Jeffrey Dahmer Series ‘Monster’ Debuts At Rank No.1 With 196 Million Hours Viewed On Netflix

2022-10-21

The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the second re-telling of the life and crimes of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer that’s come out in the last five years alone, and the third take on his story in the past two decades. In 2017, Ross Lynch starred in the titular role My Friend Dahmer; 20 years ago, Jeremy Renner played him on the big screen. In Monster, Dahmer’s story is told yet again in the form of a limited series on Netflix created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, with Evan Peters as its star.

Ryan Murphy’s Jeffrey Dahmer series “Monster” overpowered the Netflix top 10 rankings this week, taking the No. 1 spot with 196.2 million hours viewed following its Sept. 21 premiere. During the Sept. 19-Sept. 25 viewing window, the 10-episode limited series knocked “Cobra Kai” Season 5 off of its pedestal and down to the third spot, according to Variety.

Season 2 of “Fate: The Winx Saga” stayed at the No. 2 spot for the second week. The second installment of the fantasy series, which premiered on the streamer on Sept. 16, earned nearly 61 million hours viewed in its first full week of availability. The show’s first season also appeared at No. 5, more than a year after its Jan. 2021 release. It received 20.3 million hours watched during the measured window.

Monster has become one of the streamer’s most-watched series since debuting on Sept. 23 and criticism over the show has grown as quickly as its popularity. Critics have questioned the need to revisit the story of a serial killer who targeted young men who were primarily Black and brown. Much of the discussion has focused on the way in which systemic racism allowed Dahmer to continue killing men. Some family members of the victims of Dahmer have also spoken out against the series, saying it has retraumatized them. The series also came under fire after Netflix tagged it as “LGBTQ” content (as drama over this choice arose on TikTok, Netflix quickly removed the label).

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The show was subjected to criticism almost immediately after its release. Most prominent among its detractors is Rita Isbell, the sister to Errol Lindsey, who was one of Dahmer’s victims. Isbell also gave an emotionally-charged victim impact statement at the killer’s 1992 sentencing. She wrote a personal essay for Insider, in which she detailed that she watched part of the show and was “bothered.” Isbell’s statement was recreated to add dramatic effect to the show, and she was played by actor DaShawn Barnes, according to the Time.

She wrote, “I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.” Isbell added, “But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid.”

At the center of a large portion of the show is Jeffrey Dahmer’s confession, which is the bridging point for delving into different parts of his life.

Given the reality that most of his victims were killed by him, he is the most definitive source on his own crimes. This makes it hard for us to really get a firm grasp on the events that happened when you consider that Dahmer was allegedly extremely drunk during his killings. So tragically, there is a lot that will likely never come to light.

What you perhaps wouldn’t know from the show is that the interrogation which brought about his confession went on for a whopping 60 hours. The detectives portrayed on the show, Detective Patrick Kennedy and Detective Dennis Murphy, were real, but some of the specific dialogue was made for the show (since the report is not an exact transcript).

It’s also worth noting that while the show frames the initial interrogation as the source of (most of) the information given about Dahmer’s early life, there are also details from later interviews with publications like MSNBC and Inside Edition which influence the story being told here.

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Sources: Radio Times, Variety, Time

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