The late summer landscape has belonged firmly to one show: “Reacher,” the Amazon Prime Video action series in its fourth season.
The adaptation of the popular Lee Child novel series has now topped the Samba Weekly Wrap Report for four consecutive weeks. In a landscape often dominated by Netflix and HBO Max, this is impressive by itself. What’s even more impressive is that “Reacher” is fending off strong competition from those two streamers at the same time, as seen on this week’s chart.
While “Reacher” itself has just one more episode to air, on Sept. 16, this may not be the end of its extended universe. A spinoff, “Neagley,” will drop its entire first season on that same date. Stay tuned to see how the greater “Reacher-verse” is received.
The next three entries on the chart come from three different streaming platforms, and all focus on very different kinds of male leads.
First is “The Whisper Man,” on Netflix, which finds Robert de Niro playing a retired detective looking into the mystery of how a killer he put behind bars for life may have captured his grandson. The crime thriller is up one spot this week, likely buoyed more by its strong cast (featuring de Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Adam Scott) than its reviews.
“The Whisper Man” flips spots with “Lanterns,” on HBO Max, which falls to third this week. The DC Universe superhero drama stars Kyle Chandler as a cocky, aging Green Lantern, who is facing challenges on all sides while investigating a small town murder and training his replacement (Aaron Pierre).
In fourth is “Ted Lasso,” Apple TV+’s portrayal of male vulnerability and kindness. It’s up one spot this week amid its surprise Season 4 return.
We leave those male protagonists behind and switch gears as five of the next six entries feature female protagonists or subjects. Kicking things off in fifth is “Special Ops: Lioness.” The Paramount+ series, which stars Zoe Saldaña as a CIA operative, remains a hit in its third season.
That’s followed by “Death of the Pastor’s Wife,” on Netflix. The true-crime docuseries looks into the mysterious death of Mica Miller and allegations of abuse and manipulation by her pastor husband.
“The Secret Woman,” on Netflix, debuts in seventh place this week. This is the latest in Netflix’s string of foreign-language titles that become minor hits among the American audience. The Danish film is about an amnesiac who discovers she has a family and a successful business, and tries to return to her life and figure out why she initially left it behind.
There’s another debut in eighth, with the Gal Gadot-led “The Runner” on Amazon. Gadot plays an attorney who must run through London to stop a witness from testifying and save her son.
“Mayday,” in ninth, is the third-straight debut, but breaks up the female-focused block. The Apple TV+ movie stars Ryan Reynolds as an American fighter pilot who crash-lands in the Soviet Union and is fortunately rescued by an America-loving former KGB agent played by Kenneth Branagh. Closing us out is “Furious,” on Hulu. The crime drama, starring Emmy Rossum as an FBI agent hunting a serial killer, returns to the chart this week after its season finale aired on August 31.
Over on linear, “America’s Got Talent” returns to the top of the chart. As the popular competition nears the end of its 21st season, the show holds two spots this week, also coming in fifth.
Meanwhile, “Wheel of Fortune” claims four spots,” while standbys “Jeopardy!,” “American Ninja Warrior,” “Jeopardy! Masters,” and “Dancing with the Stars” all claim one each.
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’s panel of more than 3 million households, balanced to the U.S. Census.
