After Labor Day, most children across America have returned to school, sitting down to learn their reading, writing and arithmetic. Netflix viewers, on the other hand, are eager to return to a very different kind of school, Nevermore Academy, alongside pupil Wednesday Addams.
That’s right: “Wednesday” has returned to the streaming chart, shooting straight to the top in this week’s Samba TV Wrap report.
Netflix added the second half of the latest season of its Gen-Z take on the Addams Family on Sept. 3, a little less than a month after the first tranche appeared. Jenna Ortega’s role as the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky title character has helped the show become Netflix’s all-time most-watched series, so the return to the top after a one-week absence is no surprise.
“Wednesday” leads a trifecta of Netflix shows at the top of the chart this week, once again asserting the streamer’s dominance. In fact, Netflix titles have now topped the chart for 13 of the past 14 weeks, making that one-week absence more of an anomaly. The one title to break the Netflix streak, “Alien: Earth” on Hulu, drops off this week’s chart, despite being the third most-watched show just last week.
The second member of that Netflix trio is also a big riser on this week’s chart. “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” debuted at number nine last week but has moved up the chart as the documentary’s many “WTF?” moments have helped it build buzz.
“The Thursday Murder Club,” last week’s chart-topper, slides down to number three this week, proving that not even a trio of legendary actors like Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley can stand up to a hit like “Wednesday.”
Next, we have a pair of Amazon Prime Video hits. The action thriller “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” moves up three spots in its second week on the chart. The show dropped the first half of its six-episode season on August 27 and switched to weekly episodes after that. With two more to go, it remains to be seen if audiences will stick with it until the end.
Meanwhile, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” refuses to give in to the change of seasons as it stays steady at number five on our chart. The third season of the hit Prime series has now logged eight straight weeks on the chart.
Coming in sixth is “KPop Demon Hunters,” as it dropped two spots from last week. This marks nine consecutive weeks on the chart, one of the longest runs for any title, and unprecedented for both Netflix and feature-length films.
Sticking with Netflix, the teen drama “My Life with the Walter Boys” moves up a spot to seventh this week. That’s followed by “Lilo & Stitch,” the latest summer theatrical release to hit Disney+, coming in eighth. Meanwhile, “Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” on Netflix drops this week, from second all the way down to ninth.
Finally, “NCIS: Tony & Ziva” closes out the chart. Excluding “Wednesday,” which is technically a chart return, and “Lilo & Stitch,” which was a theatrical release, “Tony & Ziva” is the only straight-to-streaming debut on this week’s chart. Clearly, Paramount+ has found a successful strategy of making streaming-exclusive spinoffs of its popular linear programs.
Speaking of CBS and Paramount, those entities are responsible for another success story on the linear chart. The “2005 MTV Video Music Awards” topped this week’s chart, thanks to 5.6 million households tuning in to the broadcast on CBS and affiliates. That’s a 185% increase in audience compared to the 2024 broadcast, which aired on MTV and a host of other Paramount-owned cable properties.
Up next is a double dose of “America’s Got Talent” as the popular NBC competition nears the finale for its 20th season.
Old friend “Wheel of Fortune” pops into the fourth and sixth slots this week, sandwiching “Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service” on FOX. Even with airing a re-run, the reality show from the celebrity chef gets a boost on the chart thanks to following a Sunday NFL game broadcast.
ABC’s football counterprogramming is up next, as its Sunday-night airings of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” come in seventh and eighth, respectively.
Two game shows close us out, with “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in ninth and “Jeopardy!” in tenth place.
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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