There’s a feud going down over at Prime Video in the U.S. right now where two of the platform’s newest titles are going head-to-head in a knock-down-drag-out fight that sees them duking it out for the top spot. Okay, so we might be making it sound much more dramatic than it is, but after a global streak that saw it fall from the number one position on Prime Video’s Top 10, Countdown is slowly but surely making a comeback, starting in the United States where it’s managed to fight off We Were Liars and reign supreme — if only for now.
The two productions couldn’t be more different, which is what makes their viewership beef all the more interesting and entertaining. The former is a high-octane law enforcement-centered production that stars Supernatural and The Boys alum, Jensen Ackles, and Grey’s Anatomy legend, Eric Dane. Meanwhile, We Were Liars is about as teen drama heavy as it gets, featuring the talents of Emily Alyn Lind (Doctor Sleep) as a young woman who grows up in extreme wealth, only to have her world flipped upside down by a traumatizing accident that causes her to lose her memory. Despite their massive and distinct differences, it seems there’s plenty of space for both Countdown and We Were Liars, with audiences proving to be just as hungry for an action-packed thrill ride as they are for a whodunnit-style mystery with flavors of hits of yesteryear like Gossip Girl.
‘Countdown’s Shocking Reviews
While viewers might be in agreement when it comes to their love for both Countdown and We Were Liars, critics are a completely different story. The former was one of the most eagerly anticipated projects of the summer, so it came as a huge shock to many when the reviews began pouring in. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics blasted Ackles’ big turn as an action star, slamming it with a 36% approval rating against the audience’s 72%. At Collider, Jeff Ewing fell in line with the latter group, rating it 8/10 and writing,
“As a whole, Countdown’s cast and character dynamics make for an engaging watch. The design of the series—combining a whole multi-agency team of agents who don’t play by the rules and have adept research and undercover skills—is a good premise for atypical plotting. The narrative also provides unexpected legs of the investigation that are often well-mined for a drama that stands out in a saturated subgenre. Taking advantage of characters’ knacks for undercover work, for example, puts them in novel situations throughout the season. These routinely distinct events mean that Countdown gets to set up and utilize a wide array of set pieces for action, drama, and suspense, including car stunts, tense prison situations, computer investigations, and deep cover ops.”
Source: Collider