When Peacock became the streaming hub for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, it didn’t quite go to plan, with users complaining about limited viewing options and a glitchy interface. It was, to quote NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus, a “big digital middle finger,” as well as a microcosm of Peacock’s early days: a streamer that had yet to find its footing. Fast-forward to the summer of 2024, and Peacock’s coverage of the Paris Olympics was a rousing success on multiple fronts. For one, you could watch any event on the platform in addition to Gold Zone, which was basically the Olympian equivalent of NFL RedZone. More importantly, Peacock’s viewership rose by one-third in July, the highest growth for any streaming service that month. By any measure, Peacock delivered on the big stage.
But while the streamer mastered its Olympics coverage, it’s not the kind of thing that’ll necessarily keep subscribers around for the long haul. (Some shrewd users might pay for Peacock for the duration of the Olympics, cancel it, and repeat the cycle in four years’ time.) Instead, what’ll really give Peacock a foothold in the Streaming Wars is a consistent stream (pun unintended) of must-watch programming. Depending on what you’re looking for, Peacock already has something to offer. On the sports front, NFL fans have access to Sunday Night Football, while soccer obsessives like myself get their Premier League fix on the platform. (Soon, Peacock will add NBA coverage to its sports catalog, which, unfortunately, comes at the expense of Inside the NBA, a show so sacred it should be protected in the Constitution.) There’s also plenty of reality TV to savor, from the Bravoverse to buzzy originals like The Traitors. But there’s one area where Peacock continues to flounder: scripted series.
With the notable exception of Poker Face, the Peabody- and Emmy-nominated crime comedy from Rian Johnson, Peacock hasn’t created many scripted dramas capable of cutting through the noise. Some of its prestige efforts have simply been bad (Apples Never Fall), premiered at a time when subscribers’ attention was pulled elsewhere (Those About to Die coincided with the Paris Olympics), or, worse yet, were pretty good but never found a sizable audience (The Resort). It’s harder than ever for original shows to command attention when they aren’t available on Netflix or attached to big-name IP, so this isn’t a Peacock-specific problem. Still, it doesn’t bode well for future series, however good, if their popularity on the service feels so capped.
Could capitalizing on spooky season change things for the better? From classic Universal monster movies—and their modern remakes—to Blumhouse hits like Get Out and M3GAN, NBCUniversal has long been a reliable home for horror. (Not to mention, there are enough horror fanatics out there to support a niche streamer catering to their interests, so demand for this stuff exists.) If the majority of Peacock’s prestige swings aren’t connecting with audiences, perhaps genre projects can move the needle.
In the past two weeks, Peacock has put that theory to the test by premiering two high-profile horror series, Teacup and Hysteria!, which scratch a different itch within the genre. In the James Wan–produced Teacup, a ranch in rural Georgia becomes enveloped in a mysterious, invisible force field that traps its unlucky inhabitants, who soon realize they aren’t alone in the woods. No less an authority than Stephen King has praised Teacup as “all killer, no filler.” Meanwhile, Hysteria! takes place in small-town Michigan at the height of the ’80s satanic panic, as a high school heavy metal band exploits the cultural moment to rebrand and gain more followers—even if it puts a target on their back. (The series also boasts an ’80s horror icon in The Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell, who plays the town’s police chief investigating a teenage boy’s disappearance.)
Between the two shows, Teacup is the one that holds plenty of promise. The mystery-box component of having characters trapped by sinister forces is a compelling hook, but the key to Teacup’s longevity is whether the biggest questions surrounding the series will deliver satisfying answers. Without giving too much away, I actually think Teacup would generate more buzz if audiences knew more about what iconic horror properties the show was aping and how they fit into the larger story, which is largely absent from the marketing. Long story short: If the idea of John Carpenter’s The Thing taking place on a rural farm sounds intriguing, Teacup is well worth a watch. (As one would expect given the Carpenter comp, Teacup boasts some gnarly body horror for all you sickos out there.)
Of course, The Thing is a tantalizing premise for single-location horror, but that makes it a better fit for a feature film rather than an eight-episode season of television. Teacup also has plenty of room for improvement, namely that its setup is far more interesting than any of the one-dimensional characters, who are mostly elevated by a talented ensemble that includes Yvonne Strahovski, Chaske Spencer, Scott Speedman, and Rob Morgan. The good news is that, should Teacup be renewed, its second season promises to have much bigger aspirations—expanding its scope to something more in the vein of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But a series like Teacup needs an engaged audience to go along for the ride; a mystery box might not have a future if nobody wants to unpack it in the first place.
Whereas Teacup’s biggest problem is that the show’s most marketable elements are withheld from viewers, Hysteria! fully embraces its similarities to the pop culture properties that inspired it. With an emphasis on punk teens and how a community views them while satanic panic is in the air, Hysteria! feels like Stranger Things’ Eddie Munson subplot stretched out to the length of a series, especially when it’s implied there’s a demonic presence making its way into the town. (That said, the sinister vibes are less Upside Down and more upside-down crosses.)
Unfortunately, Hysteria! can’t quite decide what type of show it wants to be; story lines alternate between teens forming a satanic cult as a marketing stunt for their heavy metal band (fun!), a religious zealot dialing up paranoia among the locals (one-note and tiresome), and a mother (played by Julie Bowen) who fears something evil has rooted itself in her home (underdeveloped). For a horror series, Hysteria! also commits the cardinal sin of never being all that scary, even when characters are supposedly possessed or buried alive in a satanic ritual. It’s all a bit too unfocused—mildly creepy in one scene, mildly amusing in the next, always unsure of itself. As a result, Hysteria! is resigned to a fate that’s arguably worse than simply being bad: It’s forgettable.
Forgettable isn’t what Peacock needs out of an original series, especially when almost every streamer on the market can boast some brand-defining hits. For some subscribers, Peacock is already filling a need, whether it’s through an impressive collection of reality TV or live sports offerings unique to its platform. (As long as NBCUniversal holds the rights to the Premier League, I’ll remain a loyal user.) But if Peacock is going to maintain a steady level of interest amid so many options, it can’t just rely on special events like the Olympics that come and go in a flash. Peacock is still making some headway in the Streaming Wars, but when it comes to scripted series, the service could stand to ruffle more feathers.
Miles Surrey
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