Alan Ritchson Rejects Reacher Getting Labeled as ‘Dad TV’

Alan Ritchson explains why it’s “weird” for his Prime Video series Reacher to be referred to as “Dad TV.”

Calling Reacher “peak Dad TV” is not something Alan Ritchson likes to see.

In a recent interview with GQ, Ritchson spoke about the demographics Reacher has reached with its audience. He was specifically asked about how the show has been called “peak Dad TV,” and the actor noted how that’s something he’s noticed as well, stating, “It’s so weird. I keep seeing that.”

Ritchson then explained how he’s watched the show with his children, and he’s also seen how much older viewers love the show, and that has him feeling like Reacher is “family TV,” and not a show that should be strictly called “Dad TV.”

“It’s funny: I’ve shown my kids the show. I let them watch Season 1 – but I wouldn’t let them see the naked guy hanging crucified on the wall, but everything else was… Within context, it all made sense,” Ritch said.

“They loved it, man. For me, it’s not ‘Dad TV’, it’s ‘family TV’. I walk down the street and little ladies on their walkers are like [adopts the voice of a decrepit old woman] ‘Reacher… Reacher…’ It’s such a misnomer to me to qualify this as ‘Dad TV’. But I am a father and I, too, love the show. Maybe it does work.”

Reacher Has Drawn Massive Viewership

What’s clear is that there are many, many people who have been watching Reacher. Season 2 has drawn huge viewership numbers on Prime Video, beating out shows like Gen V and Invincible to become the most-watched title on the streaming platform in 2023.

A third season was also greenlit ahead of the debut of Season 2, so more episodes are already on the way. What Season 3 will focus on specifically is not yet clear, though original Jack Reacher author Lee Child has teased that the Reacher team chose a great book to use as the source material for the new season.

“[It’s] a good choice, I gotta say. I think we’ve been very creative about how we’ve sequenced the type of story,” Child said, per The Messenger.

“We felt we needed a book that was more Reacher alone for the third season… it was a question of which story would work best for that, and which one would have a great opening scene and all of that, and we found one that we loved.”

The first two seasons of Reacher are streaming on Prime Video. Season 3 doesn’t yet have a premiere date.