The new Apple TV+ Evil Monkey is one of the biggest TV shows in streaming right now — the actually by some standards, the biggest – and, to be honest, that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
Evil Monkey is something of a Florida Man of TV shows. It’s one of a kind. It’s completely over the top. It’s as if sun-scorched coastal excesses were packaged into the format of a TV series, complete with bright splashes of tropical color, wacky characters, and a babbling protagonist who could only exist in the Sunshine State. You watch a show like this for the same reason you visit Palm Beach – for the vibe, baby! (okay, and maybe for the water views too).
In the new Apple series based on Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel of the same name, Vince Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, a former Miami police detective who now works as a health inspector in the Florida Keys after pissing off the wrong people. Just to give you an idea of what a, shall we say, colorful series this is: It begins with a fishing tourist discovering a severed arm floating in the water, the middle finger still hilariously extended thanks to a bizarre case of rigor mortis. You’ll just have to wait a few episodes to find out who the arm belonged to, but… yeah.
According to the streaming search engine Reelgood Evil Monkey is the No. 1 show on all streaming channels this week. “After two episodes, I’m a big fan of Apple TV’s Evil Monkey”, enthused @CinemaTweets1 on X/Twitter. “Between Sugar, For lack of evidenceand now Evil MonkeyApple will continue to release high-quality shows throughout 2024.”
Indeed. In addition, the show currently sits at 75% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes and 92% critics, which is a good result for creator Bill Lawrence’s third Apple TV+ series (after Ted Lasso And shrinkage). Reelgood, by the way, monitors 20 million viewing decisions each month across all streaming platforms in the US, from Apple TV+ to Max, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+ and more.
For the 7-day period ending August 21, the following 10 TV shows top Reelgood’s latest weekly rankings:
- Evil Monkey (AppleTV+)
- The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
- industry (HBO/Max)
- The bear (FX/Hulu)
- Out of (PrimeVideo)
- For lack of evidence (AppleTV+)
- Emily in Paris (Netflix)
- Time Bandits (AppleTV+)
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Netflix)
- Devilish (Outstanding+)
I must say: As absurd as Evil Monkey is, it is super-entertaining. This should come as no surprise considering that Lawrence’s TV production throughout his career (back to NBC’s Scrubs) is some of the most consistently entertaining stuff I’ve ever seen from a television producer.
At the time of writing this article, three Evil Monkey 10 episodes are currently streaming on Apple TV+. In the meantime, if you want to delve deeper into some of the other TV shows that are particularly hot right now, you can check out our previous coverage of several other titles in Reelgood’s latest rankings – including The Umbrella Academy, industry, The bear, For lack of evidence, Emily in ParisAnd A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
