Clickbait (miniseries)
Clickbait is a drama streaming television miniseries, created by Tony Ayres and Christian White. Ayres serves as showrunner, while Brad Anderson, Emma Freeman, Ben Young, and Laura Besley are directors. It was released on Netflix on August 25, 2021. Overview. "Clickbait" explores the ways dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media, and reveals the ever-widening fractures between virtual and real-life personae. For instance, the Brewer Family, who discovers that one of their own, Nick Brewer, is missing, having appeared on a viral video, which contains a chilling message saying that he  will die should the video reach 5 million views. It is set in Oakland, California, but was mostly filmed in Melbourne, Australia. Production. In August 2019, it was announced Netflix would produce an 8-episode series created and produced by Tony Ayres and Christian White, with David Heyman serving as producer under his Heyday Television banner, with Brad Anderson set as lead director. In December 2019, Zoe Kazan, Betty Gabriel, Adrian Grenier and Phoenix Raei joined the cast. In February 2020, Abraham Lim, Jessie Collins, Ian Meadows, Daniel Henshall, Motell Foster, Jaylin Fletcher and Cameron Engels joined the cast. Principal  photography began in December 2019. Production on the series was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the series resumed filming in Melbourne. "Clickbait" was released on Netflix on August 25, 2021. Reception. Critical reception. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 58% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 31 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "With an array of flashy, half-formed ideas and thin characterizations, "Clickbait" is more akin to its namesake than the deeper show it aspires to be." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average , assigned a score of 48 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roxana Hadadi writing for "RogerEbert.com" wrote ""Clickbait" is a reminder of why Netflix series became such hits in the first place. A cast of recognizable, serviceable actors dive with melodrama and zeal into a narrative that defies logical sense but moves at a breakneck pace, ends on cliffhangers like clockwork, and incorporates just enough zigs and zags to keep viewers guessing." Adam Sweeting at www.theartsdesk.com described the series as a "fiendishly cunning thriller" and concluded that "the way Ayres and White handle their  final-reel reveal is a masterclass in advanced whodunnitry. They even helpfully lob in a subsidiary could-be villain as a decoy. We are left to ponder whether "Clickbait" is itself clickbait." James Croot writing for www.stuff.co.nz wrote that "as a police procedural and heart-stopping horror, it is aces, evoking memories of David Fincher’s finest (Seven, Panic Room), ratcheting up the stakes as the video’s ticker goes into overdrive." Viewership. Between August 23 and September 12, 2021, "Clickbait" was the most-viewed original streaming title in the US for three consecutive weeks according to Nielsen Holdings "Clickbait  was the most viewed series on Netflix in the United States in September 2021, and the fourth biggest show globally. Clickbait" was the most viewed series on Netflix in the UK in August and September 2021. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that "Clickbait" hit the No.1 spot on Netflix in more than 20 countries.