Whether or not you have actually seen Air Bud, the live-action Disney movie about a dog who joins a basketball team, it’s likely you are at least aware of it. The movie spawned numerous direct-to-video sequels and spinoffs, and has entered the internet’s lexicon with its famous “ain’t no rule says a dog can’t play basketball” scene. And it’s that scene that provided Last Week Tonight host John Oliver with a jumping-off point to launch into a lengthy rant about Air Bud, making several hilarious (but also quite valid) points, including raising a question about whether Buddy was actually good for the team at all.
This is all for a web-exclusive short, helping to fill the time between episodes of Oliver’s show, but he wants you to know, nobody is asking for this. He is not contractually obligated to talk at length about Air Bud, he just wants to.
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You can see the video below.
Air Bud was released in 1997, and was followed by Air Bud: Golden Receiver (about football) the next year. While the first was a bona fide hit, the second disappointed at the box office, and the rest of the series went straight to video. In 2000, we got Air Bud: World Pup (soccer), followed by Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (baseball) in 2002. Air Bud Spikes Back (volleyball) came in 2003, which ended the initial series.
Starting in 2006, the “Air Buddies” or “Disney Buddies” films started, centering on a litter of Buddy’s puppies. Between 2006 and 2013, Disney released Air Buddies, Snow Buddies, Space Buddies, Santa Buddies, the Santa Buddies prequel The Search for Santa Paws, Spooky Buddies, Treasure Buddies, Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups, and finally Super Buddies, ending the franchise in the only way that truly made sense: with the puppies as full-on superheroes. And in the madness of Oliver’s breakdown, he only briefly touches on that.
…Wow, how is it possible Disney hasn’t launched some kind of Air Buddies TV show on Disney+ yet?
