Netflix Drama Beats Hawkeye and Wheel of Time in Surprising Rise to Top 10

While both Disney+'s Hawkeye and Amazon's Wheel of Time have been must-watch programs for fans it's a surprising Netflix offering that is topping the streaming charts. According to Nielsen, Netflix's True Story topped the original streaming charts with 943 million minutes of viewing. Hawkeye came in second with 853 million minutes while The Wheel of Time came in third with 663 million minutes, though it was closely followed by Netflix's live-action Cowboy Bebop in fourth with 630 million minutes.

Spanning seven episodes, True Story stars Kevin Hart as Kid, a rising comedian who finds himself in a life or death situation when his tour brings him back to his hometown of Philadelphia and things take a deeply unexpected turn. The series also stars Wesley Snipes, Billy Zane, John Ales, Paul Adelstein, Theo Rossi, and William Catlett.

"This was an opportunity for me to step outside of my norm and partake in a genre of this craft that I never imagined that I would get to," Hart said previously. "My road to this type of role has been a long one, and I wanted to make sure that it was something that I could do and have my fan base really believe in, respect, and say, 'We've actually witnessed him work his way to get here.' Doing 'The Upside' was strategic, doing 'Fatherhood' was strategic, and now doing 'True Story' is strategic. This is about me finding new excitement in my craft, in my talent, and putting it on display."

"Ultimately, it's a question of, 'How far would you go to protect the things you've worked hardest for?'" Hart added. "When life throws certain obstacles and challenges at you, sometimes you don't even know what you're capable of. And that was the biggest thing, we wanted to put our character in a situation where he could ultimately shock himself and truly step outside of his norm to become a person that he never had no idea that he could ever be."

As for Hawkeye, the series completed its run last week on December 22 and stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld. Wheel of Time, which was previously in the number one slot, also completed its first season last week. The series has already been renewed for a second season which is already in production.

Are you surprised that True Story is at the top of the streaming charts? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

4comments