Netflix Thriller Series Lands Hit Ratings Milestone

Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series, The Watcher, has bested poor reviews to dominate Netflix’s Top 10 chart. The new series first made headlines by knocking Murphy’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story off its perch at no. 1, after the serial killer series spent three weeks at the top. Murphy also co-produced the Stephen King adaptation of Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which held the fourth spot in Netflix’s latest Top 10 movies chart.

All seven episodes of The Watcher were released on Oct. 13. In its first five days of release, Netflix subscribers watched over 125.01 million hours of the series, the streamer said. Dahmer had 122.78 million hours watched between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16. The other shows in the Top 10 for that period are The Midnight Club (Season 1); Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes; Dynasty (Season 5); Oddballs (Season 1); The Blacklist (Season 9); Bling Empire (Season 3); Fate: The Winx Saga (Season 2); and The Mole (Season 1).

The Watcher stars Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale as a New Jersey couple who are harassed by letters signed by a stalker who calls himself The Watcher. It is based on Reeves Wideman’s New York article “The Haunting of a Dream House.” Jennifer Coolidge, Margo Martindale, Richard Kind, Mia Farrow, Terry Kinney, and Christopher McDonald also star in the series. Murphy wrote the first five episodes with co-creator Ian Brennan.

Although Dahmer became a sensation last month, The Watcher might have a more difficult time staying high in Netflix’s rankings. The show only has a 31% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and just a 42% audience score. Many viewers criticized the show as “boring,” despite a cast filled with great actors. “Absolute let down but the actors are fantastic,” one person wrote.

Dahmer spent 21 days at the top of Netflix’s list of most-watched shows. During its first week of release, Netflix users watched a bonkers 196.2 million hours of the 10-episode series. In its second week, Netflix users watched 299.84 million hours of it. The success of the show also powered the documentary series Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes to a debut at second place on the Oct. 3-9 chart.

Murphy also has a new movie hit. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, an adaptation of a King novella, scored 35.42 million hours watched during its first week of release. That put it just behind Luckiest Girl Alive on the Oct. 3-9 movie chart. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone slipped to number four during the Oct. 10-16 chart, with 20.08 million hours watched.