What’s Dana Walden’s Next Big TV Move?
Dana Walden just earned the promotion of a lifetime.
The executive is now the President and Chief Creative Officer at The Walt Disney Company.
Photo: Disney
Disney has had other Presidents, although it’d been a while. Walden is the first CCO, though.
Now, her daily job duties involve finding stories that can make Disney tons of money.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company
Walden has demonstrated the Midas Touch throughout her storied television career.
However, her current assignment may be the most challenging one yet.
Hollywood Reporter PHOTOGRAPHED BY DIANA KING
So, what’s Dana Walden’s next big TV move?
Disney Streaming on the Brink
Earlier this year, Disney stopped reporting subscriber numbers for its streaming services.
While Walden’s company isn’t the first to adopt this approach, it’s still surprising.
Disney+
Investors want to know how much Disney+ and Hulu are growing now that they’re mature products.
Disney has owned and operated both services since 2019, giving both plenty of time to evolve.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Now, ESPN has joined the mix as an over-the-top streaming app offering a full array of content.
So, Wall Street is paying particular interest in the year-one performance of this app.
Since Disney isn’t talking, fair or not, the perception is that the services are struggling.
Generally, companies happily brag when they’re doing well but remain quiet when they aren’t.
Photo: Disney+
On the Disney front, we discuss the Nielsen Streaming Ratings each week, which is what this column is.
Disney has been trending downward with its streaming performances over the past six months.
Photo: ESPN
While there are a wide range of potential explanations for this behavior, Occam’s Razor applies.
Disney hasn’t been churning out the hits lately, albeit with two huge exceptions.
Photo: Deadline
Paradise, which we’ll discuss more later, is an unqualified success story for Disney.
That show is filling the void between seasons of The Bear and Only Murders in the Building.
Photo: Hulu
Those two titles are Hulu’s biggest hits, although Paradise may pass The Bear this season.
Then, we have The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which is part of today’s story.
Betting on the Wrong Horses
The only reality television show I watch is Top Chef, as I find the genre quite trashy.
As proof, I’ll point to the Mormon Wives, who introduced the term “soft swinging” into the lexicon.
Photo: Hulu
The show has been scandal-ridden since day one, which makes a Disney decision all the more baffling.
Disney bet on one of the Mormon Wives, who apparently isn’t married, to anchor The Bachelorette.
Photo: Hulu
We all know how that turned out, but the decision itself is the main topic here.
Walden’s team settled on reality television because unscripted content is so much cheaper to make.
Photo: Hulu
The cast is often composed of people who want to be famous and will work for cheap.
Even better, Disney doesn’t need to pay writers, saving a fortune on production.
Photo: Disney
Oh, and since the shows are unscripted, Disney can churn through several of them.
As proof, the production of Mormon Wives that’s currently on pause is season five.
Photo: Hulu
Season one debuted on September 6th, 2024. It’s 18 months old and already four full seasons in.
However, as I previously discussed, Hulu still needs high-quality content, the Emmy bait, as it were.
Photo: Disney
I’ve argued that Walden can populate her Hulu calendar with eight shows annually. That’s plenty.
The problem is that Hulu isn’t quite there, and it seems to be moving in the wrong direction.
Photo: Disney
The Bear will conclude this summer. As for Only Murders in the Building, well, that building is running out of living tenants.
What’s Walden’s Next Move?
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot due to some recent developments.
The big one is the unexpected cancellation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Photo: Amazon Prime
Hulu had greenlit that project, only to kill it before production advanced.
Disney has absorbed an online drubbing for this decision, and it’s one I’ll never understand.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
All the major streaming services happily air reboots and extensions of popular shows.
Disney itself has Wizards of Waverly Place and Malcolm in the Middle right now.
Photo: Disney+
For whatever reason, Buffy didn’t make the cut, thereby forgoing a diehard viewing audience.
Buffy would have sold subscriptions, which is what Disney should seek with its content.
Photo: Fox News
Even lowly Peacock has recognized this fact, which blows my mind.
The least successful streaming service has greenlit my beloved Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
As a DCC fan, I’m bummed about this, as I have a high level of confidence that Peacock will screw it up.
The strange part is that this is a Seth MacFarlane production, and he’s buddies with Walden.
Photo: Deadline
Since Hulu is already the de facto Seth MacFarlane channel, DCC seemed like a natural fit.
These are the moves Disney has been making lately, and I’m baffled by them.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
At the moment, Walden appears comfortable having Hulu live and die via broadcast television.
On Hulu’s site, most of the Top 15 Series are current Fox programs that air on Hulu the next day.
Hulu
That’s the streaming model of 15 years ago, not today. So, I’m genuinely curious what Walden is planning.
I’m confident an executive this good has something up her sleeve.
Since she is only a couple of weeks into the job, it may be a while before we find out what that is, though.
This Week’s Streaming Ratings
On the bright side, we have the Nielsen Streaming Ratings for the week of March 2nd – March 8th.
The one thing that’s clear about these ratings is that fans are in love with Paradise.
Photo: Hulu
This series just finished its second season the other day, and it’s been the subject of heavy online speculation.
When I discuss the kind of big TV moves Walden needs to do, THAT is what I mean.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
Disney’s streaming content should be buzzworthy enough to trigger tons of discussion.
Also, to be clear, I don’t mean the kind The Bachelorette has recently caused.
The Bachelorette
There is such a thing as bad headlines, and Disney has made too many of them lately.
Anyway, here are Disney’s streaming hits for the week in question:
- Grey’s Anatomy – 878 million streaming minutes
- Bluey – 852 million streaming minutes
- Law & Order – 698 million streaming minutes
- Paradise – 694 million streaming minutes
- Family Guy – 584 million streaming minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 580 million streaming minutes
- Criminal Minds – 564 million streaming minutes
- Veronica Mars – 511 million streaming minutes
- Zootopia – 168 million streaming minutes
Image Credit: ABC
So, Disney is back to nine streaming titles on the list, which is 30 percent. That’s not bad.
However, many of these titles are shared shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Law & Order.
Hulu banners
More people are watching them on Netflix, although Hulu gets some of the credit.
The bigger deal is Paradise. Last week’s performance reflected three new episodes airing.
Photo: Hulu
This time, we’ve only got one, yet the show hovered near 700 million.
Also, the show’s season two finale got 4.3 million views in just three days.
Photo: Hulu
Paradise is precisely the kind of hit Disney needs on streaming to generate more attention.
Dear Dana Walden: more of this, please!
