, a parent-child relationship in need of repair, a grizzled coach who needs the experience of working with fresh-faced kids even more than those kids need him. But you don’t have to rewrite the playbook to craft a satisfying sports drama with something to offer viewers of all ages. Creators David E. Kelley (who is apparently quite fond of “big” titles these days, from [_Big Little Lies_](https://time.com/5550014/big-little-lies-season-3/ "undefined") to [_Big Sky_](https://time.com/5912447/big-sky-abc-review/ "undefined")) and Dean Lorey clearly were not trying to make the next [_Friday Night Lights_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2046052,00.html "undefined"). What they came up with instead is a modest, lighthearted, comfortingly familiar show that feels more current and less saccharine than most similar Disney titles. The charismatic cast certainly helps. Stamos may never win an Oscar, but he’s a reliably likable TV presence who makes it easy to root for a high-strung bully who’s trying to rebuild his life. (Watching the actor flip out in the show’s cold open, it struck me that [Andrew Cuomo](https://time.com/5946293/new-york-governor-cuomo-impeachment-investigation/ "undefined") would be lucky to see Stamos play him in a biopic.) The young players are just as endearing and well cast. Louise (Nell Verlaque) is the team’s mouthy star, whose superrich dad Larry (Michael Trucco, who also shared the screen with Stamos in Fox’s short-lived _Grandfathered_) financed Marvyn’s position in hopes of getting his daughter recruited for a Division I squad. My favorite performance in the three episodes provided for review was Tiana Le’s (_No Good Nick_) turn as Destiny, who forms a bond with Marvyn after she confronts him for making an insensitive comment about her weight. Kelley and Lorey smartly balance elements that will appeal to teens and adults alike, avoiding too many twee moments without going over the heads of the tweens who’ve historically been the core audience for most live-action Disney shows. Marvyn gets some believable foils in the snooty, overprotective teachers who don’t trust a notorious angry jock around their precious girls, as well as in Larry, a high-powered helicopter parent who assumes he’s bought the loyalty of the surprisingly principled new coach. There’s even a refreshingly age-appropriate, if not especially distinctive, potential love interest in the team’s assistant coach, Holly (Jessalyn Sarah Gilsig from _Glee_). The girls have their own conflicts, crushes and cliques. Out of all _Big Shot_’s small pleasures, the one I appreciate most is its generous approach to character development. The show could have forced its narrative into any number of convenient contemporary frames, casting Marvyn as a victim of [cancel culture](https://time.com/5735403/cancel-culture-is-not-real/ "undefined") or a prime example of toxic masculinity or a tough-talking boomer ready to whip some Gen Z snowflakes into shape (one already-dated trigger warning joke in the premiere notwithstanding). Instead, it does the increasingly rare work of showing us characters who slowly improve themselves, as players and as people, by engaging in good faith with other flawed but ultimately well-intentioned characters. 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