As someone who writes about TV for a living, I have already consumed a lot of shows on the 2026 TV schedule. However, it is not typical for me to engage in couch rot and watch an entire TV series in one sitting. I was so engaged in Elle, however, I stayed up until midnight on Friday doing just that. So, when Elle hit No. 1 on Amazon Prime over the weekend, I was unsurprised, but I was touched by Reese Witherspoon’s message about the phenomenon.
This week Elle is sitting pretty in that No. 1 slot on Amazon Prime, beating out the likes of the recently added and star-stuffed Project Hail Mary and Sheep Detectives, as well as the very popular and much spicier Off Campus. In comparison, the Legally Blonde prequel is full of a bunch of relative unknowns, but it had enough franchise recognition going in people have given it a chance.
Of course, I’m sure it helps that Reese Witherspoon has been championing the show since the studio announced it would be available for those with an Amazon Prime subscription. This weekend, she was here with a “big pink thank you” for the fans.
Listen, it’s not super uncommon for major celebrities to send thanks to fans after a show hits No. 1. Chris Hemsworth was early to this trend when Extraction came out. Jamie Foxx did the same more recently when Back in Action dominated Netflix after bringing Cameron Diaz back to acting. In this case, though, Witherspoon isn’t playing Elle Woods this time around. She does have a vested interest thanks to Hello Sunshine producing Elle, but she didn't have to go out of her way to acknowledge the fandom or the hard work the cast and crew put in.
She did it anyway, because giving people their flowers is the type of thing Reese Witherspoon is prone to do, and has been doing as part of a larger narrative of her "passing the torch" when it comes to Elle Woods. Her response also made me feel even better about devoting part of my weekend to couch rot.
Normally sitting around and doing nothing is exactly the type of thing I’d be down on myself about, but the actress has actually made me feel good about it. This is true even though the show has literally already been renewed for Season 2 and there was no specific reason for me to plow through it as quickly as I did. I just was enjoying myself.
Critics may have some complaints about Elle, and it’s not a perfect series. I would have liked a few more episodes to really build up some of the conflict with the love triangle, and what subsequently happened between Elle and Shannon. However, the last time I sat down and binged an entire TV season was in 2019, when the first season of Natascha Lyon’s Groundhog’s Day-evoking Russian Doll came out and I just couldn’t tear my eyes away.
So, I cannot emphasize enough how fun and breezy a watch Elle is. Give it a whirl. Or, you know, bend and snap to it.
