Netflix Has a Top 10 Rival to ‘Stranger Things 4’: It’s a Show That NBC Canceled

“Manifest” Season 4 wasn’t gonna happen — but then came the streaming numbers.

Netflix launched reruns of “Manifest” Seasons 1 and 2 on June 10, 2021; four days later, NBC canceled its “Lost”-like missing-airplane series. On June 24, 2021, Netflix launched its weekly Global Top 10 TV and Film lists. Guess which series claimed two of the Top 5 slots?

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Season 1 ranked third on the streamer’s inaugural weekly ranking; “Manifest” Season 2 was fifth. The first season would go on to appear on Netflix’s Top 10 English-language TV series list 18 more times — the only other show to pull that off is a little ditty called “Stranger Things 4.” (The shows to come closest to 19 appearances, “Ozark” Season 4 and limited series “Maid,” each appeared 13 times on the list.)

“Manifest” was a Top 5 broadcast entertainment series in its first season; beyond prime-time football, only “This Is Us” drew higher Nielsen ratings among adults 18-49 on NBC that year. The following season, it dropped out of the Top 20; Season 3 didn’t make the Top 50. Season 2 appeared eight times on the weekly Top 10. “Manifest” touched down quite nicely on Netflix — pun intended.

NBC’s third season began its Netflix reruns August 21, 2021; a week later, the service announced it would stream an all-original fourth season. The NBC series was now a Netflix series. (The production companies remain the same: It’s a Warner Bros. show co-produced with Universal Television.) “Manifest” Season 4 will premiere its first 10 episodes on the streamer November 4, with the back half to premiere at a later date.

Had Netflix rolled out its Global Top 10 two weeks — or even one week — earlier, “Manifest” Season 1 would likely be the season of television with the most appearances on its English-language TV list to date. That wouldn’t make it more popular than “Stranger Things 4,” however.

Courtesy of Netflix

The fourth season of “Stranger Things” is Netflix’s most-watched English-language TV show, with more than 1.35 billion hours viewed over the first 28 days of each episode’s availability. That’s Netflix’s self-appointed cutoff for ranking its series and films on an all-time basis.

In that respect, “Manifest” Season 1 does not make Netflix’s all-time English-language Top 10 — it’s probably not even close. (Netflix does not share hours streamed beyond what is made available on its Top 10 site.)

That’s no surprise. Since only Netflix originals can capture first-run viewers, no non-Netflix original series make the all-time list. (“Lucifer” Season 5 ranks sixth all-time on the English-language list. The former Fox show was saved by Netflix after three seasons on broadcast — just like “Manifest.”)

Prior seasons of “Manifest” and “Stranger Things” will have more opportunities to return to the weekly English-language TV Top 10. Popular shows on Netflix tend to enjoy a surge of catch-up viewing ahead of their season premieres.

Three foreign-language series have appeared on their own dedicated weekly list more than “Manifest” Season 1 and “Stranger Things 4” did on the English-language side. (“Squid Game” isn’t the longest-spanning series; it’s just burned the brightest.)

“Yo soy Betty, la fea: Season 1” made the weekly non-English-language Top 10 list 30 times, which is five more weeks than fellow Colombian telenovela “Café con aroma de mujer: Season 1,” and 10 more than “Squid Game.” Still, the South-Korean smash hit is Netflix’s most-watched show ever in any language, with an incredible 1.65 billion hours viewed over its first 28 days.

“Manifest” Season 4 won’t challenge that highly coveted record, but it could create some turbulence (sorry, couldn’t resist one more) on the English-language list. See the current Top 10 all-time below.

Netflix Top 10

“Manifest” follows the passengers of Montego Air Flight 828, whose three-hour flight landed five years after it took off — for the rest of the world, at least. Season 4 picks up two years after the brutal murder of Grace (Athena Karkanis). The Stone family is in shambles as a devastated Ben (Josh Dallas) continues to mourn his wife and search for his kidnapped daughter, Eden (Paisley Herrera), the Netflix logline reads.

Created by Jeff Rake, who is still showrunner, “Manifest” Season 4 also stars Melissa Roxburgh, Jack Messina, J.R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Ty Doran, Parveen Kaur, Matt Long, Holly Taylor, and Daryl Edwards. Jack Rapke, Jackie Levine, and Len Goldstein executive produce alongside Rake.

“Manifest” Season 4: Part 1 takes flight November 3 on Netflix.

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