Disney+ and Hulu launch small, focused slates this week led by a pack of movie stars in a sports comedy, an attention-grabbing true-crime documentary and a seven-film horror drop that fueled the genre’s explosion two decades ago.
If you want something quick, begin with Chad Powers, cue up the original Saw and save some time on Death in Apartment 603 so it can linger inside your skull.
Chad Powers Brings a New Playbook to Hulu Comedy
Glen Powell trades G-suits and rom-coms for a helmet and audibles in Chad Powers, a raucous gridiron comedy about a washed-up college QB who reinvents himself to chase one more shot.
The show riffs on the viral alter ego Eli Manning made famous, and it does so with some actual creative firepower: Michael Waldron, who was instrumental in shaping Marvel’s Loki, is responsible for the swaggering tone and fast-banter structure of this series. Early clips promise a mix of locker-room nonsense and genuinely heartfelt redemption beats, the kind of balance that turned Eastbound & Down into appointment TV.
The play here is simple: sports comedies turn casual viewers when there’s bite to the jokes and the football looks authentic. Powell, fresh off a breakout run of both box-office and streaming successes, has the onscreen charisma needed to carry a huddle. Look for a strong push on Hulu’s front page and in next-day social clips — comedies about sports over-index with short-form engagement, which can once again aid new shows in breaking out.
‘Death In Apartment 603’ Hacks Away At A Troubled Case
Hulu is taking a turn into true crime this week with Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg?, an exhaustively detailed unraveling of a Philadelphia case that has unsettled forensic specialists and fascinated armchair detectives for decades. The director Nancy Schwartzman, whose previous work drilled down into the system failures on display in assault investigations like this one, trains her focus on the contradictions at the center of Greenberg’s death — 20 stab wounds and an initial ruling of suicide — and how they’d go unresolved procedurally. It’s the sort of documentary that inspires public-record requests and podcast deep dives.
True crime remains one of streaming’s sturdiest magnets. YouGov and Morning Consult polling have consistently shown that around half of adults in the United States sample from the category at least every now and then, and there is a history at Hulu of turning hard-reported cases into word-of-mouth hits. Prepare for more scrutiny from investigative reporters and legal analysts; previous coverage from major outlets and Pennsylvania authorities means the conversation won’t be siloed within fandom.
‘Saw’ Returns for a Full Franchise Binge on Hulu
Horror diehards are fed a feast: The first seven of the eight Saw films drop on Hulu, an uncommon opportunity to watch the development of Jigsaw from a grungy puzzle-box thriller into cultural shock-shorthand.
The original Saw, directed by James Wan and co-written with Leigh Whannell, is still a case study in high-ROI filmmaking — made for some figure rumored to be close to $1 million and raking in more than $100 million worldwide. Over two decades, the franchise has grossed over $1 billion at the global box office, according to industry tallies, and its moral-maze traps fuel midnight rewatches.
Streaming behavior indicates viewers aren’t satisfied with just one. Catalog horror breeds completion-style chain-watching — finish one film, try the next, repeat — particularly when titles stack up within a lone hub. If you’re looking for a plan this weekend, run the first four Saws on night one; save V, VI and The Final Chapter for night two. You’ll watch the series’ manufacture evolve from Wan’s stripped-down tension to the later entries’ baroque engineering.
Also Worth Your Queue Across Disney+ and Hulu This Week
Animation buffs have their comfort-food classics, like new seasons of The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers bringing a new helping to Hulu the day after, avoiding a relapse of cooking-show addiction in Hell’s Kitchen. Over at Disney+, family-friendly offerings range from fresh episodes of preschool hits to a Halloween-tinted music special that helpfully prods households into seasonal mode. That mix — adult-leaning comedy and reality on Hulu, all-ages fare on Disney+ — is also exactly how the bundle widens its nightly reach.
Why This Package Push Works Across Disney+ and Hulu
Disney has been cranking up the integration between Disney+ and Hulu, and you see it here: a buzzy original (Chad Powers), a conversation-driving doc (Death in Apartment 603), a marquee catalog drop that eats hours (Saw). On investor calls, the company has made the point that cross-service discovery increases time spent and dampens churn — which is precisely what a week like this is designed to do.
The broader market context helps. Nielsen’s The Gauge has consistently found Hulu in the top five by U.S. TV share; Ditto for Disney+, which packs a punch out of its weight class as households bounce between kid-friendly game shows or coming-of-age characters and grown-up series in the same nostalgia-trip session. Stack those behavioral loops atop a horror marathon and a headline-making doc, and you have the smartest streaming itinerary of the week.
Bottom line: Start Chad Powers if you want to laugh. For any answers, something must die in Apartment 603. And if nightmares are what you’re after, let Jigsaw take the wheel.
