Nov. 21st is National Television Day in the United States, a day for individuals, broadcasters, and media organizations to reflect on the impacts that television has had on society. The societal impacts of television will vary from year to year as different shows grab hold on the public every year. Shows like ‘Friends’ and ‘Seinfeld’ dominated the airwaves in the 1990s and early 2000s, influencing society in much different ways than shows such as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ did in more recent years.
With National Television Day upcoming, BetCalifornia.com decided to break from California sports betting updates and see which shows have been influencing the population most in 2023. To do this, we utilized IMDB’s list of the top 50 TV shows in 2023 and then we used AhRefs to narrow down the list to the five most searched shows of the year. The shows that qualified were “The Last of Us,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Mandalorian,” “Succession,” and “The Bear.” We then utilized Google Trends to search each TV show to see the highest level of interest of each state for the show since January 1st, 2023.
Most Watched TV Shows in California in 2023
Below you'll find some information you wouldn't see on California betting apps, the top three TV shows in the Golden State for 2023.
The Top Three TV Shows in California
Like much of the country, California’s top TV show for 2023 has been “The Last of Us”, a post-apocalyptic drama series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. “Succession” and “The Mandalorian” rank second and third in the state.
In “The Last of Us”, a global pandemic has destroyed civilization as we know it and Pascal’s character takes charge of a 14-year-old girl, played by Ramsey, who appears to be humanity’s last hope. The show is based on a popular video game, which helps explain its massive popularity. The video game's popularity combined with the country’s recent experience with a global pandemic is a deadly combination when it comes to generating viewership, making it no surprise that the show tops the rankings.
“Succession” is a very unique show in that each character is, for lack of a better term, terrible. However, the show studies each character in detail, focusing on that area rather than captivating audiences with deep storylines.
“The Mandalorian” follows a completely different route to the top. Like so many of today’s shows, it is a spin-off of a popular movie or show from past years. As part of the Star Wars family, the show got an instant boost of popularity from Star Wars fans while also reaching a completely new demographic of viewers who weren’t even alive when Star Wars was at its most popular.
There are many types of TV shows and the list of favorites has already shown the diversity in offerings with two very different shows topping the list in California. Despite the shows being so different, many Californians have no doubt enjoyed all of them as they take different routes to influencing society in different ways.
Author
Cecil Peters is a Senior Betting Analyst for BetCalifornia.com. A professional sports bettor in Canada, Cecil specializes in analyzing the latest odds impacting professional sports teams, with a focus on Toronto's favorite players and teams including the Maple Leafs.
