The Perfect Couple
After two weeks, it finally happened. The Perfect Couple, Netflix’s murder miniseries-that-will-probably-not-end-up-being-a-miniseries, has been dethroned in the Top 10 list by a new show. And guess what? More murder. That show is Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
If the “Monster” prefix sounds familiar, that’s because the first installment of this was Monster: The Jeffry Dahmer Story, the massively-watched retelling of the famed murderer starring Evan Peters, which ended up with six Emmy nominations and a win for Niecy Nash as a supporting actress. Now, Ryan Murphy’s series is moving on to another famous case.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convinced of the murders of their parents in 1996, with them stating they did so because they were afraid their father would kill them if they exposed his years of abuse against them. The prosecution said they did it for money, and it was an extremely high profile case. Both brothers are still in prison, a life sentence with no parole.
Top 10
Like Dahmer before it, Murphy’s production has already stumbled into controversy for its subject matter, which has been lambasted on social media. Dahmer, similarly, was accused of exploiting the murders in a fictionalized way that some believed even glorified him as a killer in some ways. But controversies aside, Dahmer ended up being the literal third most-watched Netflix series in history with over a billion hours of viewing time. That immediately led to a greenlight for two more seasons, this Menendez one and a third one about serial killer Ed Gein where Charlie Hunnam was just announced for that part.
As for The Perfect Couple, after two weeks at #1 on Netflix’s Top 10 list, yes, it is almost certainly going to get a second season, despite that not being the original intent and the fact that there is no more book source material. Enough characters survived and even megastar Nicole Kidman is saying it should return so yes, it will return. No announcement has been made yet.
Elsewhere on the list, Zack Snyder has found a bit of redemption for Rebel Moon with his new animated series, Twilight of the Gods, which is reviewing well among critics and fans with a 67% and 70% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, a far cry from those Rebel Moon scores in the low 20s and teens. The show follows the Norse god pantheon, and it is no doubt angling for a second season. It has debuted at #7 on the Top 10 list, and we’ll see how it’s supposed to perform to be renewed.
Expect to be hearing a lot about the Menendez show, it’s going to be a controversy magnet, just like the last one.
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