1 month ago
Twelve months ago, Disney’s reality TV main Rob Mills had conscionable made a major statement. Deep successful nan Hollywood hills astatine a sprawling property pinch a backstage lake, he was surrounded by nan stars of his deed shows: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, The Kardashians, Dancing pinch nan Stars, The Bachelor franchise and moreover Alex Cooper, nan prima of nan deed podcast Call Her Daddy who exec produced Love Overboard.
It highlighted nan breadth of its unscripted slate crossed ABC and Hulu and threw down nan gauntlet for its rivals that besides person successful reality universes specified arsenic Bravo and Netflix.
Then came 2026. Mormon Wives was forced to region accumulation connected Season 5 arsenic a consequence of home battle allegations against its main star, Taylor Frankie Paul, and these aforesaid allegations, coupled pinch video of her throwing a metallic stool astatine her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen successful nan beingness of her child, blew up what was meant to beryllium a buoyant play of The Bachelorette.
It would not person been a astonishment if these controversies forced Mills, who is EVP, Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment astatine Walt Disney Television, to retreat.
But nan longtime Disney executive – he joined nan institution successful 2003 – did not alteration his strategy and has alternatively doubled down connected making love and nan play of nan aged schoolhouse reality show, while looking for caller types of formats, peculiarly for Hulu.
He was besides backmost by nan reservoir for nan 2nd loop of its Get Real event, making an entranceway pinch a snake (joking that they had a two-year woody aft DWTS‘ Robert Irwin introduced nan reptile past year), earlier introducing dozens of Disney’s reality stars.
Despite nan Mormon Wife-inspired ruckus, Hulu ordered a spinoff group successful Orange County, pinch a caller group of belief young women, is bringing erstwhile Vanderpump Rules prima Stassi Schroeder further into nan fold pinch a caller show, is following a group of elite young nannies successful Ibiza (when did thing messy hap connected nan Spanish island?), and has a new making love show featuring azygous Christian assemblage students on outpouring break (when did thing messy hap connected outpouring break?).
“We’ve gotten a really awesome foothold successful nan docu-soap abstraction and we’re excited to commencement spinning disconnected things for illustration Mormon Wives and much worldly pinch nan Kardashians,” he said.
Mills is besides leaning into his awesome ABC franchises, confirming Dancing pinch nan Stars spinoff The Next Pro, and adding much apical reality stars to nan mothership dancing format successful nan shape of erstwhile Love Island and Traitors prima Maura Higgins, and Ciara Miller, who is astatine nan halfway of nan latest Summer House scandal.
“On ABC, we’re really excited astir nan continued spot of each of our awesome [shows]. Obviously, Dancing’s had a resurgence, it’s really breathtaking pinch this play of American Idol, we’re now unrecorded streaming our unrecorded shows connected Disney+, positive we’re really excited to thin into nan 25th day of Idol adjacent year. The Bachelor franchise is 1 that is evidently is very important to america and that’s going done its ain increasing pains correct now. Those are our crown jewels to proceed to polish,” he added.
He besides hopes that Hulu audiences will beryllium pensive and confused, successful a bully way, by Parker Posey, who had a large 2025 arsenic nan Lorazepam-popping Victoria Ratliff successful HBO’s The White Lotus.
The indie queen is moving into reality hosting for nan first clip successful ABC’s The Mob. The show will spot unscripted stars specified arsenic Mormon Wives’ Demi Engemann “shake down, hustle and whack their measurement to triumph up to $250,000 successful rate prizes”.
The show marks a “concentrated” push into serialized title connected Hulu. Mills admitted that they person tried immoderate shows that didn’t rather activity connected nan streamer but feels for illustration The Mob is “one that could really break through”.
The Mob comes from Studio Lambert, nan All3Media-owned institution that produces The Traitors for Peacock and nan BBC and Mills knows that his show will get compared to nan parlor crippled hit.
He said that imitation is nan “sincerest shape of flattery”. “We person nan mastermind down Traitors successful Stephen Lambert, that was very concentrated. I applaud Peacock for what they’ve done pinch Traitors and really they person built that into a behemoth. For us, you don’t want to conscionable opportunity that they’re going to area nan marketplace connected that space. Hopefully this 1 feels for illustration its ain point and really special. But of course, we did this reasoning this is simply a measurement to get into nan [genre],” he added. “If Traitors is simply a Knives Out parlor game, this is much The Godfather.”
On nan reality docusoap front, Hulu has a caller play of Love Thy Nader, starring tabloid fixture and Baywatch prima Brooks Nader, coming successful nan winter, and a new show exec produced by Khloé Kardashian that stars her soul circle.
The Girls, which comes from Keeping Up With The Kardashians shaper Bunim/Murray, stars Kardashian pals including Natalie Halcro, Khadijah and Malika Haqq.
This is connected apical of different Kardashian-related project, group successful Calabasas, that is still successful improvement astatine nan streamer.
But Mills wants to guarantee fans of nan first family of reality television, that The Kardashians is not coming to an extremity and Season 8, which has not yet been announced, is presently shooting and will premiere early adjacent year.
“I don’t ever want anyone to deliberation that this is astir protecting for nan future. I don’t spot nan mothership coming to an extremity anytime soon, or, if ever, surely nary clip successful nan contiguous future. The Kardashians are a 24/7 business enterprise, they are ever coming up pinch ideas and nan mothership is awesome because that is nan 1 that benignant of touches everybody. But they each person their ain ambitions, and it’s ever really exciting, because everybody’s passionate astir thing different. This is conscionable america having nan privilege of being successful business pinch them, we benignant of get a first ace astatine things,” he said.
The Kardashians airs episodes play but nan immense mostly of its reality slate, including Mormon Wives, Vanderpump Villa and Love Overboard, arsenic good arsenic upcoming shows Million Dollar Nannies and House of Stassi, follows nan binge driblet model.
The statement is that these types of shows prime up steam erstwhile they are released play connected a web for illustration Bravo alternatively than successful a binge, originated by Netflix.
Mills said that each show is looked astatine independently. “The binge driblet is benignant of thought of arsenic benignant of par for nan people for streaming,” he said. “With Bravo, unless they decided to make these Peacock shows, I don’t deliberation they could do a binge driblet truthful to comparison america isn’t really fair. It really feels overmuch much for illustration apples and oranges.”
Does having a reality beingness wherever stars move from 1 show to different really thief thrust numbers? It seems to activity having nan likes of Whitney Leavitt connected Dancing pinch nan Stars.
“When we put 2 stars from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Dancing pinch nan Stars, we [didn’t think] it was going to bring a monolithic caller assemblage to Mormon Wives. It was a awesome storyline for Dancing pinch nan Stars. It has to beryllium done arsenic thing that’s viewed arsenic adjuvant to nan show. These ideas person to travel organically and consciousness right, and past erstwhile they do, they really work,” he said.
The reality docusoap genre is intelligibly popping again. “It conscionable feels for illustration nan stars successful nan world are coming from societal media, and they look to lend themselves much to this type of programming,” he said. “Right now, shows astir these personalities are really having a moment.”
However, he said that “everything is cyclical” and said that there’s a astir apt a awesome format “right astir nan corner”.
Hulu precocious ordered an Erin Lee Carr-directed documentary astir The Swan, nan arguable Fox integrative room format that debuted successful 2004.
“It’s been really nosy to revisit that clip wherever it felt for illustration each six weeks aliases so, 1 thought came connected that was crazier than nan next,” he said.
A documentary connected nan heavy criticized show seems a smarter stake than rebooting nan Fremantle-produced “ugly ducking” format. “Never opportunity never,” laughed Mills.
