Series Snapshot ~ 5/22/2025

By: [email protected] on Thu, 05/22/2025 - 14:17

A new docuseries just landed on Netflix, American Manhunt : Osama Bin Laden, and it has audiences gripped this week, shooting up to number one and displacing The Four Seasons. The series covers the events and chaos in the aftermath of 9/11, and its timeline spans the near decade-long search for Bin Laden, featuring interviews and commentary by high-ranking CIA officials. The series was directed by Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, and features rare and never-before seen historical footage. American Manhunt started streaming to American Netflix subscribers in March of this year, but became available in several other countries this week, which probably explains its sudden surge in popularity. It’s been well received, although some critics feel it has an American bias and blindspots as everyone interviewed is American.

Over at Hulu, The Handmaid’s Tale continues to reign supreme, holding its number one spot despite the season finale of American Idol, which aired May 18th. The Elisabeth Moss led drama is in its final season, and its final episode will be released on May 27th. Audiences have been enthralled, and I expect it to stay in its spot well after the series ends, but we’ll have to wait and see.

On Max - The Last of Us is still going strong. The drama series continues to captivate as the service’s top series, and will take its time narratively, splitting the story from the popular video game sequel into two seasons. When The Last of Us Part II (Video Game) was first released, it was met with particularly polarized reception: players were highly critical of direction choices and felt the game had lost what had made it great, following the departure of a beloved character, and taking bold narrative risks that were loved by some and hated by many. As the TV series progresses, it’s interesting to see how new audiences who haven’t played the game are responding. It generally seems that “tv-only” audiences have only positive things to say about the current season. With the level of care and detail that Naughty Dog and HBO tend to put into their programming, I’m sure we’ll continue to see The Last of Us at the top of many charts.

Amazon’s new series Overcompensating has finally knocked Reacher off its number one spot as most streamed of the week. The college dramedy stars creator Benito Skinner, and explores the lives of college students, queerness, and self-discovery. Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco, and Charli XCX also star. Audiences are generally positive towards the show, and with any luck, Overcompensating will ace the midterms.

While AppleTV’s Your Friends and Neighbors retains its “most watched” title, a new series Murderbot is just behind at number two, and may move up to number one next week. Murderbot stars Alexander Skarsgård, who plays a security robot that suddenly realizes it has free will. NPR has called it “the best new comedy of 2025”, and critics on Rotten Tomatoes also give it a rating of 98%. Murderbot “booted-up” May 16th, and is based on book series The Murderbot Diaries written by Martha Wells.

Disney’s Andor is still on everyone's watchlist, neck-and-neck with Grey’s Anatomy as it approaches its season finale. Andor had originally been slated for five seasons, but was condensed down to just two, and aired its series finale May 13th. Audiences are probably wrapping up the show, and we may start to see it dip in the charts as viewers finish the series and begin to look for new content.

Hot Shows this Week:

Netflix

American Manhunt:Osama Bin Laden - Season 1

Produced by Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan

Premiered May 8th, 2025

Hulu

The Handmaid's Tale - Season 6

Created by Bruce Miller

Starring Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, and Bradley Whitford

Premiered April 8, 2025

MAX

The Last of Us - Season 2