Last year, Alan Ritchson’sReacherdominated Nielsen streaming charts for weeks with Season 2 of the Prime Video hit untilhe was finally dethroned by the arrival ofYoung Sheldon’s first six seasonsonNetflix. Now the mighty mercenary’s third season has been toppled from the top of the Nielsen by another youngster - the incredible Owen Cooper, who became a sensation as the lead in Netflix’s intense crime drama,Adolescence.
Reacherenjoyed a strong run at the top of the Nielsen charts for several weeks since the debut of its latest season, but if there was any series that was going to kill offReacher’srun, then it was likely to be the Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne-created series which has made an instant star of teenager Cooper, and is expected to pick up multiple awards at the end of the year.
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According to the numbers released by Nielsen, Netflix’s hit series picked up 1.44 billion minutes in its first week on the platform, which had increased significantly from its opening weekend. After being a huge hit since its debut,Reacher’stotal for the week dropped to 1.13 billion, slipping to fourth in the chart.
What is probably more impressive is that whileReacherhas released plenty of episodes for audiences to binge their way through,Adolescencehas only four episodes in total. The series has not just been dominating the Nielsen weekly charts either, as it very quickly found its way intoNetflix’s list of most-watched original shows of all-time, sitting behind juggernauts likeSquid GameandWednesday.
‘Reacher’ Will Return, but ‘Adolescence’ Could Be a One-Shot Story
Prime Video’sReacheris still to officially get Season 4 under way, but the idea of the plug being pulled on the series after another hugely successful run of episodes is unthinkable. Both Alan Ritchson and author Lee Child have made it clear that they would love to continueReacherfor as long as possible, and, in the main, audiences are hoping for that outcome too.
Adolescenceon the other hand, is very much a self-contained story and does not lend itself to a follow-up. The story follows a 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper), who is arrested on suspicion of the murder of his classmate, Katie. The investigation finds Jamie’s views towards women are dangerously associated with the “manosphere” and cyberbullying. However, that does not mean that the creative team behind the series will not potentially tackle a new story and turnAdolescenceinto an anthology series.
For those with short memories, Netflix has become known for canceling many shows after just one season when they do not perform as expected, but the super-sized success ofSquid Gamesaw the streamer being very persuasive in getting creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to deliver an expansion to the story, which was subsequently split into two new seasons.Adolescencecould very easily be pushed down that route in the same way.
Source: Nielsen
Adolescence
