Wednesday broke the previous record for Netflix viewing set by the wildly popular show Stranger Things on the streaming service. According to the streaming service’s internal data measurement, since its premiere last week, the series has surpassed the well-liked season 4 of Stranger Things to hold the record for the most viewing hours of an English-language series in a week.
The Addams Family TV series, which aired from October 1998 to August 1999, was followed by the new series, which centres on the figure of Wednesday Addams. Wednesday debuted on November 23 and has already broken several records, starring Jenna Ortega as the title character. THR reports that Wednesday surpassed the previous record, held by Stranger Things, for the largest opening week for an English-language Netflix series. During its first week, the series amassed an astounding 341.2 million hours of viewing around the globe, surpassing the previous record of 335 million hours held by Stranger Things season 4. Despite this, the amount is still below the record-breaking 571.76 million hours for the first week ever recorded by Squid Game the previous year.
Wednesday has mostly received favourable reviews from both critics and viewers. Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday Addams in the original 1991 film The Addams Family and its sequel, Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Ortega have all received recognition for their supporting roles.
The first four episodes of the series are also directed by Tim Burton, a well-known Hollywood director. Before the show even debuted, there was a lot of anticipation due to the star power and popularity of the Addams Family IP. This most likely stoked Wednesday’s large audience, and favourable word of mouth insured that additional viewers would stick around.