Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who’s worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
Mississippi’s Favorite TV Shows of 2023
Two days before this year’s National Turkey Day is National Television Day, so BetMississippi.com took a break from monitoring Mississippi sports betting to look into the state’s favorite TV shows in 2023 and how they compared to the rest of the country.
Americans might like different foods and different politicians, but when it comes to TV, we really are the united states. Picking a top three shows for 50 states meant 150 possible choices, yet only five shows made the list. And “The Bear” (Hulu) only finished third in Illinois, where it’s shot. Additionally, none of the most popular shows were network shows. My, how the TV landscape has changed.
BetMississippi.com utilized IMDB’s list of the Top 50 most-watched TV shows in the United States during 2023 as a starting point for the research project, as well as AhRefs.com to finalize the Top 5 most-searched shows. The shows were “The Last of Us,” “Ted Lasso,” “The Mandalorian,” “Succession” and “The Bear.” We then utilized Google Trends to search each TV show to see the highest level of interest of each state for the show. After completing the trends since Jan. 1, we were able to average out the results to get the top TV shows for each state.
Earlier this month, we analyzed the top Mississippi Thanksgiving side dishes. Here are our results on TV shows:
Top 3 TV Shows in Mississippi
Mississippi Favorite Is Same as Many States
In Mississippi, the top three choices were “The Last of Us” (HBO/Max) with 31% of the couch potato vote, “The Mandalorian” (Disney+) with 24% and “Ted Lasso” (Apple) with 20%. Amazingly, 16 other states had the same three shows in the same order.
How any of these shows beat out “Home Town” (HGTV), which put Laurel, Mississippi on the national map of cool small towns, is beyond me. Movies like “Mississippi Burning” might have their place, but this terrific home renovation show is “Mississippi Rebuilding.”
As for the shows themselves, “The Last of Us” sort of fits the mood at the moment as a post-pandemic, end-of-the-world story. It’s based on a video game and it puts that rare, positive spin on human trafficking as Pedro Pascal tries to get young Bella Ramsey to safety. The world hasn’t ended yet – a second season is planned.
Pascal, who now might be the biggest male TV star since Ted Danson, is also the lead in Mississippi’s second favorite show, “The Mandalorian.” This breakout hit from the “Star Wars” universe, created by “Iron Man” director John Favreau, is about a bounty hunter traveling the galaxy.
In third place is the antidote to “The Last of Us,” the feel-good “Ted Lasso,” starring Jason Sudeikis as an American transplant coaching English soccer, with a charming can-do spirit. Word was that the finished Season 3 was going to end the series, but now there are rumors of a fourth season or a spin-off.
Not making the Top 3 in Mississippi but a hit elsewhere is “Succession” (HBO), about the billionaire Roy family and their communications empire – a case study in how money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy misery, not to mention numerous seasons of pointed dialogue and corporate intrigue.
And as said above, finishing third in Illinois, is “The Bear,” a Chicago-set drama-comedy set in the start-up restaurant of a hot-tempered gourmet chef and his staff.