The past two years have seen Netflix set a new standard when it comes to its most popular shows. Squid Game founded the fictional billion-hours club, pushing the previous record-holder, Bridgerton, from the top spot. Squid Game’s record of 1.65 billion hours in 28 days will likely never be broken. The next one, Stranger Things Season 4, premiered earlier this year and went on to post 1.15 billion hours in the same span (or over 1.3 billion hours in two months). Now, Wednesday has been viewed a total of 1.02 billion hours in three weeks, which helps solidify the show as one of Netflix’s biggest ever. The offbeat young adult series is a certified cultural phenomenon that inspired a new dance trend and led to the resurgence in the popularity of The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck”, among others. Ultimately, this is a remarkable achievement for Netflix after losing millions of subscribers a few quarters ago. Things are starting to get better for Netflix. The popularity of projects like Wednesday, as well as the now-third-most-popular English series on the platform, Dahmer, will help guarantee that Netflix will recuperate going forward. The only thing missing for Netflix now is a guaranteed order for one more season. We hope a spin-off is on the table as well. As much as Wednesday resonated with modern audiences, nostalgic fans of the Addams family will want to see more familiar faces hit the small screen once again. Fred Armisen’s Uncle Fester, in particular, rightfully deserves far more screentime if only so we’d get a chance to see Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday small more. We’re just hoping Netflix doesn’t take Wednesday as a sign to keep on releasing reboots of iconic franchises until something sticks. Squid Game and Stranger Things prove that high-quality original shows are still the way to go.
