EXCLUSIVE: The Big D, a dating competition hosted by The Bachelorette alums JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rogers, has been axed at TBS weeks ahead of its premiere.
The show is the latest TBS series to be canceled following the Warner Bros-Discovery merger, which also saw the Damon Wayans-fronted comedy series Kill the Orange Bear get the chop a week before it was set to begin production, as revealed by Deadline.
It comes as David Zaslav and his team are taking a closer look at the slate that they inherited at networks such as the Turner channels TNT, TBS and truTV as well as HBO and sister streamer HBO Max.
HBO’s high-profile J.J. Abrams sci-fi series Demimonde is also not going forward after discussions over budget.
Admittedly, The Big D doesn’t quite have the same price tag as the Bad Robot-produced series, but Deadline understands that the 10-part series has a budget of around $10 million and the company has already spent money promoting the show.
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However, unlike Kill the Orange Bear, TBS was already running promos of the show on air (see below) and it was set to premiere July 7. Sources told Deadline that the move was essentially a “tax write-off.”
It also comes after Deadline revealed that Corie Henson is leaving the Turner networks.
“We’re assessing our schedule to ensure we have the right content mix to support our network strategies. We are grateful to JoJo Fletcher, Jordan Rodgers, and the executive producers of Big D for their partnership through the process,” a T-Nets spokeswoman told Deadline.
The Big D, which was ordered in March 2021, takes on the relationship space with a twist, following recent divorcees as they search for romance in paradise with one catch: their exes will be along for the journey. Over the course of several weeks, 10 divorced couples move into a tropical Costa Rica villa together to re-learn how to date while looking for love with other contestants in the house. The group of divorcees engage in revealing relationship ex-ercises designed to help the singles form connections, make peace with their former partners and finally overcome the issues keeping them from getting back into the game.
Each episode, one person who isn’t relationship material was set to be eliminated. Jealous exes might try to send their rival home or even defend their ex’s honor. In addition to hosting the series, Fletcher and Rodgers will be on the ground helping the divorcees get back into the dating game.
The Big D comes from the creators of Are You the One? and Dating Naked. It was produced by Lighthearted Entertainment with Rob LaPlante, Jeff Spangler and Kevin Lee serving as executive producers.
Fletcher starred in Season 12 of The Bachelorette, where she accepted a proposal from Rodgers during the finale. They were set to marry in June 2020 but were forced to postpone their wedding due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fletcher previously stepped in temporarily as host of The Bachelorette when then-host Chris Harrison was in quarantine after traveling out of state.