Discovery+ Quietly Adds Small Selection Of Scripted Programs, Including 'Knots Landing,' 'Sisters'

The Warner Bros Discovery-owned streamer Discovery+ has quietly added a small selection of scripted television shows and movies to its library, apparently on a non-exclusive basis.

The titles recently showed up without any fanfare on the streamer, which primarily streams reruns of programs from the various WBD-owned linear television networks.

The embattled streamer is a bit of an unwanted stepsister at the big media company. Even before the Warner Media/Discovery Communications merger, soon-to-be CEO David Zaslav was vocal about his desire to shut down Discovery+ and convince its subscribers to move to the larger, higher-priority sister streamer Max. But the pushback from current subscribers was so forceful, the company ultimately backed down and moved to plan B. Which was to make Discovery+ less valuable to current subscribers.

Nearly all of the original Discovery+ programming was eliminated and many of the most popular linear shows were moved from a same or next-day streaming premiere to a "hold until the end of the current season" release schedule. And much of the most popular linear programming is now also available on Max. 

Still, the Discovery+ subscriber base continues to be remarkably stubborn (or loyal, depending on your perspective). So this dump of well-watched scripted TV shows and movies seems to be a way to keep those subscribers happy without actually adding new programming or including catalog programming of any substantive value.

The titles added so far seem a bit random and aren't all that easy to find. They are highlighted in two horizontal navigation tabs on the front page, but there isn't a top navigation tab for the titles. To find them, you need to go into the browse section and find a "scripted" tab. The just added titles are mixed in with a selection of old Christmas movies and some "inspired by true events" true crime films.

Here are the titles that have been added so far:

Television Shows:
Babylon 5
Falcon Crest
Knots Landing
Nikita
Nip/Tuck
Sisters
Spenser: For Hire
Waterloo Road

Movies:
Almost Heroes
Born To Be Wild
Curly Sue
Hearts In Atlantis
Jackie Chan's First Strike
Lone Star
Murder In The First
Surf Ninjas
Tweety's High-Flying Adventure
With Honors