‘Coven Academy’ Sets A Rotten Tomatoes Score Record On Disney+

YA shows and movies are not quite as popular as they were during the gold rush of the 2010s, but a new one has hit Disney+ that is changing that narrative:Coven Academy. The series is a rather unorthodox experiment in shorter-form content with just 10 to 23-minute episodes. Originally, the show aired on Freeform right before it appeared on Disney+ where it had half the number of episodes, due to the fact that when it moved to Disney, all episodes were all chopped in half to air the pieces separately.

Now, Coven Academy has set a record on Disney+ as the only live-action series to have a100% Rotten Tomatoes score on the service, albeit with not all that many reviews in yet. Audiences don’t quite agree, as it has a 75% score there, but here’s what else it compares to on Disney’s list, which includes Star Wars and Marvel projects:

• Coven Academy– 100% critic score

• Ms. Marvel– 98% critic score

• Percy Jackson and the Olympians– 95% critic score

• The Mandalorian– 93% critic score

• Skeleton Crew– 92% critic score

• Wonder Man– 91% critic score

• WandaVision– 91% critic score

• Lizzie McGuire – 90% critic score

• Daredevil: Born Again – 86% critic score

As more reviews come in, it’s possible that Coven Academydrops, but for now, that’s how things stand on Disney+. Though a YA show, it is not based on a YA book or book series, which is somewhat unusual for the genre. I suppose all those got adapted in the 2010s.

The show is created by Tim Federle, behind High School Musical: The Musical: The Seriesand stars Malina Pauli Weissman, Malachi Barton, Jordan Leftwitch, Ora Duplass, Tiffani Thiessen and more. Here’s the synopsis:

“In the haunted heart of New Orleans, three teenage witches and their warlock peers attend an elite magic boarding school where power is currency, secrets are lethal and attraction is a liability.”

My wife has been watching the show, and from what I gather, it has some sort of episode-ending cliffhanger every 13 minutes, and it very much seems crafted for Gen Z/Alpha and their increasingly fractured attention spans. There is really no reason to chop it up like this otherwise.

Coven Academy was dropped as a binge release a week ago, and there is no word yet on a season 2 renewal. It is currently the No. 2 show on the service behind only theFamily Guy Halloween special and above the also 100% scored The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, but that is technically FX, not Disney. This sort of performance fromCoven Academy combined with a relatively low budget should indicate that a season 2 greenlight is on the way soon.

Follow meon Twitter,YouTube,andInstagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels theHerokiller seriesandThe Earthborn Trilogy.

This article was originally published onForbes.com