‘Wheel of Fortune’ Dominates Linear TV Charts as Pat Sajak Takes his Final Spin
Streaming TV gets all the buzz these days, but it’s worth acknowledging when a linear program does something truly special. Such is the case this week with the classic game show “Wheel of Fortune,” which managed to place five new episodes in the most-watched linear programs chart in the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report for the week of June 3 to 9.
“Wheel’s” historic week was impacted by viewers tuning in to say goodbye to longtime host Pat Sajak during his final week on the program. Sajak’s 39-year run as host ended on Friday, June 7. That episode wasn’t quite enough to give “Wheel” the top spot this week — that honor went to the juggernaut “America’s Got Talent.” Still, it led off a run of five consecutive spots in the Top 10 for “Wheel,” accounting for half of our list. In fact, the main “Wheel” title generated so much buzz this week that a rerun of “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” that aired on a Saturday actually made the Top 10 as well, coming in at No. 8.
Turning our attention to the streaming side, it was a week of Netflix domination, with programming from the streamer accounting for the top six entries and eight overall.
Leading things off is the streamer’s latest feature-length hit, “Hit Man.” The action comedy, from acclaimed writer and director Richard Linklater, rode a wave of critical acclaim to the top of the charts, with 1.8 million households tuning in during its opening weekend.
Next up is “Eric,” a quirky series with a bit of star power thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch. No. 4 is “Your Honor,” a TV drama starring Bryan Cranston that gets a viewership bump after being added to the Netflix library. The series began all the way back in 2020 and wrapped its second season on Showtime a little more than a year ago.
Netflix has two foreign language monster movies on the chart this week. The first, at No. 3, is “Under Paris,” a French action thriller about a killer shark loose in the Seine. No. 5 is “Godzilla Minus One,” the 2023 Japanese theatrical release about the giant monster. Godzilla’s latest American appearance, this year’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” made our charts when it debuted on VOD last month. We can expect another appearance for the king of all monsters when it arrives on a streaming platform.
After the monsters comes the devil, in the form of “Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult,” a Netflix true crime docuseries, at No. 6.
The first non-Netflix entry to crack this week’s chart is “The Acolyte,” the latest Star Wars series on Disney+. That’s followed by Season 3 of “Mayor of Kingstown,” the Jeremy Renner crime series on Paramount+.
The teen comedy series “Geek Girl” is No. 9, while Season 3 of “Bridgerton” hangs around the chart, coming in at No. 10.
Cole Strain is VP and Head of R&D at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more data and analysis from Samba TV.
The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households, balanced to the U.S. Census.
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