Series Snapshot ~ 12/11/25

By: [email protected] on Thu, 12/11/2025 - 08:44

Welcome to the Series Snapshot, a weekly deep dive into the shows topping the streaming charts.

As the year winds down, we see a pause in the release of original series, and audiences are content to keep binging their favorite popular shows, this week is a winner’s circle of repeat streaming victors.

For Netflix, the exciting first part of the final season of Stranger Things has been gripping audiences. The series pilot first aired almost ten years ago, and made household names of stars Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobbie Brown. Stranger Things has had its ups and downs, (and upside-downs) but has always had massive viewership regardless. The current season is the highest rated since season one, and audiences feel that great care has been taken with character development. Many grew up alongside their favorite characters, and Matt and Ross Duffer, the series’ creators, have no shortage of fan service to reward longtime viewers. While some bemoan the “Marvelization” of the show, that is to say Stranger Things can sometimes get bogged down in its own lore, most are satisfied with how things are wrapping up. Netflix went all out with its budget, including stunning visual effects and practical sets, expanding the scale of their 1980’s love-letter. Part 2 of the final season will premiere on Christmas, with a feature-length finale Right Side Up dropping on New Years Eve on the streamer which will also be released theatrically.

Ryan Murphy’s bizarre flop/hit All’s Fair continues to be a big draw at Hulu, winning another week as most-watched on the platform. At first, viewers were baffled at the choice to cast well-established actors like Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close and Naomi Watts alongside the utterly inexperienced Kim Kardashian, but the genius of the idea is now obvious. The show would have been a failure had it been “just okay”, but because it’s so bad, it’s actually massively successful. Kardashian has no shortage of haters, who flocked to the show out of morbid curiosity, but strangely, sentiment is positive. The badness of her acting flips the show into an ironic comedy, which viewers appreciate and enjoy authentically. All’s Fair has officially been renewed for a second season, although time will tell if the novelty of the series will have worn off by then.

HBO’s Stephen King spin-off IT: Welcome to Derry has had a phenomenal run thus far, now at its seventh consecutive week as the streaming service’s number one show. It’s been a great year for horror fans; Alien: Earth, The Last of Us, It, Stranger Things, were all massively popular. We’ll see if that trend continues, but It: Welcome to Derry will continue well into 2026, as Welcome to Derry is only part one of a three-part anthology, with parts two and three to take place earlier chronologically. Bill Skarsgård continues to receive praise as the series antagonist, and is largely responsible for the show’s scarier moments. Despite some minor flaws (overuse of CGI and occasionally weak dialogue), Welcome to Derry is critically successful and will likely see some overlap in audience with Stranger Things as that series concludes, similar to what we saw with Summer I Turned Pretty and Maxton Hall. Speaking of…

Maxton Hall: The World Between Us is proving to be a more-than-adequate replacement for the Amazon teen-drama The Summer I Turned Pretty, which left audiences hungry for more young adult romance. The German series, based on the Save Me novels by Mona Kasten, is largely successful thanks to the screen-chemistry of its stars, Harriet Herbig Matten, and Damien Hardung, who play the “enemies-to-lovers” duo Ruby Bell and James Beaufort. Critics are quick to point out some overuse of tropes, but audiences rate the show highly, appreciating how the series highlights class differences and modern teen issues, despite some poorly edited English dubbing. Maxton Hall: The World Between Us is part two of a three part story, with part three expected to release in late 2026.

TV writer, producer and creator Vince Gilligan’s name is synonymous with success. After creating Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, each with their own staggering list of accolades and Emmy wins, Gilligan sought to challenge himself (and critics) with Pluribus, going back to his sci-fi roots on The X-Files. The sci-fi thriller is an immediate smash hit, and proves that Gilligan is anything but a one-trick-pony. The apocalyptic alien drama is highly rated by fans and critics, and Rhea Seehorn is getting Emmy buzz for her powerhouse performance as the writer’s-block stricken Carol Sturka, who finds herself as one of the only humans who the hive-mind can’t seem to assimilate with. The pilot, which beautifully sets up the premise of the series, set records at AppleTV for the most watched drama debut ever on the platform, as well as a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes for its entire first week. Pluribus was immediately renewed for a second season.

At Disney Plus, the animated comedy miniseries, Zootopia+ wins another week at the top, riding the momentum of Zootopia 2 which just successfully released in theaters. Zootopia+ is a series of shorts that take place in the Zootopia universe, examining days in the life of some of the film franchise’s auxiliary but beloved characters, like Flash the sloth and Mr. Big, the arctic shrew. The miniseries also has a fantastic, highly rated episode that functions as a parody of The Godfather, and fans of the show say if you only have time for one episode, make it that one. Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin return to voice beloved characters Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, and the adorable six episodes are all available now to stream. Some speculate that based on the success of the films and shorts, Disney may want to create a longer-form series within the Zootopia universe.