The latest hit Netflix series "Wednesday," the "Addams Family" spin-off directed by Tim Burton, has reached a milestone that only "Stranger Things" season four and "Squid Game" managed to do. "Wednesday" exceeded 1.02 billion total hours viewed in just three weeks since its debut, the company announced, with over 150 million households streaming the show. That puts it now the second most popular English-language series on Netflix.

"Wednesday" debuted on November 16 and quickly evolved into a cultural phenomenon, inspiring billions of TikTokers, including "Mother Monster" herself, Lady Gaga, who recreated Jenna Ortega's (plays Wednesday Addams) choreographed dance scene in episode four, "Woe What a Night." The hashtag #wednesdayaddams has racked up 16.9 billion views on TikTok.

In addition, the wacky teen series served as the catalyst for the spikes in streams on "Goo Goo Muck" by The Cramps-of which, at this writing, have been streamed more than 16 million times on Spotify. Likewise, "Stranger Things" brought Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill," which has been trending up on both TikTok and Spotify since it was featured.

To be noted, "Wednesday" surpassed "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," the biographical drama series led by "American Horror Story" actor Evan Peters, from the silver medal. This earlier took the second spot on the most in-demand English-language series on Netflix. "Dahmer" reached 856.2 million hours in 28 days; "Wednesday" only 21 days was enough to become a smash hit. It took "Dahmer" 60 days to surpass 1 billion viewing hours.

This achievement is significant to the streaming giant, especially following the loss of over a million subscribers in 2022. The company finally gains 2.41 million subs in the third quarter. Also, during this year's Emmy awards, Netflix fell behind the rival HBO Max, only grabbing 26 wins versus HBO/HBO Max's 37.

Netflix is among the top nominees for the 2023 Golden Globe Awards, earning 14 TV nominations and nine film noms. “Wednesday” nabbed two nominations, including Best Television Series (Comedy) and Ortega was nominated for Best Actress.

Is there a likelihood that the show will win a Golden Globe? Most likely not. Still, any time an award-winning family-friendly show receives any recognition at any award show, that is huge news for Netflix, particularly since the series was a runner-up against some of the more popular shows including "Abbott Elementary" and "Only Murders in the Building.

One cannot help but note that "Wednesday" is, of course, a spin-off and therefore was practically guaranteed to attract a crowd of nostalgia enthusiasts. Well, the show does wonders: namely, it makes a very creative take on the original 1964 TV series as well as two movies from 1991 and 2019. It's also from the vision of Tim Burton, the genius behind "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands," and "The Nightmare Before Christmas." In contrast to "Stranger Things" and "Squid Game," which are each very distinct in their sense of wildness, however, "Wednesday" simply borrows what is perhaps the most overplayed strategy by which streamers are rebooting franchises ad nauseam until something stays.

Thus, while Netflix managed to pull it off this time around, the streaming giant needs to release more high-quality original series that have totally new concepts and characters if it wants to keep up with its rivals.