This is the most watched Netflix in 2023? I'm so confused!

[Skipper]

I don't know if you folks have heard, but the most watched Netflix show of 2023 was (drumroll)...

THE NIGHT AGENT!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

When I read it I was like, "Huh?" I hadn't read any reviews about it, I hadn't seen online discussions about it, I vaguely remembered that Netflix had included it among the series that might interest me but it didn't attract me. At this point I wondered if it was a hidden gem as it had been more watched than Wednesday or You or Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

So out of pure curiosity I started watching it, I'm om the third episode and… and it's just ok? It's not bad, is not particularly good either. It's not boring but not very exciting either. Nothing would compel me to go to an online forum to discuss what happened in the episodes. I think I've seen a lot of series this year that I liked a lot more (and the critics too considering the reviews). It's the vanilla flavor of TV series.

So I asked myself, is this what the silent majority of viewers really want? Not exciting and inventive series that a small minority online talk about and discuss endlessly?

So when people ask for new ideas and more courageous series they are simply wrong from a purely commercial point of view, considering that what is successful is a series that could have been on a network 10 years ago (it is not particularly violent and there are no nude scenes or what)?

In short, is true success in mediocrity?

 

[Skipper]

Ops! I forgot the word "show" in the title! Someone can kindly add it, please?

 

[tenmei]

I enjoyed it, but it wasn't great.

I think Most Watched is being conflated with Best, how much of it do you need to count before it's deemed to be watched?

 

[Aragorn]

Doesn't Netflix count 2 minutes as a full viewing?

 

[John Clark]

Just watched it recently myself, and yeah it's just ok. I had however seen reveiws raving about it back when and it looks like a second series is on the way at some point.

(I might check out the novel to see how that is)

 

[Guy Gardener]

I don't know if you folks have heard, but the most watched Netflix show of 2023 was (drumroll)...

THE NIGHT AGENT!

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

When I read it I was like, "Huh?" I hadn't read any reviews about it, I hadn't seen online discussions about it, I vaguely remembered that Netflix had included it among the series that might interest me but it didn't attract me. When I read it I was like, "Huh?" I hadn't read any reviews about it, I hadn't seen online discussions about it, I vaguely remembered that Netflix had included it among the series that might interest me but it didn't attract me. At this point I wondered if it was a hidden gem as it had been more watched than Wednesday or You or Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

So out of pure curiosity I started watching it, I'm om the third episode and… and it's just ok? It's not bad, is not particularly good either. It's not boring but not very exciting either. Nothing would compel me to go to an online forum to discuss what happened in the episodes. I think I've seen a lot of series this year that I liked a lot more (and the critics too considering the reviews). It's the vanilla flavor of TV series.

So I asked myself, is this what the silent majority of viewers really want? Not exciting and inventive series that a small minority online talk about and discuss endlessly?

So when people ask for new ideas and more courageous series they are simply wrong from a purely commercial point of view, considering that what is successful is a series that could have been on a network 10 years ago (it is not particularly violent and there are no nude scenes or what)?

In short, is true success in mediocrity?

I think peeps ran out of Jack Ryan on Amazon, and then did this.

 

[the G-man]

So out of pure curiosity I started watching it, I'm om the third episode and… and it's just ok? It's not bad, is not particularly good either. It's not boring but not very exciting either. Nothing would compel me to go to an online forum to discuss what happened in the episodes. I think I've seen a lot of series this year that I liked a lot more (and the critics too considering the reviews). It's the vanilla flavor of TV series.

So I asked myself, is this what the silent majority of viewers really want? Not exciting and inventive series that a small minority online talk about and discuss endlessly?

People have always craved "comfort food" TV, including (if not especially) cop dramas. Why do you think we have had umpteen versions of, just to name three, CSI, L&O and NCIS?

 

[Skipper]

People have always craved "comfort food" TV, including (if not especially) cop dramas. Why do you think we have had umpteen versions of, just to name three, CSI, L&O and NCIS?

You have a point.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I watched it and it's one of their better shows released this year, so yes, I'm not surprised it being the most-watched. Someone recently recommended I watch Bodyguard, a similar British series, and I thought that one was just Ok, and I didn't like the final twist in that.

And similarly, people have been raving about The Diplomat, but I didn't find it nearly as good as The Night Agent.

 

[Skipper]

Just finished watching it and it's, uh, okay? As someone else said, it's the streaming equivalent of comfort food. I saw it mostly out of curiosity and I didn't regret doing so, but I wouldn't watch a second season. There are other series that I preferred this year and staying only in the spy genre Slow Horse is much better than this one. But I believe that from now on we will see increasingly bland series and many fewer of those innovative series that distinguished streaming from networks. Because this series could easily be on a network. I think it would be the equivalent of a PG-13.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

WENTWORTH deserves the top Netflix position, though it's tricky enough to find unless you watch ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK first.

 

[auntiehill]

Netflix's ratings and views are entirely self- reported, so they can say anything is "the most viewed" and there would be no way to know.

I've always thought that they just say one show or movie is the most watched, just to lure more people to click on it . I can't count how many times the site will show me " the most popular shows" and they are from programs that are several years ago and are fairly obscure. But I had clicked on it previously to read the description. So now suddenly it's the "most watched."

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I'd say it's quite arbitrary. For one, seeing as there are so many shows on Netflix, it's so easy for them to just fall through the cracks and not be renewed. Netflix has a quantity vs quality problem. How do you promote them all properly? Answer is you can't and some shows just don't get widespread, and it seems more like being in the right place at the right time than anything.

 

[Kraig]

People have always craved "comfort food" TV, including (if not especially) cop dramas. Why do you think we have had umpteen versions of, just to name three, CSI, L&O and NCIS?

Don't forget FBI night on CBS. I couldn't bring myself to watch NCIS. I remember the original agency NIS (Naval Investigative Service), and in reality they were a bunch of bumbling idiots, we even had an agent living on the Aircraft Carrier when we deployed with the airwing and escort ships.

 

[fireproof78]

So when people ask for new ideas and more courageous series they are simply wrong from a purely commercial point of view, considering that what is successful is a series that could have been on a network 10 years ago (it is not particularly violent and there are no nude scenes or what)?

Yes.

Comfort show viewing should never be underestimated. Despite what is called for in terms of programming, people just want something simple, entertaining and to move on.