Daredevil Knocks House of Cards out of Top Spot on Netflix

daredevil highest rated netflix show

A lot of people were watching this race very closely.

Eventually something had to knock House of Cards, Breaking Bad and Sherlock out of the top spot on Netflix, and this weekend Netflix original Daredevil did just that.

The comic book superhero was given another chance after the mediocre film from 2003 didn’t leave critics or fans of the series particularly impressed. Netflix, in a partnership with Marvel to produce four superhero originals, launched Daredevil in April 2015, immediately impressing fans and critics alike as both the production and acting in this television series gave the film a very authentic feel remaining true to the original Daredevil creation.

GoScoop.tv caught the change this weekend that Daredevil had just become the highest rated content on Netflix, dethroning House of Cards, a mainstay on that list for years since its first season launched in 2013. No sign yet as to whether or not this will end up in a similar feud to that of The Shawshank Redemption versus The Godfather on IMDB’s top 250 film list but we could certainly see the two shows duking it out on Netflix as each progress.

A few general theories:

  1. Daredevil has a more fanatical fanbase that felt Netflix respected their love for the Daredevil franchise and didn’t cheapen the experience at all, thus they rewarded the streaming service and show by taking the time to rate it positively to express their satisfaction.
  2. The third season of House of Cards was arguably the weakest yet, leading to an increase in lower ratings of the show.
  3. Some recency bias has come into effect, resulting in Daredevil having an inflated rating that will likely balance out when “casual observers” start streaming the series and giving it more modest ratings.

The overall high ratings of Daredevil has certainly been well deserved, but even the biggest fans are slightly worried that expectations have now become too high. In other words, the second season is almost set up to fail just because of how impressed people were with season one.

No matter who is at the top of the list, Netflix is clearly a winner either way.