New 9-Part Thriller Series Based On Bestselling Novel Dominates Multiple Streaming Despite Split Reviews

A new TV thriller adaptation is dominating the streaming charts, even though it's been getting very mixed reviews.

The page-to-screen pipeline is strong in 2026 on streaming and linear TV. Netflix released His & Hers, I Will Find You and Little House on the Prairie in recent months. Prime Video has Off Campus, and Apple TV is streaming Silo, while Peacock found success with The Five-Star Weekend. On cable, HBO is airing House of the Dragon season 3.

There's another cable series that just premiered on FX called The Shards that's already a hit after its August 5 debut. On Disney+, the show has made it up to No. 2 on the Top 10 TV list in the United States, behind X-Men '97 but ahead of Furious, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place and Blue Compilations.

Meanwhile, The Shards is No. 3 on Hulu's Top 15 overall list, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Furious in the top two spots, and Betrayal and General Hospital rounding out the Top 5.

The Shards, Ryan Murphy's newest small-screen project, is based on American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis' part-fiction/part-non-fiction novel. Murphy and Ellis created the FX series together, and serve as executive producers with Max Winkler, Nick Hall, Kathleen McCaffrey, Brian Young, Alexis Martin Woodall, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Braxton Pope, Tanase Popa and Michael Uppendahl.

Igby Rigney plays a 17-year-old Ellis on The Shards, which takes place in 1981 Los Angeles. The high school senior feels himself gravitating towards a new student named Robert Mallory, as the community is forced to reckon with a mysterious serial killer roaming the city.

Homer Gere, Hayes Warner, Graham Campbell, Evan Rachel Wood, Wes Bentley, Jordan Roth, Owen Painter and Daniel Dale also star on the nine-episode show.

Despite finding success on Hulu and Disney+'s streaming charts, The Shards has been receiving split reviews. It currently has a 54% score on Rotten Tomatoes among critics, who called the series superficial, unoriginal, trashy and absurd, though positive reviews claimed that Murphy is back to what he does best.

Audiences have been even more critical, giving The Shards a score of 39% and using words like boring, slow and unserious to describe Murphy's latest outing.

In just 2026 alone, Murphy has launched The Beauty, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette and The Shards, along with continuing his existing shows 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville. This fall will see the return of American Horror Story for its 13th season, as well as the fourth season of Monster, subtitled The Lizzie Borden Story.

Until then, The Shards will continue airing in the coming weeks. Reviews may be mixed, but viewership numbers are what matter most to the networks and streamers, which Murphy knows firsthand, especially after seeing the reception to the most recent season of Monster.

The Shards airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on FX and Hulu.