Last week’s Samba TV Weekly Wrap examined how Max has become synonymous with high-performing shows, frequently placing series at the top of the streaming Top 10 for extended periods. As predicted, the latest Max/HBO prestige series, “The Last of Us” Season 2, tops the chart this week as the most-watched streaming program from April 14 to 20 (this is the week immediately following the season premiere, up to the airing of Episode 2 on April 20).
What’s surprising is that two other Max series continue to hang around the chart even after completing their latest seasons. The streaming-only ER drama “The Pitt” wrapped its first season on April 10, yet still drew enough viewers to place sixth on this week’s chart.
Then there’s “The White Lotus.” Season 3 of the hit show held the top spot for eight consecutive weeks, including the week after the finale. This week, two weeks after the finale aired, the show continues to get enough buzz and latecomers to hang on for at least one more week. It lands in ninth.
Max shows owe much of their chart longevity to the one-episode-a-week model, while Netflix continues to make entire seasons available at once. This accelerates the rise and fall of Netflix programming on our chart.
Such is the case with our second-place entry, “Ransom Canyon.” All 10 episodes of the romantic western series, an adaptation of the popular book series, were made available on April 17, and 1.5 million U.S. households watched the first episode during the first four days it was available. It’s already generated a lot of social buzz with fans calling it “your next big binge,” but that also likely means that its time on the charts will be short-lived. We’ll follow how this series, starring Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly, fares in future weeks.
Third is another Netflix series, “Black Mirror.” The six-episode seventh season of the sci-fi series hit Netflix on April 10, and this week it moves up six spots.
“Your Friends & Neighbors” on Apple TV+ puts Jon Hamm in the lead role as a former high-rolling hedge fund manager who turns to a life of crime to maintain his lifestyle. The former Don Draper helps the series debut in fourth this week. Hulu’s final season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” climbs five spots up the chart this week, landing at fifth.
Up next, we have two Netflix titles that are a part of a long line of foreign-language success stories for the streamer. Seventh is “The Glass Dome,” a Swedish thriller that follows a criminologist searching for her friend’s missing daughter. In eighth is “iHostage,” a Dutch feature-length thriller about a hostage situation at an Apple store in Amsterdam.
In addition to foreign language films, Netflix also succeeds with documentaries, like this week’s tenth-place entry, “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror.” The film premiered on Netflix almost exactly 30 years to the date of the horrific domestic terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, linear’s “Big Three” are back to duking it out for the top spot. “American Idol” reaches the pinnacle this week, with its April 20 “Top 20 Easter Special: Songs of Faith” snagging the top spot (the April 14 airing is fourth this week).
“The Voice” moves up to second this week after missing last week’s chart, and “Tracker” slides down to third.
NBC’s “Chicago” duo – “Med” and “Fire” – are fifth and sixth this week. Those are followed by two CBS procedurals, chart mainstay “FBI” in seventh, and the Kathy Bates-led “Matlock” reboot, which just aired its Season 1 finale, in eighth.
Per usual, “Wheel of Fortune” closes us out, grabbing the final two spots this week.
The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most-watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television, sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households, balanced to the U.S. Census.
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