The first half of May saw the finales of two highly regarded series on Netflix. “Grace and Frankie,” the sitcom from “Friends” writer and producer Marta Kauffman about two rivals (played by Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda) who turn into friends after their husbands become lovers, ended its seven-season run in May. (Here are the 25 best episodes of “Friends,” ranked.)
And “Ozark,” a seriocomic family drama full of murder, drugs, and corruption, set around Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks and starring Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner, finished its four-season arc with a final scene many viewers found unsatisfyingly ambiguous. (It remains to be seen whether it will end up being considered one of the worst TV series finales of all time.)
Both were among the most popular series seasons on Netflix in the first two weeks of May. To determine the 10 series seasons watched by the most viewers during that period, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data on streaming activity from Netflix, ranking seasons based on the total number of hours they were streamed by around the world between May 2 and May 15, 2022. As an indication of how critics have viewed these seasons, we’ve included Tomatometer scores from Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, current as of mid-May.)
The final “Ozark” season ranked No. 1 for the period covered, while the end of “Grace and Frankie” came in at No. 4. In between were the beginnings of the first season of a new legal crime drama based on a series of books by Michael Connelly of “Bosch” fame – “The Lincoln Lawyer – at No. 2 and the second season of the opulent and amusingly anachronistic Shonda Rhimes series “Bridgerton,” set in 19th-century England.
Other series seasons in the top ten included two reality shows, a Canadian sitcom about working moms, and season 1 of “Ozark” – presumably watched by people anxious to see the saga from the beginning.
10. Ozark: Season 1 (2017)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 13.6 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (2635 votes)
“Ozark” is about a financial planner from Chicago who takes his family to the Missouri Ozarks to launder money for a Mexican cartel. He buys various businesses to launder the cash and in the process pulls members of his family into the scheme. The series has won three Emmy Awards, two of them for Julia Garner for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
9. The Circle: Season 4 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 14.1 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 68% (44 votes)
In this reality competition series, players who never (or very rarely) meet face to face use a proprietary app to jockey for popularity. Participants often “catfish” – posing as other people – and celebrities are sometimes involved. In Season 4, the celebs are former Spice Girls Mel B and Emma Bunton (Scary Spice and Baby Spice, respectively).
8. Heartstopper: Season 1 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 15.0 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 98% (3169 votes)
“Heartstopper” is a British series about two boys who meet at a secondary school and become friends – and whose friendship leads to romance. The series is based on the best-selling novels by Alice Oseman.
7. Workin’ Moms Season 6 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 19.2 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: NA% (1 votes)
This Canadian series – created by and starring Catherine Reitman, daughter of director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters,” “Meatballs,” “Kindergarten Cop,” etc. – is a sitcom revolving around the challenges and intrigues faced by a group of working mothers who originally meet in a mommy-and-me group.
6. Anatomy of a Scandal: Limited Series (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 25.0 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 43% (141 votes)
Part courtroom drama, part erotic thriller, part commentary on the concept of “consent,” “Anatomy of a Scandal: Limited Series” was about a sex scandal involving the British elite. Sienna Miller (“American Sniper”) and Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”) star in the series created by veteran TV producer/writer David E. Kelley (“Chicago Hope,” “Boston Legal).”
5. Selling Sunset: Season 5 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 28.3 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 57% (14 votes)
This is a reality series about the lives of young, flamboyant, female real estate brokers selling the priciest of the priciest real estate in Los Angeles. The series will return for a sixth season.
4. Grace and Frankie: Season 7 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 35.4 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 52% (27 votes)
“Grace and Frankie,” the Netflix comedy series about two longtime rivals who become friends after their husbands become lovers, concluded its seven-season run this year. The series featured the talents of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston, and Martin Sheen, all Emmy Award. The series was created by Marta Kauffman, who was a writer and producer of the long-running sitcom “Friends.”
3. Bridgerton: Season 2 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 37.3 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 80% (1028 votes)
Shonda Rhimes, who helmed hits such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” is the showrunner of “Bridgerton,” a period piece set in the 19th century that is more fantasy than history (a string quartet plays an instrumental version of Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next.”)
2. Lincoln Lawyer: Season 1 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 45.1 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 57% (14 votes)
The ubiquitous David E. Kelley created this series based on the novels by Michael Connelly (“Bosch”) about an L.A. defense attorney whose office is a chauffeur-driven Lincoln. Matthew McConaughey played the role of attorney Mickey Haller in a big-screen spinoff from the books, but here the part is played by Mexican actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (last seen in the Billy Bob Thornton-starring legal series “Goliath.”)
1. Ozark: Season 4 (2022)
> Total watch time, May 2 to May 15, 2022: 105.7 million hours
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (497 votes)
Starring Laura Linney and Jason Bateman – and offering a breakout role to Julia Garner as the feisty local character Ruth Langmore – “Ozark” was a dark story of crime and corruption involving a financial adviser from Chicago who launders money for a Mexican drug cartel on the shores of Missouri’s idyllic Lake of the Ozarks. The final season, broken up into two seven-episode parts, placed in the Netflix top 10 in 81 countries.