Hulu Sets Food-Focused Thursdays in Fall Programming Plans

In June, Disney+ said it would shift all of its upcoming originals to Wednesdays. Now sister streamer Hulu is looking to own Thursdays, where it has scheduled three food-focused unscripted series to premiere throughout the fall. The Disney-owned streamer today said that three culinary-centric series will premiere Thursdays beginning the first week of October as part of a fall slate that will also include anticipated dramas like the Michael Keaton limited series Dopesick, which will debut on Wednesday, Oct. 13, and the second season of Elle Fanning-led The Great, which will premiere Friday, Nov. 19. The premieres and programming plans were announced ahead of Hulu's presentation Friday afternoon at the Television Critics Association’s annual summer press tour, which is being held virtually. Hulu’s Thursday-centric releases begin on Oct. 7 with the competition show Baker’s Dozen, which pits amateur bakers against professionals, and is hosted by The Masked Singer host Tamera Mowry-Housley and former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses. Later in the month, the six-episode docuseries The Next Thing You Eat, which follows chef David Chang as he explores how changes around the world will affect menus of the future, will premiere on Thursday, Oct. 21. Two weeks after that series debuts, Hulu will air Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition, a four-part special spun out from the Padma Lakshmi-led Taste the Nation that first premiered on Hulu in 2020. In the special, premiering Nov. 4, the longtime Top Chef host will travel across America to explore the culinary traditions surrounding various community holidays and celebrations. Hulu is following in the footsteps of Netflix, which earlier this year also scheduled some of its unscripted programming to premiere on a different night, setting "Reality Wednesdays" last spring. Hulu's fall slate The shows will fill out a fall line-up at Hulu that will also include Dopesick, the eight-episode miniseries inspired by the bestselling book of the same name by Beth Macy that tracks the opioid crisis in the U.S., and The Great, one of Hulu’s breakout titles. The second season of the Emmy Award-winning animated series Animaniacs will also return to Hulu on Friday, Nov. 5. Ahead of those series are two anticipated series that will premiere later this month. The miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, a drama starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy and adapted from the Liane Moriarty book of the same name, will premiere on the service on Wednesday Aug. 18, while Only Murders in the Building, a comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, who find themselves embroiled in a crime, will premiere on Tuesday, Aug. 31. The new programming comes as Hulu, which had 41.6 million total subscribers as of April, is getting a considerable marketing push from parent company Disney as part of the Disney Bundle, which also includes Disney+ and ESPN+. Hulu, whose original programming is led by Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich, looks to serve as the all-purpose and more grown-up part of the bundle, and leans on its originals as well as content from Disney-owned premium cable channel FX to round out its catalogue. To add to its growing line-up of originals, Hulu has also greenlighted three series, the streamer said today. Coming to the service is the true-crime documentary film Dead Asleep, which follows the true story of a man found guilty for a brutal murder that he maintains happened when he was sleepwalking, as well the limited docuseries Captive Audience, which traces how true-crime storytelling can influence public opinion and the justice system through the lens of one family’s experience. Also coming to the streamer is This Fool, a comedy series inspired loosely by the life of stand-up comedian Chris Estrada, who wrote and is starring in the series. Dave Bautista Takes Streaming Literally to Promote the Disney Bundle