Silo looks like a towering hit for Apple TV+

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Viewers and critics are digging
Viewers and critics are digging "Silo" on Apple TV+.
Photo: Apple TV+

Dystopian sci-fi thriller Silo debuted on Apple TV+ Friday, May 5, and the story of the last 10,000 people on earth living in a buried silo is proving to be deeply popular among viewers and critics alike. They’re digging it.

A number of ratings services and critical sources show it at or near the top of lists ranking streaming services’ shows.

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Deeply popular Silo is a towering hit for Apple TV+

A week after its debut, sci-fi thiller Silo tops popularity charts. The long-awaited show is based on The Wool Trilogy (Wool, Shift, Dust), a set of books by best-selling author Hugh Howey.

But first things first. Haven’t watched it? Take a savory bite of the Apple TV+ show description:

Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face fatal consequences. Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer, who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.

Watch on Apple TV

Popular among viewers

Signs of the show’s fast-growing popularity abound. The new series hit No. 1 on the JustWatch streaming chart for TV shows, a few spots ahead of Apple’s perennial hit comedy Ted Lasso.

Here’s the JustWatch list of most-popular streaming shows:

JustWatch cites "Silo" as No. 1 among trending TV shows on streaming services.
JustWatch cites “Silo” as No. 1 among trending TV shows on streaming services.
Photo: JustWatch

And if that’s not impressive enough, Reelgood places Silo as the top trending streaming TV show on its default list sorted by Reelgood score of 76/100 (or number 3 when sorted by popularity).

Reelgood top 10 by site’s score:

  1. Silo
  2. Jury Duty
  3. Citadel
  4. Queen Charlotte
  5. Yellowstone
  6. The Diplomat
  7. From
  8. Love & death
  9. Ted Lasso
  10. Sweet Tooth

In addition, Reelgood placed Silo third among all popular streaming TV shows and movies for the week:

Reelgood placed "Silo" third among all streaming TV shows and movies.
Reelgood placed “Silo” third among all streaming TV shows and movies.
Photo: Reelgood

Critically acclaimed for the most part

Silo also proves well-liked by many critics. Notably, its Fresh critical rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes is only slightly outpaced by viewer ratings (“Average Audience Score” of 90% Fresh).

Nearly identical critic and viewer ratings on the site are somewhat rare. The two scores are typically not too far from each other, but disconnects where critics and viewers disagree significantly are common. With Silo, it seems nearly everyone likes the show.

Cult of Mac‘s critic also had a lot of good things to say about it — mixed in with some withering criticisms — in a 3-star review.

“This shaggy dog post-apocalyptic story — with an all-star cast spouting a lot of silly sci-fi lingo and exaggerated futurespeak — gets off to a compelling start this week,” Scout Tafoya wrote, providing a detailed recap of the first two episodes.

And as Tafoya summed up at the end of his review:

Apple TV+ has a mixed record when it comes to sci-fi series. And it is still way too early to determine if we’ve got a successful slow burn like Foundationor an embarrassing misfire like Extrapolationson our hands. But I’m willing to take the gamble and see what happens next on Silo.

Watch the trailer:

Get Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is available by subscription for $6.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.

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