Why Netflix's Monster Series Is So Popular Despite 4 Seasons Of Low RT Scores

Although Netflix’s true-crime series Monster has never been popular with critics, its dwindling popularity with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes makes the show’s continued streaming success something of a mystery. Much like the Yellowstone franchise’s Taylor Sheridan and Bridgerton’s Shonda Rhimes, Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy has never allowed a bad review to get in the way of his small-screen dominance.

Murphy is one of the biggest producers on television, but his track record with critics is spotty at best. While early seasons of Glee, the plastic surgery drama series Nip/Tuck, and the horror anthology show American Horror Story were all initially lauded as cult classics, Murphy also has a string of high-profile flops to his name, as well as some divisive efforts. Ratched, Doctor Odyssey, and Grotesquerie all struggled to win over critics, while 2025’s legal drama All’s Fair was roundly written off as one of the worst TV shows ever made.

More concerningly, Murphy shows like Feud, American Crime Story, Love Story, Hollywood, and even some seasons of American Horror Story have been criticized for taking major creative liberties despite their ostensible “Based on a true story” credentials. This has never been more controversial and divisive than in the case of the Netflix true crime anthology Monster, which centers on a new notable real-life murderer in each season. However, despite borrowing from real-life cases, a worthy follow-up to Netflix’s Mindhunter, this show is not.

Monster's New Season Continues A Disappointing Rotten Tomatoes Trend

2022’s Monster season 1, “The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” was met with controversy when families of the titular serial killer’s victims accused the series of misrepresenting the facts of his case, trivializing the trauma they endured, and offering insufficient screen time to the stories of Dahmer’s victims. 2024’s season 2, “The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” earned critical acclaim for the central performances of Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, but proved even more divisive thanks to its slippery relationship with reality.

In what would emerge as an unfortunate pattern for the series, these criticisms were drowned out by the outsized commercial success of the series, as "The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" went on to become one of Netflix’s biggest shows of 2024. The series reached its nadir with 2025’s “The Ed Gein Story,” a misguided mess that managed to mangle basic facts of the killer’s case, as well as introducing some bizarre creative liberties that made a mockery of the entire season.

As documented in YouTube creator Medusone’s superb takedown of season 3, “The Ed Gein Story” gave the real-life killer a bizarre new voice, invented an imaginary and problematic link between him and real-life closeted Psycho star Anthony Perkins, and desecrated the memory of his acquaintance Adeline Watkins beyond repair. All three seasons of the series were met with underwhelming critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes, but the show's audience score has also notably grown lower with each new season, culminating in 2026’s season 4, “The Lizzie Borden Story.”

Monster Still Finds Immense Success On Netflix

Starring Ella Beatty, Vicky Krieps, Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, Billie Lourd, and Sarah Paulson, “The Lizzie Borden Story” is by no means short on star power. The show also boasts the benefit of historical distance, since its title character was accused of killing her father and stepmother in 1892. While these deaths may have been a tragedy, the historical distance between the 1890s and 2020s means the families of the murder victims were less likely to be affected than those of the Menendez brothers, Dahmer, or even Gein.

However, season 4’s story lost this advantage when Monster managed to bring Aileen Wuornos into Borden’s story, mashing together recent and historical true-crime history in another ham-fisted attempt at unsubtle social commentary. While “The Lizzie Borden Story” fared slightly better with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, earning 47% compared to the risible 22% rating of “The Ed Gein Story,” its audience rating tells a different story.

“The Lizzie Borden Story” earned only 35% from audience members on Rotten Tomatoes, an even worse rating than the 49% that audiences gave “The Ed Gein Story.” This was already a major step down from the 57% received by "The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” which was itself a big disappointment after audiences gave “The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” an 82% approval rating. Despite this, however, “The Lizzie Borden Story” has been #1 in the US since its debut.

Previous seasons also fared well on streaming charts, with “The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” still being one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time. This trend proves that, while critics were quick to question the merits of Monster and viewers caught up only a year or two later, the show has still drawn in viewers despite its dwindling critical credibility.

Will Monster Continue On Netflix Beyond Season 4?

The most apparent reason for the show’s continued success is something it shares with Murphy’s recent Hulu series The Shards, based on the book of the same name by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis. Both every season of Monster and The Shards are lurid, graphic serial killer thrillers that purport to have something meaningful to say underneath their gratuitous gore and gruesome thrills, and this mix of ostensibly thoughtful true crime commentary and unapologetically bloody action is clearly still appealing to major mainstream audiences.

As a result, despite the show’s brutal reviews and its gradually weakening Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, there is no reason to think that Monster will end anytime soon. On the contrary, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Murphy’s co-creator Ian Brennan plans to do “At least 10” seasons of the series, provided he and his co-creator can find enough compelling subjects to focus on in future outings.

Per Brennan’s interview, Brennan said that he and Murphy were determined to do 10 seasons of the series, although they are currently unsure which of three or four potential different subjects will be the focus on season 5 of the anthology series. Thus, it seems like there will be a longer break between seasons 4 and 5 than the one-year gap between seasons 3 and 4.

After all, Lizzie Borden was already announced as season 4’s focus by the time The Ed Gein Story was released. However, regardless of season 5’s release schedule, one thing is clear. Any viewers waiting to see Monster’s Rotten Tomatoes rating hurt the Netflix show’s longevity will need to keep waiting for the foreseeable future, as the series shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.