This article was republished on 8/18.

Painkiller did not last quite a week on top of Netflix’s Top 10 list, as it has already been dethroned by a surprising new entry. The fictionalized account of the opioid crisis was unseated by another real life-adjacent topic, Depp v. Heard, a documentary following the contentious trial between the actor and actress, alleging abuse on both sides.

The miniseries is only three episodes long, and purports to show both testimonies side by side, and talks about how the trial enthralled the internet the way few others have. It has damaged the careers of both actors, and I know better than to chime in supporting one side or the other. I honestly don’t even fully understand the thing, but I do not especially feel like watching a three hour documentary about it either. But you can if you want, and it seems like a large number of people are interested.

I was kind of expecting HBO’s Ballers to take the #1 spot after debuting at #2. Yes, HBO’s Ballers, part of a new deal with Warner Bros. where certain, older HBO content has been licensed to air on Netflix. Other shows included in the deal are Insecure, Six Feet Under, Band of Brothers and The Pacific. True Blood will show up outside the US. These are trickling out, as I believe only Insecure and Ballers have debuted so far. My guess is Six Feet Under and Band of Brothers will be the biggest.

The Lincoln Lawyer and Suits are holding strong under these. I seriously think Suits may approach the all-time most total time spent on the Top 10 list record at this rate. Or at least the most minutes watched. A new episode of My Happy Marriage, the anime series, is at #8. Sweet Magnolias is still on the list at #9, and I have to believe that show is about to announced a greenlit fourth season any time now. Rounding up the list is Mech Cadets, a new animated kids show that seems to be doing quite well.

I would not expect Depp v. Heard to last very long on top, given that it’s only three episodes long. Ballers may be here a while as The Rock’s old HBO show has five full seasons totaling 47 half hour episodes. Reminds me of Entourage, which maybe could show up on Netflix someday if WB keeps doing these deals, recently strapped for cash.

There is…essentially nothing on this list right now that interests me. I’m busy watching Foundation on Apple TV Plus and working my way through Poker Face on Peacock. Though once I’m done with that, I may cancel, as I already watched Twisted Metal. We’ll see what the list does next here.

Update (8/18): Turns out Depp v Heard is so new and so unexpected that it doesn’t even have a critic or audience score on Rotten Tomatoes yet. I did find it interesting that one of the biggest criticisms in a Decider review that did go up was that while the trial footage was intriguing, the show’s decision to implement social media reaction like YouTubers and cover that part of the phenomenon was deeply annoying.

It does seem like this show sprinted to release. The verdict of the trial was just rendered last year in June, where Depp was awarded $15 million in damages while Amber Heard got $2 million. This was a defamation suit, remember, not a criminal trial. However, in a similar libel suit Depp filed in the UK did not go his way, as the ruling was that there was enough evidence that 12 assaults he was purported to have committed actually happened that the accusation could not be considered libel. This suit is not the focus of this current documentary, however.

Again, the cases damaged both actors’ reputations (hence part of the defamation suit) which involved Johnny Depp being recast in the Fantastical Beasts movies and it’s unknown how much of Heard’s part will remain in Aquaman 2 as Queen Mera. We’ll see what more critics and audiences make of this thing soon enough.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.