• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, November 4, 2022

In a comprehensive audit of this year’s TV Blog reviews, AMC+ and Amazon Prime both emerged as the top-ranked streaming services so far in 2022 in terms of thumbs-up vs. thumbs-down reviews.

They have each batted .1000 for new shows introduced from last January to the present that were reviewed here by the TV Blog, according to a TV Blog audit conducted by the TV Blog.

They were the only ones of the major subscription streaming services to achieve perfect scores of all positives vs. no negatives.

With approximately two months left in the year, this could change. But none of the other majors have a shot at a perfect score at this point in 2022.

What is the value of this audit and its results? I will leave that to statisticians and research professionals to decide.

The TV Blog acknowledges that the audit and its findings encompass -- and are likely affected by -- a number of variables.

They include the number of shows reviewed for each streaming service so far this year, and the proportion of positive vs. negative reviews for the streaming services whose shows were reviewed in greater number than those on AMC+ and Amazon Prime.

The other majors -- such as Netflix and Hulu, for example -- came in for positive and negative reviews for new shows introduced this year.

Also to be considered is the random manner in which new TV shows are chosen for review here. This process is anything but scientific.

Six AMC+ shows have come up for review so far this year.

The TV Blog liked them all -- “The Suspect,” “Moonhaven,” “Dark Winds” (pictured above), “The Ipcress File,” “61st Street” and “That Dirty Black Bag.” (Please note: Shows on AMC+ often turn up on co-owned AMC and Sundance Now and vice versa.)

I understand AMC+ lags behind the better-known, bigger streaming services that have garnered subscribers in the tens of millions.

Based on what I’ve seen, AMC+ should be right up there with them, if not past them, based on the consistent quality of the AMC+ shows.

Five shows on Amazon Prime came up for thumbs-up reviews -- “The Peripheral,” “A League of Their Own,” “The Terminal List,” “Reacher” and “As We See It.”

The streaming services with the most reviewed shows so far this year are Hulu and Netflix, both with 13 shows. 

Hulu’s record as of today is 8 positive reviews to 5 negative ones. Positive reviews included the comedies “Reboot,” “This Fool” and “Life and Beth”; and dramas “The Patient” and “The Dropout.”

The drama “Reasonable Doubt,” the comedy “How I Met Your Father” and the unscripted “The Kardashians” all came in for negative reviews on Hulu.

For Netflix, the score was 6 positive, 5 negative and 2 on the fence. Positives included the comedy “Blockbuster” and documentary “The Warhol Diaries.” Negative reviews included “Boo, Bitch” and “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.”

Overall, the quality of the original series on Netflix varies wildly, likely owing to the sheer amount of original content on the service.

Six shows were reviewed for Peacock with 4 positive (including “The Resort” and “Killing It”) and 2 negative reviews (“The End is Nye” and “Bel-Air”).

Seven HBO Max shows were reviewed. Thumbs-up reviews included “Tokyo Vice” and “George Carlin’s American Dream.” Thumbs-downs went to “Our Flag Means Death” and “Julia.”

Only two Paramount+ shows have made it into the TV Blog so far in 2022, and both were negatively reviewed -- “Beavis and Butt-head” and “The Offer” (the drama about the making of “The Godfather”).

No Disney+ or Apple TV+ shows have been reviewed so far this year.