That '90s Show Premieres on Netflix Top 10, But Not Where You Think

Last week saw a highly-anticipated sitcom revival premiere with Netflix debuting the first season of That '90s Show, the follow-up to the hit series That '70s Show. Released on Thursday, January 19th, the series dropped all ten episodes of its first season and according to the latest batch of viewership data released by Netflix it was watched over 40 million hours around the globe. Though that may sound like a lot, the series failed to beat other original programming from the streamer, some of it months old at this point. Let's dig into That '90s Show's place in the Top 10, and why it may not be a bad thing, below.

Even though That '90s Show was watched over 41 million hours, the series only premiered at the #5 position on Netflix's weekly Top 10. One big reason this isn't immediately a cause for alarm for fans is that the metrics measure a full week, January 16th to January 22nd, meaning that That '90s Show was only available for viewing on four of the seven days. The series is also a 30-minute sitcom, meaning watching the entire season could only take five hours, whereas Wednesday for example has eight hour-long episodes that would take longer (and thus have higher "hours viewed" due to the length of the show).

A lot of Netflix's new shows typically premiere at the top one or two positions as hype for the shows builds up in the early days. That '90s show falling behind not only both seasons of Ginny & Georgia but the new season of Vikings: Valhalla, and even Wednesday, may seem like it is bombing by comparison. In truth, all four of these shows are doing reasonably well by Netflix's standards, and considering the production cost for That '90s Show is hardly close to Vikings or Wednesday, the show frankly seems safe in the long run. Don't forget, Fuller House ended up running for five seasons.

Take a full look at the Netflix Top 10 English-language TV shows (for the week of January 16th to January 22nd) below.