Welcome to First Week Peak, a column which discusses shows that are about to premiere on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu, and/or Apple TV. Each discussion concludes with a prediction for the show's weekly peak performance on their respective streaming service's U.S. trending chart, including a reader poll. Final results can be found in our weekly What's Trending On Streaming column. Let us know what you think in the comments!
King of the Hill (Season 15)Premieres: July 20 on Hulu
Genre: Adult animated comedy
The first season of Hulu's King of the Hill revival was an undeniable success. It notched 4.4 million views in its first week and drove significant viewing to the 13 FOX seasons. This lead to four weeks on Nielsen's Top 10 list and a #1 debut on Hulu. If the 15th season (Hulu's second) performs anything like the 14th (Hulu's first), it too will prove King of the Hill to have been worthy of a revival. Plus, with soon to be 279 episodes under its belt, it will take far less views per episode for King of the Hill to make a splash than it would for a brand new series. Hulu also isn't dominated by anything in particular right now. This makes it easier to sneak in at least one day at #1, even if it doesn't perform quite as well overall this season.
While King of the Hill did debut at #1 on Hulu, it only notched three days in the top spot. This season also does not have the benefit of the curiosity factor, and is far less likely to boost catalog episodes. Also, fellow adult animated series Rick and Morty, which calls Hulu one of its two streaming homes, could only muster a #4 peak for its most recent episode.
Premieres: July 23 on HBO Max
Genre: Single-camera comedy
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe already owns a promising 5.6 Attention Score, which demonstrates an organic interest in The Big Bang Theory's latest spinoff. HBO Max is a familiar platform for Big Bang IP fans, as it houses all 12 seasons of the hit series and all seven of its spinoff, Young Sheldon.
Much like Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, the very existence of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe feels a bit forced. HBO Max is also currently being dominated by HBO's House of the Dragon, which has an astounding 33.7 Buzz Score. HBO Max is also hardly known for their original series anymore. Stuart will become their first ongoing comedy now that Hacks has ended, and their only ongoing live-action series other than The Pitt. Viewers could check out the first episode of Stuart, see it as a throwaway Big Bang spinoff that would've aired on TBS before the streaming era, and quickly move on.
Premieres: July 23 on Paramount+
Genre: Sci-fi drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds now has 30 episodes to its name from its previous three seasons. If the fourth season premiere can boost viewership for previous episodes, it will have an easier time climbing Paramount+'s chart than something with fewer episodes. It's also a known presence on Paramount+'s Top 10 list, having made the chart every week in Season 3.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' third season never reached #1 on Paramount+, often stalling around #5-#7. Its peak was a #2 premiere, where it was held off of the top spot by Criminal Minds. This season, it will also have to top a dominant Criminal Minds if it were to reach #1.
Premieres: July 23 on Netflix
Genre: Romantic neo-Western
Ransom Canyon did well when it premiered last April on Netflix. It spent its first two weeks at #1 on their TV Shows chart in the US, dipped to #3 the following week, and spent a fourth week on the chart sitting at #7. If its first season could notch two weeks at #1, it seems plausible on paper that its second season could get at least a day.
The initial appeal for Ransom Canyon has died down. The series failed to crack Netflix's Top 900 in the H1 2026 What We Watched report, mustering just 2.7 million views. Its Attention Score is a lackluster 2.2, which puts it #55 on Netflix at the moment. That will surely rise once it premieres, but likely hardly enough to surpass their most popular shows, even if it were to match its 28.3 peak from its first season. Most importantly, now that Netflix is openly focusing on "quality over quantity," they may be less inclined to actively promote a show whose popularity has waned as they seemingly look for an excuse to cancel shows.