Seemingly out of nowhere,Discovery+was upon us. A new direct-to-consumer platform that includes a smorgasbord of the Discovery portfolio’s streaming and linear networks (including HGTV, ID, Food Network, TLC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and OWN), it was announced seemingly out of the blue a month before its domestic debut (it has been available since March 2020 in India and is already in England, the Netherlands and several Eastern European countries). Discovery+, which is often, hilariously, abbreviated to D+ (in an attempt, perhaps, to drift off the goodwill of Disney’s streaming juggernaut), aims to provide low-impact comfort food — the kind of service where, for $5 (with commercials) or $7 (without commercials), you may lose an entire afternoon to one of the many90 Day Fiancéiterations (including several that are exclusive to the new streaming service) without knowing it. And, for now at least, that’s okay.
Discovery+’s interface is clean and intuitive; it’s divided thematically at the top (for things like “relationships” and “true crime”) and then by the actual networks/brands below, making it very easy to jump to a certain brand or channel’s programming (did you know there were Australian, British, and “Bridesmaids” spinoffs ofSay Yes to the Dress? Well you do now). There are also original programs on Discovery+ across the various brands, many of which ping off of existing Discovery portfolio properties. In that way, it’s not dissimilar from the approach other brands like HBO Max or Disney+ have trotted out – originally programming based on recognizable properties, a smattering of outwardly new (but still accessible) content, and a deep bench of catalog material to sift through.
What separates Discovery+ is how much it leans into those earlier properties and how little it attempts to even remotely rewire what already works. It’s just more of the same – high-calorie junk that you can spend all day shoveling into your mouth without ever truly being full. And, again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Of the new90 Dayspinoffs on Discovery+,90 Day Diariesis clearly the best. It revisits some of your favorite (or maybe infamous is the right word) participants on the main show and delivers entire segments specifically from their POV. So you get to see people like David and Annie talk to their cellphones as they deal with the pandemic and increasing boredom/frustration levels. It’s charming and shifts the formula just enough to feel fresh and intimate.
Another of the spinoffs that is meant to feel more intimate, but comes off as gross and weird, is90 Day: Bares All.Shaun Robinson, the incredibly patient host of the reunion specials that typically cap the season, is back to host this new show, which positions itself as going deeper into territory that they couldn’t or wouldn’t go into on the main show. In the inaugural episode, this means that she sits withBrandon Gibbs(a goodie two-shoes mama’s boy who ran into trouble with his conservative parents over his new girlfriend) and grills him about whether or not they had sex in the bedroom next to the parents’ room. They then showed footage, captured for the show but too racy for broadcast television, that essentially shows himgetting a hand job. (Elsewhere in the episode, Southern loudmouthAngela Deenshows up to give advice and screams the word “cock.”) There’s pushing the boundaries for censorship-free streaming and then there’s whatever icky nonsense this is. Perhaps even more awkward: a clumsy musical number byTarik Myers, who refers to himself as “the BlackAnthony Bourdain.”
And keep in mind these are just two of the spinoffs for the new streamer – there’s also90 Day: Journey(a sort of clip show/recap of entire couples’ relationships) andThe Other Way Strikes Back!(where participants of the latest season react to social media analysis). The decision to make so much of this content exclusive to a premium platform hasangered some fansbut all of this new material should delight those choosing to shell out for Discovery+.
Discovery+ offers a comforting mixture of new and old; I quickly slipped into a marathon ofCelebrity I.O.U.(what, am Inotgoing to see the bold living room remodel engineered byAlison Janneyfor her longtime assistant?) and got a kick out ofFrozen in Time, a Discovery+ exclusive home renovation show co-hosted byBrady Bunchcast memberMaureen McCormick(it doubles as a pseudo-spinoff to last year’sA Very Brady RenovationHGTV event). And, of course, there’s a new UFO show calledUFO Witness. The truth is out there. And by “there” I mean “Discovery+.”
Initially, the prospect of Discovery+ seemed like a weird cash grab. But watching it for a few hours, its genius emerged. The Discovery stable of channels and shows are rarely something that you’ll sit down and watch. Outside of90 Day Fiancé, does anyone even know when the first-run episodes of these things actuallyrun? True to its name, Discovery series are ripe for discovery. You’ll be flipping channels on a groggy Sunday morning and come acrossHoarders, unable to leave the couch until the packrats on screen have gotten rid of their antique teapot collection. Discovery+ invites that kind of accidental viewing patterns, and a phenomenon I can only describe as “hey, what about …?” (This is how I tragically learned that I had, indeed, watched every episode of kooky, Texas-based home design showOne of a Kind.)
The question will be whether or not Discovery+ can maintain interest once you’ve watched every episode ofHouse HuntersandForensic Fileson the platform. Will there be enough new programs and legacy content (why aren’t there more episodes ofUnsolved MysteriesandAncient Aliens?) to warrant the price? That answer is, as of yet, still undiscoverable.
