Before Taylor Dearden’s Breakout In The Pitt, She Starred In Netflix’s 98% Crime Series – Still Worth A Weekend Binge

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Before becoming famous for her role in The Pitt, Taylor Dearden appeared in a little-known Netflix crime show that actually has a higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes than a popular, award-winning medical drama. As the daughter of Bryan Cranston, Dearden has gained recognition for her performance as Dr. Melissa King in HBO’s The Pitt, and recently won an Actor Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast with her fellow cast members.

Before everyone was talking about The Pitt, I was totally hooked on this amazing, but kinda overlooked, crime series on Netflix. Seriously, it ended up with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes – which is huge for a streaming original! It’s a shame it only lasted two seasons because it was brilliant. It perfectly balanced true crime with comedy, making it one of those shows you just have to binge-watch on a weekend. It’s still one of my favorites on Netflix, honestly.

Taylor Dearden Stars In Netflix’s Crime Comedy American Vandal

Taylor Deardon gained recognition for her role in Netflix’s critically acclaimed comedy series, American Vandal. While she joined the show in its second season, she quickly became a key character in what many consider one of Netflix’s most original and funny series.

Inspired by the true crime documentaries Netflix often produces, American Vandal playfully imitates shows like Serial and Making a Murderer. The series centers on two high school students, Peter and Sam, who create documentaries about surprisingly serious school pranks – like when someone allegedly put laxatives in the cafeteria lemonade, causing a major mess.

The 2017 series American Vandal was a hit with a format that could have easily continued for many seasons, each focusing on a different high school prank. It had a comedic style similar to popular 2010s movies like 21 Jump Street. The first season followed Peter and Sam as they investigated Dylan, a student accused of vandalizing dozens of cars in the teacher’s parking lot with inappropriate graffiti.

Season two of American Vandal moves the investigation to a private Catholic school in Washington state, where the central mystery is known as “The Brownout.” Peter and Sam team up with Chloe Lyman, portrayed by Dearden, who is convinced that the student accused of wrongdoing, Kevin McClain, is innocent and was pressured into confessing. Chloe recruits Sam and Peter to help, drawing on their success in solving the graffiti case from the first season.

American Vandal’s 98% RT Score Proves It’s Still Worth Watching

The high praise for American Vandal – a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes – is well-deserved. It actually achieved a rare feat: two consecutive seasons with a 98% ‘Certified Fresh’ rating, surpassing even the critically acclaimed but short-lived Netflix series Mindhunter. Despite hopes for a third season, Netflix canceled American Vandal after its second season in 2018.

With a total of 16 episodes – eight per season – American Vandal is perfect for a weekend binge on Netflix. Each episode runs between 27 and 42 minutes, so you can easily finish the whole series in a weekend. If you enjoy it – and many critics do – you could even watch a season each night.

If you like funny crime shows that don’t take themselves too seriously – think Netflix’s Murderville or Prime Video’s Deadloch – you should definitely check out American Vandal. Taylor Deardron gives a particularly great, understated performance, and it’s cool to see her work before she became well-known in The Pitt.

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2026-03-30 02:28