Surveys are being sent out to Disney+ users, asking them if shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly should be added to the streamer. The Disney streaming service has quickly enjoyed a good deal of success since it premiered in the U.S. last November. They've already unveiled a bonafide hit Original in the form of The Mandalorian and continue to add popular movies like Frozen II to their back catalog. More recently, the service launched in the U.K. and saw its signups more than triple as people stay at home and self-quarantine in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
But for all its success, Disney+ has also been criticized for a lack of must-watch exclusive content and being too restrictive when it comes to what it deems to be family-friendly enough to fit its brand. Because of the latter, intended Disney+ Originals like the Love, Simon spinoff have moved to Hulu and Lizzie McGuire star Hilary Duff is calling for the series' Disney+ revival to follow suit after losing its showrunner over creative differences. Now, it appears the streamer is re-evaluating its approach and considering adding more mature content to its library.
A Disney+ subscriber recently posted a screenshot from an email survey they received to the service's subreddit. The poll asks them to rank "how likely" they are to watch more adult-friendly TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Black-ish, and Malcolm in the Middle, were they added to Disney+. ComicBook.com has since reached out to Disney, which confirmed this survey is real.
Both the long-running Buffy and short-lived, but fan-favorite, Firefly were created by Joss Whedon and acquired by Disney when they purchased Fox last year. Although the pair did air on network TV, they skew decidedly older than other Disney+ shows. Buffy, in particular, covers a lot of the same topics (including, teen drug use and sexuality) that reportedly led to the Love, Simon spinoff being shuttled over to Hulu. If Disney is really considering adding them, it could mean they're planning to ease the restrictions on their Disney+ exclusives going forward. At the very least, it would paint a clearer picture of what they consider too mature for the platform, allowing them to avoid repeats of the situation with shows like Lizzie McGuire in the future.
No doubts, fans of either these Whedon series and/or the aforementioned comedy shows would be happy to see them made readily available through Disney+ (assuming they already have a subscription). Streamers like Netflix have enjoyed a great deal of success by including popular shows from the 1990s and 2000s like Friends and The Office, which appeal to both a younger generation and those who watched them when they initially aired. Shows like Buffy and Firefly should attract a similarly broad range of demographics, and have the potential to benefit the Disney+ brand as a whole - assuming enough people vote to have them added, anyway.
Source: r/DisneyPlus, ComicBook.com