Viewers Losing It Over Netflix's Most Watched TV Series: "An Insult to the Field"

Summary

• Series like Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Gentlemen and 3 Body Problem continue to garner impressive ratings among Netflix 's new releases.
• Unexpectedly, however, a documentary series about Moses has risen to the top.
• The new project has been controversial, but the ratings show that audiences are interested in the series.

Netflix continues to expand each year with more expensive, hyped, and exciting movies and series, and 2024 is proving to be a particularly prolific year for the streaming service so far. In just four months, Netflix has already released such notable projects as the US' Griselda and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Italy's Supersex, Germany's The Signal, South Korea's Queen of Tears and Parasyte: The Grey, and, of course, the final season of Sweden's Young Royals.

In addition, much of the company's spending appears to have gone into promoting two high-profile series that can be considered Netflix's flagships due to their production values and huge ratings — Guy Ritchie 's The Gentlemen and the recent 3 Body Problem.

But Netflix is a platform that will likely never cease to amaze. No matter how much it invests in potentially commercially successful projects, it is not uncommon for the least promoted movies or TV shows with no marketing at all to appear on lists of the most popular. There are many factors that contribute to this, the most important of which is sheer coincidence, but each of these cases comes as a shock. After all, few expected either The Gentlemen or 3 Body Problem to be overtaken by the controversial biblical docuseries.

What Is This Show About?

Netflix, and especially its American segment, boasts a rather strong Christian demographic, which has helped drive ratings for its historical and faith-based series and movies, such as The Chosen and Ordinary Angels. Additionally, Noah, starring Russell Crowe, has recently caught many by surprise by making it into the Top 10 most-watched movies in the US.

And so, the new documentary series, titled Testament: The Story of Moses, has found its way into the Top 10, and this time around, not just in the United States, but all over the world. Released on March 27, 2024, it is a three-part miniseries that recounts the entire life of Moses, from his upbringing in Egypt to the Israelites' Exodus and the Prophet's death.

The New Docuseries Managed to Beat Netflix's Flagship Projects

On March 28, it ranked as the #1 most popular series on Netflix in the US, and on April 1, it broke into the Global Top 25. On April 2, Testament: The Story of Moses began to lose some ground, and the series dropped to #2, once again behind 3 Body Problem, but still ahead of The Gentlemen. Remarkably, the documentary's ratings held up through April 6, maintaining its leadership in many countries.

As of this writing, Testament has already rebounded, dropping to #6 in the Global Top 25, according to What's on Netflix, but it continues to remain in many regional Top 10s. This is quite surprising considering that such a high level of viewership is usually maintained for such a long time by projects with proper marketing and more original concepts.

Despite the Ratings, the Show Has Stirred Controversy

It is not uncommon for Netflix to falsify historical data and call it a docudrama. As such, The Last Czars and Cleopatra were not at all interested in presenting historical facts, they were more concerned with hype.

Unfortunately, this is also true of Testament, as many viewers were incredibly disappointed and even offended by Netflix's mockery of the Moses story. The series has received rather cool reviews for its interpretation of sacred texts.

However, the 'historicism' of biblical plots should not be the subject of scrutiny, as this is a religious myth whose purpose is not to be plausible or to operate with historical facts. Therefore, Testament: The Story of Moses may be quite fascinating, as justified by such high ratings.