True crime is now more than ever with Netflix’s continued rise in viewership Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Starring Evan Peters as the cannibalistic serial killer, the series originally premiered on Netflix on September 21, and it wasn’t long before people started tuning in en masse. Nielsen has revealed that Dahmer was streamed for 3.66 billion minutes in the week of September 19-25. This puts now Dahmer as the tenth biggest streaming week for a series on a streaming service since 2020, when Nielsen first started tracking those ratings.
This new record follows the previous report that: Dahmer had worked its way to become the second most-watched English-language series on Netflix, lagging behind Stranger Things 4. With Nielsen’s all-time top 10 list for most-watched titles in a week before streaming, Netflix takes all 10 spots. Weird stuff only takes five of the spots with tiger king and Ozark is also part of the equation with two spots each, per Variety.
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was created for Netflix by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan; Murphy also served as showrunner. Evan Peters plays Jeffrey Dahmer and Niecy Nash plays Glenda Cleveland, the serial killer’s real-life neighbor whose concerns about his behavior were ignored by the police. The cast also includes Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, Molly Ringwald as Shari Dahmer, and Michael Learned as Catherine Dahmer.
Dahmer faces major controversy
With a high viewership comes more opportunities to offend viewers. There were many who were quick to criticize Sample for “exploiting” the serial killer’s real crimes for the series. Relatives of Dahmer’s victims have also condemned the show, including Rita Isbell, whose brother was one of Dahmer’s victims. A real-life moment where she emotionally scolded Dahmer was remade for the Netflix series, and she felt awkward displaying the moment in such a way.
“When I saw part of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself – when I saw my name appear on the screen and this lady literally said what I said,” she said, per Insider. “If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was me. Her hair was like mine, she had the same clothes on. That’s why it felt like I was living it all over again. It brought back all the emotions I had felt then. “
She added: “I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should have asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it .”
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story streaming on Netflix.