Disney+ Quietly Adds Alias and 8 Simple Rules

Disney+ quietly added Alias, 8 Simple Rules, and The Finder to its service early Friday morning. Disney has traditionally reserved Disney+ for its most overtly kid-oriented titles, although recent months have seen a shift in strategy with the addition of parental controls and content previously deemed "too adult" for its flagship streaming service, including Marvel's Netflix series and Hulu's Love, Victor.  

Created by J.J. Abrams, Alias aired for five seasons on ABC from 2001 to 2006. Jennifer Garner headlined as Sydney Bristow, a double agent for the CIA posing as an operative for SD-6, an international criminal and espionage organization. The drama also helped launch the career of Bradley Cooper, who played Los Angeles reporter Will Tippin for the first two seasons, before appearing sporadically as a special guest. Over the course of its run, Alias earned countless accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama for Garner and nominations for Victor Garber, who played Sydney's father, and Abrams.

8 Simple Rules ran from 2002 to 2005 on ABC. The sitcom originally starred John Ritter and Katey Sagal as Paul and Cate Hennessy, parents to three teenage kids, played by Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, and Martin Spanjers. After Ritter's death in September 2003, 8 Simple Rules killed off his character, and James Garner and David Spade joined the cast to fill in. Though the comedy lasted three seasons, only the first two are currently available on Disney+.

The only FOX series among the bunch, The Finder aired for just 13 episodes in Spring 2012. A spinoff from Bones, the procedural starred Geoff Stults as Major Walter Sherman, a retired Army officer who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq that resulted in him being able to see patterns others couldn't. The Hart Hanson-created drama also starred Michael Clarke Duncan, Mercedes Masöhn, Maddie Hasson, and Toby Hemingway.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.