It is not the first time we have witnessed a teen drama series becoming widely popular among Netflix’s viewers despite receiving harsh critical reviews. Brian Yorkey’s 13 Reasons Why serves as the epitome of this scenario. After delivering a brilliant and hard-hitting Season 1, the show derailed and lost all its momentum in Season 2. The last two seasons received ‘rotten’ RT scores of 11% and 25%, respectively. Despite this, the young Netflix viewers loved the show for reasons only known to God. Well, it seems like 13 Reasons Why has met its competitor, Melanie Halsall’s My Life with the Walter Boys.
Season 1 of My Life with the Walter Boys premiered on Netflix on December 7. As it entered its third week, the teen drama series grabbed the top spot on the streaming platform’s Global Top 10 (TV) list, with over 57.9 million viewing hours and more than 7.6 million views. It dethroned The Crown Season 6 from the top spot, which took six weeks to earn over 50 million viewing hours.
Critics have not praised My Life with the Walter Boys Season 1. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rotten score of 33%, based on 9 critic reviews. However, the audience has showered it with immense love, highlighted by the audience score of 76%, based on over 100 ratings. In addition, the series has gained the number-one spot in nearly 88 countries after its premiere. These stats must have forced Netflix to renew it for a second season. Yes, fans will get a second season of this mediocre show.
Taking inspiration from Ali Novak’s 2014 novel, My Life with the Walter Boys revolves around the recently orphaned Jackie Howard (played by Nikki Rodriguez), a young girl from Manhattan who shifts to rural Colorado after the Walter family takes her in. Stream all episodes on Netflix. Stay tuned for more updates.