Fans have only been privy to the list of the 10 most popular shows on Max for just two weeks, but it’s proving to be a more effective advertisement for series that are on loan from AMC+ than it is for Max’s programming. Earlier this week, Killing Eve and Gangs of New York joined three other AMC+ series — Fear the Walking Dead, Interview with the Vampire, and A Discovery of Witches — in the top 10. Warner Bros. Discovery should be shaking in their boots because that’s half of this list, and all of those shows are going away at the end of October.
For the current update, Gangs of New York has fallen out of the top 10, while Killing Eve hangs on at number 10. This week’s update also underscores the popularity of animation on Max as Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake is the new No. 1 while Harley Quinn rose to the fourth slot in time for its season 4 finale. If Warner Bros. Discovery hadn’t sold off the upcoming animated series Batman: Caped Crusader to Amazon Prime Video earlier this year, then it could have had DC’s next breakout animation show as well.
But WBD will have plenty of time to kick themselves over that shortsighted decision in 2024. For today, September 16, these are the 10 most popular shows on Max right now.
Looking for something else? We’ve also rounded up the 10 most popular movies on Max, the best movies on Max, the best shows on Max, the best shows on Netflix, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best movies on Disney+. For Netflix fans, check out the 10 most popular movies on Netflix right now and the 10 most popular shows on Netflix right now.
10. Killing Eve (2018)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge created BBC America’s Killing Eve, which is on Max under the AMC+ banner. So, this show is only sticking around until the end of October. The series is based on Luke Jennings’ Villanelle novels, and begins when the titular assassin (as played by Jodie Comer in a star-making turn) comes to the attention of MI5 analyst Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh).
Eve is a very obsessive type, and she becomes preoccupied with everything about Villanelle, who in turn becomes obsessed with Eve. A cat-and-mouse game ensues as the two women continuously cross the line between love and hate with each other. The show does have its own spy mythology throughout its four-season run, but the reason people keep coming back to Killing Eve is to see what will happen to Eve and Villanelle in the end.
9. Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
The Walking Dead streaming rights are held by Netflix, so Max has the equivalent of Diet Walking Dead. Fear the Walking Dead has zero calories, and it’s about half as good as the original series. When the show began, it was about Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her fiance, Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis), and their kids in the early days of the zombie apocalypse. Most of the family has been killed off in the seasons that followed and the series is now largely indistinguishable from the first show.
Currently, the series revolves around TWD veteran Morgan Jones (Lennie James), although Dickens has reprised her role as Madison for the final season of the show.
8. Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets (2001)
Never doubt the power of the NFL. On a streaming service with thousands of programs, the number No. 1 show on Max this week is Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets, a documentary that follows the Jets through this year’s preseason.
This is going to be a pivotal season for the Jets since ex-Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has joined the team. Can Rodgers help the Jets make the playoffs and become a contender again? We won’t know for sure until around the halfway point of the upcoming NFL season. But this behind-the-scenes look at the team has proven to be irresistible to football fans.
7. 90 Day: The Last Resort (2023)
6. Interview with the Vampire (2022)
Interview with the Vampire is the second AMC original series on this list, and it’s closer in spirit to Anne Rice’s original novel than the 1994 feature film. In this retelling, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Game of Thrones’ Jacob Anderson) is a Black man who is recounting his life story to a reporter, Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), in the present.
In the past, Louis is seduced by Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and turned into an immortal vampire. However, their relationship is strained when Louis is allowed to turn a young girl named Claudia (Bailey Bass) into a vampire, and she proves far too willful to be an eternal child. Claudia even entices Louis to cut Lestat out of their lives forever, which is easier said than done.
5. Young Sheldon (2017)
The Big Bang Theory lives on through the prequel series, Young Sheldon, which features Iain Armitage as Sheldon Cooper, the extremely intelligent child of Mary (Zoe Perry) and George Cooper Sr. (Lance Barber). Sheldon is also extremely annoying and socially awkward, which complicates his relationships with his siblings George Marshall “Georgie” Cooper Jr. (Montana Jordan) and Melissa “Missy” Cooper (Raegan Revord). Sheldon’s redeeming quality is that he genuinely does love his family. He’s just not very good at expressing it.
4. Harley Quinn (2019)
Harley Quinn is one of the few DC Universe original series that is still going on Max, and its placement on this list confirms that it’s a strong performer. That may be a good sign for a season 5 renewal. Kaley Cuoco headlines the series as Harley Quinn, the long-time lover and sidekick of The Joker (Alan Tudyk) who finally breaks up with the Clown Prince of Crime and charts her own course in Gotham City.
This is the most profane and darkly hilarious DC series to date. In the fourth season, Harley is attempting to be a superhero worthy of the Batman family while her girlfriend, Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), is leading the Legion of Doom. That’s putting some serious strain on their relationship, but Harley and Ivy still need to come together in the face of a threat to the entire world.
3. A Discovery of Witches (2018)
Surprisingly, the supernatural drama, A Discovery of Witches, has outperformed every other AMC series on Max’s TV show rankings. Perhaps that’s because of the unexpected romance at the heart of the show between a witch, Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer), and a vampire, Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode).
When the series begins, Diana has largely turned her back on magic while embracing a life in academia. But when Diana comes across a long-missing document, Ashmole 782, she may hold the secrets to three different supernatural species: witches, vampires, and daemons. And when that attracts unwanted attention from multiple factions, Matthew may be the only person whom she can trust.
2. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)
1. Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake (2023)
Adventure Time’s new spinoff miniseries, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, is not only a sequel to the original show, it also charts a new direction for the ex-Ice King, Simon Petrikov (Tom Kenny), Back when he was a crazy ice immortal, Simon wrote about the adventures of Fionna (Madeleine Martin) and Cake the cat (Roz Ryan), unaware that they were real beings in a different part of the multiverse.
When this series picks up, Fionna and Cake are trapped in a world without magic, while Simon feels boxed in by his life in the Land of Ooo. This unlikely trio is destined to come together, but they soon find that someone wants all three of them erased from existence.
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