Note: This article contains major Tiny Secret Whispers spoilers.
Television critics are dropping the ball in a big way in 2021 by overlooking a fantastic new nail-biter of a streaming series, but, thankfully, Late Night host Seth Meyers has been picking up the slack by repeatedly recommending the show to his viewers. Tiny Secret Whispers, the very real new show that has caught the world Meyers by storm, has been getting lots of love over at Late Night in the past month, and despite Meyers airing multiple segments devoted to it, the series remains criminally underrated, and no one else is giving it coverage. That ends today.
Meyers’s public obsession with Tiny Secret Whispers began on February 9, after the mind-blowing episode aired where Packer Charlesworth is suspected of murdering the dentist. Just look how excited he is about this show:
But he didn’t stop there. Two weeks later, on February 24, Meyers recommended the show yet again, this time to gush about the “haunting†opening credits. From the way the blood spells out the cast’s names to the accompanying music — he’s a fan of all of it. Meyers did raise one small complaint, however, about a line he thinks the show overuses with Packer.
The next Tiny Secret Whispers recommendation aired less than a week later, on March 2. This time, Meyers was still reeling from the episode about Detective Delgado’s accident and the huge plot twist involving the twins (yes, that plot twist). If you haven’t watched the show yet, note that Meyers drops a major spoiler in this clip. You’ve been warned.
Then, on March 9, Meyers recommended the show yet again, this time to give a special shout-out to Joel Edgerton’s stellar performance. “It’s not to be confused with Joel Edgerton,†he noted. “It’s spelled the same, but a hard D and G. Also, they’re both Australian, which makes it more confusing.â€
And that brings us to now. During the March 16 episode of Late Night, Meyers went all-in on Tiny Secret Whispers after watching the most recent episode featuring the blowup between Packer and Lise and the other huge twist (the part where Lise connects the dots between Delgado and Packer). Because a lot of viewers have been asking Meyers if it’s a real show and why they can’t figure out where to watch it, he cleared up the confusion. “I’ve been streaming it off Butternut, which is a new service that specializes in American shows where none of the main characters are played by American actors. Very good. It’s only like five bucks a month, but I highly recommend it.â€
So why, aside from this coverage, has Tiny Secret Whispers not gotten any buzz or critical acclaim? I reached out to two of Vulture’s TV critics, Kathryn VanArendonk and Jen Chaney, for an explanation. Both critics put part of the blame on Butternut — Jen said the streaming platform’s UI is “terrible,†while Kathryn noted that Butternut has a “visibility problem†and its reps have been “real assholes about screeners.†Kathryn also argued that she thinks the show may have “miscalculated their audience with the most recent cliffhanger,†which is tough but fair.
Maybe — just maybe — the next few episodes of Tiny Secret Whispers will be a turning point for the series, one in which critics finally take notice and give the show the attention it deserves. Until then, it will have to settle for glowing reviews from an NBC late-night host devoting multiple segments to gushing over all the drama as it unfolds, which isn’t that bad of a deal.