New 19-Book Crime Series Adaptation Instantly Dominates Streaming Despite Lackluster Reviews

Published Aug 10, 2026, 5:18 PM EDT

Though impossible to directly pin down what started the trend, beyond the ever-growing list of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot incarnations, the detective novel adaptation genre has undergone an intense boom over the past decade. This has ranged from the George R.R. Martin-executive-produced Dark Winds to Titus Welliver's Bosch franchise and ABC's Will Trent, among many others.

As many gear up for new seasons to premiere later this year, the genre's latest outing has arrived, and comes with a range of successful stories behind it. In addition to being based on a novel franchise comprised of nearly 20 titles, the series has a showrunner with a strong familiarity with the crime procedural genre, as well as a fan-favorite star making her TV return, all of which looks to have given it a big early boost in streaming.

Anna Pigeon Is Already A Streaming Hit After Just One Episode

It Has A Unique Reason For Doing So

Developed by Rookie Blue co-creator Morwyn Brebner, Anna Pigeon serves as an adaptation of Nevada Barr's eponymous detective, who leaves her life in New York City behind following a tragedy to work as a park ranger in Montana's Glacier National Park. Tracy Spiridakos, fresh off of saying farewell to the One Chicago universe, leads the show's star-studded cast that also features the likes of Wynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano, Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer and Ghosts' Crystle Lightning, among others.

Now, just a few days after the show made its debut on the USA Network and Crave in Canada, Anna Pigeon has instantly taken to dominating streaming on Fandango At Home. At the time of writing, the new crime series is currently holding the No. 1 spot on the platform, being situated ahead of various seasons of the hit sci-fi series The Ark and CBS' The Big Bang Theory and AMC's The Walking Dead.

Spiridakos' show skyrocketing to first on streaming comes as an interesting twist for the series given Anna Pigeon's limited streaming availability as of now. Though it's yet to crack its home streamer's charts, the crime show is only available to stream in the U.S. on Fandango at Home, being available for free with ads, unlike most other shows streaming on whichever platform is owned by the network's parent company. In Anna Pigeon's case, this would have been NBCUniversal's Peacock, though the channel's spinoff under the Versant banner made it no longer under NBCUniversal.

Anna Pigeon's Streaming Success Is A Win Against Critics

Reviews Have Been Split On The New Series

Michelle Faye/USA Network

Though most new shows tend to enjoy early success on streaming upon their debuts, Anna Pigeon's limited availability isn't the only reason its No. 1 dominance is so noteworthy, as Spiridakos' show also hasn't gotten off to the best start with critics. Based on seven calculated reviews at the time of writing, the One Chicago alum's new crime series has a lackluster 43% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, a drop from its 50% score that debuted with its premiere.

With no Audience score yet on the review aggregate, it's hard to fully gauge exactly just how viewers are feeling about Anna Pigeon. There are only four viewer reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, two of which are 1/5 stars, while the others are 4/5, making for an even more underwhelming average of 25%. Fandango's community rating, on the other hand, which is solely based on stars from viewers, features a 4.5/5 score based on 21 reviews, indicating those who have tuned in there are enjoying it.

Given there are still seven episodes remaining in Anna Pigeon's first season, there is not only plenty of time for more viewers to tune in and share their love for the series, but also boost it to further streaming success across both Fandango at Home and Crave. This would also go a long way to securing the show's future, given season 1 has only adapted the first two of Barr's 19 novels.

New episodes of Anna Pigeon air Fridays at 10 p.m. EST on the USA Network and Crave.

Release Date August 7, 2026

Network USA Network

Writers Morwyn Brebner, Noelle Carbone

Cast

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  Ronnie Rowe

  Frederick Stanton

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  Tracy Spiridakos

  Anna Pigeon