Emily in Paris
This article was publishing on 8/18 and republished on 8/20.
Emily in Paris returned for a long-awaited fourth season on August 15, but a few days later, it has already been dethroned on Netflix’s Top 10 list before the weekend is even out. That’s by a new True Crime documentary about a very famous case: Laci Peterson.
American Murder: Laci Peterson is the #1 show on Netflix right now with its three episodes detailing the grisly facts of the case, in which she was killed by her husband Scott Peterson. It debuted at #2, and given how shows about murders you’ve never even heard of always make it pretty high up, it is not surprising one of the most infamous cases in US history is performing well here.
Top 10
As for Emily in Paris, part of its performance here is that yet again, Netflix has broken up a season of its popular show into two parts. The first five episodes of season 4 aired on August 15, and the next five will arrive on September 12. Netflix used to pretend this was about production timing or polishing episodes, now it’s clearly just because they don’t want people signing up, binging a new season of a show they like, and instantly canceling. This makes sure they pay for at least two month. Of course, this makes for a really annoying viewing experience, toeing the line between binging and weekly release in a way that’s worse than both.
Matt Rife’s Lucid stand-up special is down to #3 and may not be as popular as his last one, from the looks of it. A licensed series called Average Joe is at #4. I’ve never heard of it, but it appears people are liking it quite a bit. This is its first season.
The final season of The Umbrella Academy has tumbled down the list quickly, lambasted by most fans to the point where I don’t even want to watch it, even as someone who previously liked the series. Love is Blind UK is back up with new episodes at #6. Former #1 A Good Girl’s Guide to murder is down to #9 and we have not heard about whether that show is renewed or not yet. But it’s pretty early.
I would expect the Laci Peterson documentary to remain on top for a while due to the nature of its focus, even if it is only three episodes. Emily in Paris will no doubt make it to #1 again when its second half arrives in September. I really do wonder what this does to the stats of whether people actually complete seasons or not.
Update (8/20): I figured I’d return to the list to check and yes, American Murder: Laci Peterson and Emily in Paris have retained the #1 and #2 spots after a few days. Other additions to the list include AMC’s excellent Dark Winds that not enough people watched and two other AMC series, A Discovery of Witches and the please-do-not-watch-this Fear the Walking Dead in seventh and eighth place respectively. I’m excited to see Dark Winds doing the best out of all of them as it deserves it.
I actually checked out Emily in Paris’ competition and watched the Laci Peterson documentary. As expected it was pretty brutal, and I cannot think of one of these True Crime perpetrators you hate quite as much as Scott Peterson by the end of it. It does a great job talking to absolutely all relevant parties from the case including key witness Amber Frey who was extremely brave in coming forward regarding her relationship with Peterson when she didn’t know he was married, as that was the turn for both the case and the trial. It was a hard watch though, and I definitely don’t think I can recommend it to everyone. But short of OJ this was easily one of the most memorable crime stories from my youth, and I was curious to revisit it.
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