Only Murders in the Building season 1

The first season of the American mystery comedy-drama television series Only Murders in the Building, often abbreviated as OMITB, premiered on August 31, 2021, on Hulu. The series follows a trio of strangers (played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez), all with a shared interest in true crime podcasts, who become friends while investigating murders in their apartment building, and producing their own podcast about the cases. The season also stars Aaron Dominguez and Amy Ryan.
In January 2020, Hulu greenlit Only Murders in the Building for a straight-to-series order. Filming for the season began in December 2020, and wrapped in April 2021. The season consists of ten episodes, and had a three-episode premiere on August 31, 2021. The season became the most-watched comedy premiere in Hulu's history.
The season received critical acclaim. It received 17 nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, with three wins. It also received the Seal of Authentic Representation from the Ruderman Family Foundation and The ReFrame Stamp for hiring people of underrepresented gender identities, and of color.
Co-creator and star Steve Martin conceived of the idea for Only Murders in the Building decades before its premiere. His original idea involved three elderly men who discover that they are all obsessed with solving crimes, but are too old and tired to go outside, so they decide to solve crimes that are only in the building. The idea later developed with one of the old men changed to a younger woman.
In January 2020, it was announced Hulu had greenlit a straight-to-series order for a then untitled half-hour serialized comedy created by Martin and John Hoffman, with Martin, Martin Short, and Hoffman as executive producers, alongside Dan Fogelman, with 20th Television serving as the studio.
Alongside the initial announcement, it was announced Martin and Short would star in the series. In August 2020, Selena Gomez joined the cast as the series' third main lead, and also serves as an executive producer. In November 2020, Aaron Dominguez joined the cast in a series regular role, confirmed to be playing the character of Oscar. In January 2021, Amy Ryan joined the cast in a series regular role and Nathan Lane joined the cast in a recurring role. In addition to the main cast, the season also features multiple guest stars, such as Tina Fey, Jackie Hoffman and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. Sting appears as a fictionalized version of himself.
The pilot episode was written by co-creators Martin and Hoffman, with Hoffman also co-writing the final two episodes of the season. The rest of the episodes in the season were written by Kirker Butler, Ben Smith, Kristin Newman, Thembi L. Banks, Madeleine George, Kim Rosenstock, Stephen Markley, Ben Philippe, Matteo Borghese, Rob Turbovsky and Rachel Burger.
Principal photography for the season began on December 3, 2020, in New York City. Filming concluded in April 2021. The Belnord was used for exterior shots of the Arconia, the fictional apartment building featured in the series.
The soundtrack for the season was wholly composed by Siddhartha Khosla. A digital album for the score was released on August 27, 2021, four days before the season's debut.
The season premiered on August 31, 2021, with the first three episodes on Hulu. Subsequent episodes released weekly until the season finale on October 19, 2021. Disney+ Hotstar released the series in select territories on September 3, 2021. The first season made its broadcast television premiere on ABC on January 2, 2024; episodes were edited to meet broadcast standards and practices and follow FCC rules.
On September 3, 2021, it was reported that the first season of Only Murders in the Building set a record for the most-watched comedy premiere in Hulu's history. On October 28, 2021, Hulu Originals president Craig Erwich said in an interview with Vulture that the season had become the most-watched comedy ever on Hulu "by a good measure." In the same article, Vulture reported that, according to Parrot Analytics, the season went from having around 16 times the audience demand in the U.S. as an average show when it debuted on August 31 to generating 37 times typical demand by the time the season finale dropped on October 19. After the finale, the season was ranked 14th on the list of most in-demand shows in the U.S. and signaled a "massive" 135% growth rate. According to the streaming aggregator JustWatch, the first season of Only Murders in the Building was the most-streamed television series across all U.S. platforms during the week ending October 24, 2021, and second during the week ending October 31, 2021.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10, based on 108 critic reviews for the season. The website's critics consensus reads, "Only Murders in the Building's silly approach to true crime obsessives is at once hilarious and insightful, thanks in large part to its extremely charming central trio." Metacritic gave the season a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 34 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the season a "B" grade and wrote, "Only Murders delivers above-average laughs, a clever mystery, and a starry cast. But it's hard to shake the feeling that the show missed an opportunity to be something special." Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave a rating of four and a half out of five stars for the season, and said "The series soon turns out to be—like The Princess Bride, Galaxy Quest, or Jane the Virgin—that rare and wonderful thing: the parody that also offers a great example of the genuine article."
The first season received 17 nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, with three wins, including Nathan Lane for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Notable nominations included, Outstanding Comedy Series, Steve Martin and Martin Short for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Jamie Babbit and Cherien Dabis for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, and Martin and John Hoffman for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
"The Boy from 6B", the seventh episode of the season, was given the Seal of Authentic Representation from the Ruderman Family Foundation for the portrayal of Theo by James Caverly, as an actor with a disability and at least five lines of dialogue. The season was additionally recognized with The ReFrame Stamp for hiring people of underrepresented gender identities, and of color.