Five of the top 10 most-watched shows on Netflix last week told real-life stories ranging from a behind-the-scenes look at the famous “America’s Sweethearts” cheerleading squad for the Dallas Cowboys to true crime tales of the “Worst Roommate Ever,” a snapshot week that demonstrates the dominance of the streamer’s docuseries that regularly rank among Netflix’s most-popular originals.
Reece in "AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders."
The true story of a global sperm donor who has fathered at least 500 children (though the true story is unknown) is told in a new, 3-episode series called "The Man with 1000 Kids" that was the second most-watched Netflix show in the week of July 1 to July 7 with 6.6 million views.
The second season of "Worst Roommate Ever," a true crime show that tells the story of a different malevolent roommate in each episode, was the No. 3 most-watched show with 5.4 million views and the series' first season, which released in 2022, also ranked at No. 10 with 1.7 million views.
Ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics later this month, Netflix released a six-episode series called "Sprint" that follows seven athletes in their journey to the games—including popular American Sha’carri Richardson—which was watched 2.4 million times to be the week's sixth most-popular show.
The breakout success of "America's Sweethearts," a brutal look at the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders' training camp, continued for a third week among the top 10, landing in the No. 7 spot with an additional 2.3 million views (8.3 million total since it was released on June 20).
Two of the Netflix top 10 shows last week were reality TV shows—the first season of "Owning Manhattan" was in the No. 5 spot with 2.6 million views and the second season of "The Mole" was ranked No. 9 with 1.8 million views.
Between the unscripted series and the docuseries, only three of Netflix’s top shows last week were original dramas or sitcoms: The first season of "Supacell," a drama, ranked No. 1 with 11.8 million views; "Bridgerton" Season 3 was in the top 10 for the eighth week in a row at No. 4 with 4 million views; and "That '90s Show," a sitcom spinoff of "That '70s Show," was the No. 8 most-watched show with 1.8 million views.
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Netflix has released 23 docuseries this year that have made it into the Top 10 most-watched English shows on the streamer. The nature of the series’ popularity is fickle—most don’t have the longevity of a drama like “Bridgerton” or “Fool Me Once,” which stayed near the top of the rankings for months after their releases—but they burn brightly and capture audiences immediately after their debuts. The most popular Netflix docuseries of the year so far has been “American Nightmare,” which ranked among the most-watched shows for five weeks after its January release. The show tells the true story of Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn, who were accused of staging Huskins' kidnapping. Huskins was labeled "the real Gone Girl" as the investigation progressed and her account was cast into doubt by law enforcement and the media. When another home invasion is linked to theirs, Huskins and Quinn are ultimately exonerated. “Unlocked: A Jail Experiment”—which tested the traditional prison system by allowing dozens of inmates to live almost entirely unsupervised inside an Arkansas jail—stayed on the Top 10 list for four weeks. Other popular series this year include "Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult," "The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping" and "America’s Sweethearts,” all of which have ranked among the most-watched shows for three weeks each.
More docuseries to come. "Simone Biles Rising," a series about the most decorated gymnast in history and her return to the Olympics after walking out of Tokyo, will be released July 17. The highly-anticipated "Skywalkers: A Love Story," which will see two daredevils illegally scale on the of world's tallest buildings, is slated for a July 19 release and "Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam” will debut July 25 and tell the story of Lou Pearlman, a music mogul who exploited some of the '90s biggest boy bands, including NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
The real person behind "The Man With 1,000 Kids," Jonathan Jacob Meijer, has threatened to sue Netflix over the documentary. Meijer has told multiple media outlets that he has been falsely represented in the show and specifically called out a claim in the series that he swapped or mixed sperm with another donor named Leon. The series paints Meijer as a Dutch man who has knowingly fathered at least 500 children through sperm donation—but that number could be much higher—despite having been banned from the process in one country. The show has put a spotlight on the lack of international regulation surrounding sperm donation.