‘From’ Just Escaped the Town and Took Over Nielsen, Proving the Netflix Effect Is Still Real
Some TV shows spend years building a loyal following in a quiet corner of streaming before the wider world catches on. ‘From,’ the supernatural horror series about a nightmarish town nobody can leave, is a textbook case. The show has been a flagship for MGM+, which called it the network’s most-viewed series ever, but its audience has stayed relatively contained.
That changed in a big way last month. Netflix has a long track record of giving older or acquired shows a second life, and its library is now doing the same for this cult favorite.
After the first 3 seasons arrived on Netflix on October 19, ‘From’ racked up 1.65 billion minutes of viewing across 30 available episodes during the week of October 19. That was enough to make it the No. 1 show on Nielsen’s streaming chart, and it is the largest weekly total for any acquired series so far this year.
The result is even more notable given who it beat. ‘The Diplomat,’ also on Netflix, added 200 million minutes in its second week to reach 1.19 billion and finished No. 2 overall, which made it the top streaming original, since ‘From’ counts as an acquired title. That was growth of about 21% from the 983 million minutes it logged the week before, so ‘From’ had to top a rising rival.
‘From’ wasn’t the only established title to do well. ‘The Big Bang Theory’ placed third with 867 million minutes, followed by ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in fourth with 845 million. Further down, ‘The Terminal List’ landed fifth with 830 million minutes, ‘Crystal Lake’ came in seventh with 790 million, and ‘Love Is Blind’ took eighth with 780 million.
The previous week’s top 2 shows, ‘Below’ and ‘Carrie,’ both fell out of the overall top 10 in their third weeks, which left the door open for a newcomer to take over. It is worth remembering what these numbers do and don’t capture. Nielsen’s streaming ratings count only viewing on TV sets, leave out computers and mobile devices, and measure only U.S. audiences, so the real audience is likely larger than the total suggests. The figure also reflects accumulated minutes across all 3 available seasons rather than a simple headcount.
For anyone just discovering the series, the premise is easy to explain. ‘From’ follows a group of isolated people stuck in a town they cannot escape, with Harold Perrineau leading the ensemble as Boyd Stevens, the town’s self-appointed sheriff. The cast also includes Catalina Sandino Moreno as Tabitha Matthews and Eion Bailey as Jim Matthews.
Critics have been kind to the series. Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores sit at 96% for season 1, 93% for season 2, 100% for season 3 and 96% for season 4. Reviews also point to some recurring complaints, including slow mystery-box pacing and frequent comparisons to ‘Lost,’ but Perrineau’s lead performance is widely praised.
There is a catch for people who finish the Netflix seasons. Season 4, a 10-episode run that premiered on MGM+ on April 19 and wrapped on June 28, isn’t part of the Netflix release, so viewers will need MGM+ to keep going.
The wait for the finale is getting shorter, as the fifth and final season is expected in the spring. The creators have teased that the last chapter will prioritize character drama over checking off every unresolved mystery. There is more good news for fans abroad too, since starting November 24, ‘From’ is set to stream in many more Netflix regions, including the United Kingdom, where in many places it will be the first time the show is available at all.
"What happens next… is my favorite part." Watch the teaser trailer for FROM Season 4, premiering April 19th on MGM Plus. https://t.co/4ny3EVBBnY
— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) February 4, 2026
The momentum began almost immediately. The show reached Netflix’s U.S. top 10 just 2 days after its arrival, and Perrineau had been teasing the move beforehand. With the Netflix audience now discovering the series and a final season on the horizon, ‘From’ is entering its last stretch with more eyes on it than ever.
What are you most excited about when it comes to ‘From’?
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