[imagesource: Quantrell D. Colbert / Netflix]

I don’t think we’ll see many series rivalling the success of Tiger King or Squid Game for some time to come.

It’s one thing to have viewing numbers going through the roof. It’s quite another when you become a part of mainstream culture, presidents talk about your pardon, and YouTube recreations of the set rack up hundreds of millions of views.

Halloween costumes are also a good indicator of the impact of a series.

Squid Game was already bumped from top spot late last year by the six-part supernatural horror Hellbound, with the early part of this year dominated by the second season of Cheer.

The docuseries follows the ups and downs of Navarro College’s competitive cheerleading squad. Over the weekend, it climbed to the top of Netflix’s US Top 10 list.

That stay was very short and sweet, with this via Forbes:

…Cheer season 2 has already been knocked down to #2 by a totally unexpected, out-of-nowhere offering.

That would be Archive 81, the new horror series from Netflix based on of all things, a podcast, that has arrived with a huge impact, debuting above the likes of Cobra Kai and The Witcher, and unseating Cheer for the #1 spot in just a few days…

Archive 81 follows a man tasked with reassembling damaged footage shot by a young woman in the ‘90s, investigating a mysterious apartment building…

The show’s rise to top spot in the US rankings is all the more remarkable in that it doesn’t have any big names attached and wasn’t hyped up much marketing-wise before it was released on January 14.

Let’s see what the fuss is about:

Not one I’ll be watching alone, thank you very much.

Other reviews have likened Archive 81 to a mash-up of classics like Get Out and Midnight Mass amidst glowing praise.

It seems likely the series will be picked up for a second season, too.

[source:forbes]