Disney+ and Hulu are leaning into a mix of pop-culture dominance, ancient history, and indie grit this week, anchored by a massive Kardashians library drop on Hulu, National Geographic’s new Incas docuseries on Disney+, and the festival-favorite drama Urchin. With Hulu accessible inside Disney+ via a combined login, the bundle’s strategy is clear: pair headline-grabbing unscripted catalogs with prestige nonfiction and buzzy films to boost time spent and reduce churn.
The Kardashians Library Arrives in Full on Hulu
Hulu is unloading the complete run of Keeping Up with the Kardashians—20 seasons of cultural anthropology and celebrity–industrial-complex storytelling—along with spin-offs like Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, and Kourtney & Khloé Take the Hamptons. That’s nearly 200 hours of comfort-viewing and meme history, from early Calabasas chaos to the moments that shaped today’s creator economy.
Beyond nostalgia, this is a smart retention play. Nielsen’s streaming analyses have consistently shown that library TV accounts for the majority of minutes watched—often north of 80%—and few reality franchises have the stickiness of KUWTK. The show’s longevity (2007–2021) and the family’s outsized social reach make it a reliable engine for rewatching and background binging, the kind that props up engagement metrics week after week.
It also deepens Hulu’s existing pipeline, complementing its newer The Kardashians series with the origin story that minted modern influencer culture. For viewers, it’s a one-stop continuum—from early E! episodes to the present-day Hulu era—now neatly housed in one ecosystem.
National Geographic Spotlights the Incas on Disney+
On Disney+, National Geographic’s Incas: The Rise and Fall offers a compact, four-episode tour through the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. Expect a blend of field archaeology, high-altitude cinematography, and expert commentary that traces the Incas’ rapid expansion across the Andes, the quipu knot-record system, and the 25,000-mile Qhapaq Ñan road network that stitched the empire together without wheels, iron, or a written alphabet.
This is exactly the kind of “quiet powerhouse” programming that helps Disney+ punch above its blockbuster image. Nat Geo titles routinely deliver long-tailed viewership, and educational docuseries tend to over-index with families, schools, and curiosity-driven adults. It’s a strategic counterweight to the week’s reality TV dominance—quality nonfiction that invites lean-in viewing, not just lean-back comfort.
Urchin Leads the Week’s Notable Film Additions
Hulu’s most intriguing scripted arrival is Urchin, a 2025 drama that marks actor Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut. Starring Frank Dillane as a Londoner scraping by on the margins and trying to rebuild after a stint in prison, the film is a street-level character study with visual flair and emotional bite. Early audience sentiment pegs it in the solid-fresh zone—IMDb users have it around 6.8/10—which tracks with the indie-to-streaming arc where unconventional dramas find their biggest audiences post-theatrical.
It’s a smart bite-sized prestige swing for a platform that, this week, is otherwise feasting on unscripted catalog volume. The contrast helps Hulu serve multiple taste clusters in the same release window: reality diehards, cinephiles, and the growing hybrid audience that toggles between both.
Also New Across Disney+ and Hulu This Week
If your queue needs range, there’s plenty beyond the marquee trio. On the family side, Disney+ adds RoboGobo Season 2 and a fresh batch of shorts via Chibi Tiny Tales and Cartoonified with Phineas and Ferb, plus Armorsaurs for creature-curious kids. Unscripted comfort TV lands in bulk with Storage Wars Season 16, Cake Boss Season 10, Arranged Season 1, and new drops of Naked and Afraid and Worst Cooks in America—reliable background MVPs that drive repeat sessions.
Genre fans get a catalog pop with Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Smile on Hulu, a one-two that pairs four-quadrant nostalgia with modern horror—historically strong performers in streaming where discovery and rewatchability fuel overnight spikes. Documentary and true-crime watchers can zero in on History’s Greatest Mysteries and Girl on the Run: The Hunt for America’s Most Wanted Woman, titles that tend to punch above their weight with completion rates and binge momentum.
Why This Programming Lineup Matters for Viewers
Stacking the Kardashians vault next to Nat Geo’s Incas and an indie like Urchin encapsulates the bundle’s thesis: breadth plus identity. Library depth reduces cancellation risk; appointment nonfiction sustains brand trust; distinctive films keep the platform culturally fluent. Industry trackers like Antenna have repeatedly tied deep catalogs to lower churn, while Nielsen’s monthly rankings show that unscripted stalwarts and evergreen films quietly dominate total minutes viewed.
There’s also a distribution subtext. With Hulu viewable inside Disney+, the company is nudging viewers toward a single destination without losing Hulu’s adult-skewing voice. Drops like this are designed to move households from “I’ll sample a show” to “I’ll stay for the library,” which is how streaming services win not only sign-ups but habits.
What to Watch First on Disney+ and Hulu This Week
If you want a cultural time capsule, start with Season 1 of Keeping Up with the Kardashians to see how reality TV learned to speak social media before social media spoke back. For a tighter, more cerebral binge, take Incas: The Rise and Fall in order—its four-episode arc moves briskly and rewards attention. Then cleanse the palate with Urchin, a compact drama that proves small stories can land big emotional swings.
The throughline this week is range: comfort, curiosity, and craft, bundled in a way that makes opening the app feel obvious. Queue accordingly.
