Fool Me Once Already Dethroned In Netflix's Top 10 By A New Show
Harlan Coben's new series became an instant hit, although its popularity has since waned a bit.
Summary
- Harlan Coben continues his relationship with Netflix, this time with a new series based on his novel Fool Me Once.
- The new thriller quickly climbed to the top of Netflix's Global Top 10, becoming the most-watched English-language series.
- After two weeks, however, the ratings began to decline and critical and audience reviews proved disappointing.
Harlan Coben continues to be not only a prolific writer in the mystery thriller genre, but also continues to provide Netflix with excellent series, most of which he executive produces himself. This time, the beginning of 2024 was marked by the release of the highly anticipated British live-action adaptation of his novel Fool Me Once, which became an instant hit on Netflix.
The new thriller miniseries rocketed to the top of the streaming service's global rankings within days of its release. And while the show continues to do well in the ratings, the reviews have clearly undermined overall interest in the show, as it lost the #1 spot to another series after only two weeks.
A New Hit from Harlan Coben
The year 2024 kicked off with the release of the British thriller Fool Me Once, based on Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name and adapted by Danny Brocklehurst known for his Brassic series.
Fool Me Once stars some of the biggest names in British film and television: Michelle Keegan (Brassic), Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, The Stranger), Adeel Akhtar (Utopia, Sherwood) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous).
The plot revolves around Maya Stern (Keegan), a recently widowed woman still mourning the deaths of her sister and husband. After installing a nanny-can, she recognizes her own supposedly murdered husband posing as an intruder. At the same time, a parallel storyline is unfolding involving her nephew and niece, who believe the case is connected to their mother's murder.
Despite the title, the viewer is misled and then fooled several times, as the plot is full of completely unexpected twists that are always delivered at the right moment thanks to excellent pacing.
The New Docuseries Proved More Interesting to Viewers Than Fool Me Once
A few days after its premiere on January 1, Fool Me Once topped the Netflix charts in many countries, as well as the Global Top 10 English-language series. However, while the series was number one in its first week in nearly every region, including the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany and others, its popularity began to decline slightly in its second week, dropping to number two in those countries.
According to What's on Netflix's Global Top 25, Fool Me Once had already dropped to second place overall by January 18. Netflix's new series, the true-crime docuseries American Nightmare, climbed to the top spot one day after its release.
The three-episode miniseries is a frighteningly compelling tale of police incompetence. In 2015, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend survived a home invasion in which Huskins was kidnapped. The very next day, however, she returned home seemingly unharmed, leading police to question the reality of the incident and label the woman 'The Real Gone Girl.' It wasn't until some time later that evidence of the attack and rape was confirmed. Without being fictional, the events offer a startling twist full of social commentary, and so it is not at all surprising that viewers have taken an enormous interest in the series.
What Critics and Viewers Are Saying About Fool Me Once?
However, the high ratings of Fool Me Once may be undermined in the near future, as the series has received mixed reviews from both critics and regular viewers. For example, on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' score was 67% and the audience score was a measly 45%. Not everyone liked the ending, many noted the presence of unnecessary subplots, not everyone was convinced by the acting. Nevertheless, the consensus is that the series turned out to be a pretty solid 'whodunnit' mystery.
Well, considering that American Nightmare is a less high-profile premiere, being a documentary miniseries of only three episodes, the hype around it will probably die down a bit, giving Fool Me Once a sweet first place in Netflix's Global Top.