Have any of you heard that old joke about how to become a millionaire?
One way you can do it is to start with a franchise worth billions of dollars, and just put Kathleen Kennedy in charge of it. You should reach your goal in no time — especially if you green-light a Star Wars TV show that features lesbian space witches, writing and dialogue so bad that even AI would be embarrassed, and actors who were chosen more for the message they send rather than a solid knowledge about the franchise.
Obviously, I’m referring to Disney+’s The Acolyte, the #1 show across all of streaming this week according to Reelgood’s latest data. But if you couldn’t tell from the 17% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, or the 3.8/10 IMDb score, or the still growing pile of bad headlines, or the vituperative feedback online — the force is wrong with this one.
Granted, Disney+ has proudly touted the fact that The Acolyte’s premiere episode racked up 11.1 million views globally based on five days of streaming, making it the streamer’s biggest series premiere of 2024. Gun to my head, though, I don’t think I could name a single other Disney+ series premiere so far this year that even half-piqued my interest, so we’re talking the lowest of low bars here.
At any rate, The Acolyte is the top show across all of streaming this week — again, according to the streaming search engine Reelgood, which tracks the most popular TV shows from all of the major platforms, including Netflix, Max, Apple TV+, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Peacock, and more. Regarding The Acolyte, specifically, I remain convinced that there’s a lot of hate-watching going on, as a result of the fact that Star Wars is one of a handful of entertainment brands that Disney has run straight into the ground in recent years.
Reelgood, for its part, says it monitors 20 million viewing decisions each month across every streaming platform in the US. For the 7-day period that ended on June 12, the 10 shows that topped Reelgood’s latest TV chart are as follows:
- The Acolyte (Disney+)
- Eric (Netflix)
- Dark Matter (Apple TV+)
- Evil (Paramount+)
- Fallout (Prime Video)
- Your Honor (Netflix)
- Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+)
- Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+)
- House of the Dragon (HBO/Max)
- Criminal Minds (Paramount+)
As for the rest of this week’s Top 10 from Reelgood, there are a mix of fan-favorite titles that keep hanging around, like Prime Video’s Fallout, as well as new entrants like Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent — which you should definitely check out if you’re a fan of legal thrillers.
This adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel of the same name stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor on trial for the murder of a lover and colleague. It’s got a fantastic cast and is definitely one of the best Apple TV+ releases of the year so far. It’s also much better than almost anything that will debut on Disney+ this year — especially when it comes to all the Star Wars shows that have turned the beloved franchise into a hollowed-out shell of its former self.
But people keep watching bad shows like The Acolyte, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that Disney keeps making them.
