Media Review: Most Watched Shows of 2022

Our January tradition is the annual media review, where we take a look at the previouis years top movies, music, shows and podcasts, evaluate the messages they present about relationships and let you know whether they are healthy or unhealthy. Today, we’ll be focusing on the top 6 shows of 2022, and the number one for most watched was a huge surprise. Stick around as we dive in!

The most watched shows of 2022, according to TV Time.com, are:

6. The Walking Dead

5. House of the Dragon

4. The Office

3. Grey’s Anatomy

2. Stranger Things and coming in at number one,

1. One Piece

Now, some of these shows have been in the most watched for years now, and were no surprise. The staying power of the Office, now nearly 10 years after it’s final season aired, is a true testament to its high-quality comedy and characters that keep people coming back. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, had viewers tuning in for its final season after waiting to see what the fate of the few remaining survivors, particularly Darryl and Carol, the final two left from the first season. (I mean, technically Judith was in-utero, so we’ll count her, too.) House of the Dragon pulled in viewers who were both unsatisfied with the series’ predecessor, Game of Thrones’, mixed bag of a series finale’ as well as those who just wanted more dragon-centric fantasy tales, and Grey’s Anatomy is still appealing to some people. Apparently, there is a large enough demographic of people who want to watch hospital based soap opera’s at night to keep this one running strong for 19 seasons. Stranger Things shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone, as it single-handedly pushed a fairly obscure and mostly forgotten 80’s song into the top-ten most streamed list due to its use in the show. The crazy thing is, it wasn’t even the best use of music in story-telling in that show last season. An argument could be made for Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” taking that slot or, in my opinion, the revamped version of Journey’s “Separate Ways,” which were both expertly utilized, as well. And then, there’s One Piece; the historic anime series with now over 1,000 episodes telling the tale of Monkey D. Luffy in his quest to become the Pirate King. So, there’s the basic rundown of last years most-watched shows, but what messages are we picking up from zombie fighters, office workers and pirate adventurers?

TV shows hit differently than movies. Long running series’ allow us to become much more invested in the worlds and lives of the characters who live in them. That’s why we took it so personally when Jim moved back to Scranton but was in a relationship with Karen. We knew that Jim was supposed to be with Pam, so even though Karen was nice and all, we hated her because she was taking Pam’s spot. Later on, we hated Brian, the boom mic operator, even more when he tried to take advantage of a difficult time in Jim and Pam’s marriage by using it to get closer to Pam. We had watched these characters come together over multiple years by that point, so we couldn’t help but get sucked into the drama of the situation and hope that everything would work out. That’s probably why some people keep watching Grey’s Anatomy, but who knows? That show looks lame. But, what makes us care so much about certain characters over others? In a show like the Walking Dead, sometimes you have clear good guys and clear bad guys, but sometimes those characters switch places and sometimes you have conflicted characters who don’t fall neatly into either camp. In Stanger Things, we saw the similarities between Eleven and One, Elle and Vecna, but while one used his power to kill and destroy, the other fought to protect and defend those she loved. As Luffy sails around the world pursuing his dream, he is met by new friends and foes, and we see him grow from a young child and into maturity. So, what can we learn from all of these crazy shows we keep watching?

The stories that capture us speak to something inside of us that we often don’t see or have a hard time identifying. The childlike longing for adventure is harshly juxtaposed to our extremely common and mundane lives of going to school, working a job, clocking in/clocking out, and then doing it all again tomorrow. We are drawn to adventure because we were created for it! We aren’t meant for a sedentary lifestyle, sitting in front of screens for 8hrs just so that we can go home and sit in front of another screen for a few more hours until we go to sleep. It’s physically very unhealthy for us, but it also breaks down our spirit to feel like we are just a cog in a wheel. That’s not saying that we are all meant to go out and become cartoon pirates, but each day we are faced with choices that will face us with risk, challenges and potential rewards. Our hearts are aching for adventure, not just to watch one as a spectator but to be caught up in one. For some of us, that adventure will look like starting a new career path, starting a new relationship, learning a new skill or pursuing a life dream. If you never learn to take those chances and risk the mistakes and failures that are bound to come with them, then you are doomed to the misery of safety which, as I hinted at earlier, isn’t even truly safe. Once you’ve decided to start moving towards a new adventure, how do you know which direction to go and which risks to take?

There is something to be said for the adventurer, the explorer going off on dangerous quests seeking nothing but the thrill. Those people have more going on than the ones who risk nothing, but while skydiving and rollercoasters can be fun for a moment, excitement is always temporary and can’t be the driver of our decisions. The miserable safe person will be a horrible companion because they’re too throttled by fear to experience the joy of success after trials. On the other hand, the thrill seeker is also an unworthy partner because, while they may be fun for a time, their spouse will soon realize that they were just another thrill they were chasing and won’t be able to satisfy them for very long. While they are vastly different in their approach, these are both two sides on the same spectrum. Both the safe miser and the thrill seeker are building their lives around themselves – it's just self-protection vs self-fulfillment. We were made, however, to love other people. Our greatest fulfillment comes not in preservation or hedonism but living a life doing what we were made for. If God is the source of everything we need, then we don’t have to worry about our own safety.

"And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. - Luke 12:25-31

We, also, will never find satisfaction in vain pursuits. The adventure of life that our heart yearns for is the one that God is calling us to; it’s the adventure of loving Him and, out of that, loving those around us. This is not the easy road and it is definitely not the safe road, but it is the only road that leads to life!