How HBO Max’s #1 Show Worldwide Is Defying Major Controversy & Bad Reviews

While HBO Max’s biggest show has earned largely negative reviews, this has not stopped the star-studded drama from topping the streaming service’s most-watched series chart. The old maxim that “all publicity is good publicity” sometimes proves true for certain media franchises. There are plenty of movie series and TV shows that have died a quiet death due to their terrible reviews, but there are a select few, like the Scary Movie series, that become huge financial successes despite their abysmal critical reception.

It would be unfair to claim that HBO’s high school drama Euphoria is as critically maligned as that series of horror movie parodies, but creator Sam Levinson’s series has earned a mixed reception at best. When Euphoria debuted in 2019, the series immediately made a name for itself by becoming one of HBO’s most-watched shows and shocking audiences with its detailed depictions of drug use, plentiful nudity, and explicit content. Euphoria initially balanced this controversy with widespread critical acclaim, but the long-awaited arrival of season 3 has seen the show’s scandals thoroughly overshadow its onetime critical success.

Euphoria Season 3 Became An Instant HBO Max Hit Despite Controversy and Mixed Reviews

While seasons 1 and 2 enjoyed Rotten Tomatoes critical ratings of 80% and 78% respectively, Euphoria season 3 arrived to a meager 42% from critics. The show didn’t fare all that well with viewers either, with a rating of only 51% from viewers on the same site. This is striking since the show’s critical decline has not yet translated to a lack of interest from viewers. On the contrary, Euphoria season 3 immediately shot to the top of HBO Max’s streaming charts, becoming the service’s most-watched title on the weekend of its premiere.

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There are numerous reasons that Euphoria was able to weather this critical failure, as the same controversies that make Euphoria season 3 one of 2026’s biggest HBO shows also contributed to its problems with reviewers. Season 3’s incredibly long and troubled production was a source of plentiful tabloid fodder and celebrity gossip. Since stars like Jacob Elordi, Zendaya, and Sydney Sweeney became some of the biggest names in Hollywood in the time after season 1 began, there has been endless speculation over who wants out of the long-running series and who is sick of the show.

Euphoria’s Cast and History of Mixed Critical Reception Made Season 3’s Success Inevitable

Thus, a lot of viewers tuned into season 3 fully aware of the issues that the show’s slow, frequently delayed production faced, and actively wanted to see whether the latest outing was a mess as a result of these. Furthermore, Euphoria was already one of the most controversial shows of the last decade, thanks to its frank depictions of explicit sex and nudity, its copious drug use, and its frequent shocking scenes of violence, so many of its critics already questioned how believable this content was in a show set mostly in high school.

As a result, reviewers have always questioned and poked fun at the veracity of the show, meaning their critiques of season 3 cover little new ground. For many commentators, season 3’s messiness means that it is harder to suspend disbelief, and the show’s waning entertainment value makes it harder to overlook its flaws. However, judging by HBO Max’s most-watched chart, for a lot Euphoria viewers, this isn’t the deal breaker that it might be for the show’s vocal critics.