In a new interview, former Disney CEO Bob Iger opened up about his ideas that never made it to the screen — in particular, a sitcom named after a classic song by Fountains of Wayne.
“I always have ideas, or had ideas,” Iger shared with Kara Swisher of The New York Times podcast Sway. “Most of the time, I was politely laughed at. I had a title, so they couldn’t really just throw me out of the room. They had to listen . . .” When prompted to give an example, Iger said, “Oh, I don’t know. I pitched an idea for a sitcom once about a teenage kid who had a mother that was ridiculously sexy . . . They thought that was absurd.” After some persuading, the former CEO shared the proposed title of the scrapped project: “Stacy’s Mom . . . It was a bad idea,” Iger admitted. “Man, you would have been so canceled,” Swisher joked.
Iger stepped down as CEO of Disney in early 2020, with Bob Chapek named as his successor. The Disney executive assumed the role of executive chairman through 2021, after which he was replaced by Susan Arnold. “With the successful launch of Disney’s direct-to-consumer businesses and the integration of Twenty-First Century Fox well underway, I believe this is the optimal time to transition to a new CEO,” Iger said in a statement at the time.
Though his “Stacy’s Mom” pitch did not materialize, Iger saw plenty of success in his tenure as CEO, including several major acquisitions: Pixar in 2006, Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012, and 21st Century Fox in 2019. In the year before he stepped down, Iger launched Disney+, the company’s streaming service, which proved to be a massive success. In a top-15 ranking of streamed movies, the service claimed 11 spots. On top of that, Pixar’s Luca, released directly to Disney+, was the most-streamed movie of 2021 with a reported 10.6 billion minutes of viewing. For comparison, Netflix’s biggest hit of the year, Red Notice, was number five on the list with 5.5 billion minutes watched.
Disney has continued to thrive in Iger’s absence. The streaming service’s first Marvel Studios limited series, WandaVision, achieved staggering viewership numbers and was the most pirated show of 2021. Thanks to WandaVision’s success, Disney is developing a spinoff series centered on Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness, punnily titled Agatha: House of Harkness. Multiple Marvel television shows are in the works, including Ms. Marvel, set to premiere this summer, and Moon Knight, which will arrive on March 30.
Pixar’s upcoming movie Turning Red will forgo a theatrical release and debut exclusively on Disney+ on March 11.
Source: The New York Times
About The Author
