Each week, Netflix releases a list of the Top 10 films and TV shows dominating the platform, and for the week of July 14, we noticed that not one, but two seasons of a TV show called Sullivan’s Crossing are sitting among the most-watched titles.
The poster for the series features two actors I’m pretty well-acquainted with: Scott Patterson and Chad Michael Murray. They both co-starred in Gilmore Girls, although Murray’s stint was just for a few episodes early in the series before he got his real break on One Tree Hill. Patterson was, obviously, Luke Danes, the grumpy diner owner with a heart of gold. Still, it seemed weird that these two actors — who are instantly recognizable to me — are in a show that people seem to be devouring on the platform, but that I’ve literally never heard of.
Turns out, I can blame Canada. Sullivan’s Crossing, which debuted in 2023, originally aired on CTV in Canada, so it wasn’t even available to US audiences until it made its way to the CW last year. So far, three seasons of the show have aired on both CTV and the CW, though only seasons 1 and 2 are available on Netflix. Like Schitt’s Creek before it, Sullivan’s Crossing seems to have had a small and devoted fan base in Canada that has multiplied quickly thanks to Netflix’s wider global audience. (A fourth season has also been greenlit.)
So what is Sullivan’s Crossing, exactly? The first thing to know is that it’s based on the novels by author Robyn Carr, who also gave us another Netflix phenomenon, Virgin River, which I have seen (I’m still shocked by the fact that it’s Netflix’s longest-running scripted drama). The two shows share plenty of the same DNA: A medical professional relocating from a city to a rustic town, loads of romantic entanglements, adash of small-town crime… the two shows are definitely of the same genre.
Sullivan’s Crossing follows neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (played by Morgan Kohan) as she relocates from Boston back to her hometown in Nova Scotia to escape legal trouble and reconnect with her father, Sully (Patterson), a recovering alcoholic. While she’s back home, Maggie develops feelings for Cal (Murray), a handsome local, which is complicated because she still has a boyfriend back in Boston. Netflix seems to have cornered the market on these cozy romantic dramas with small-town vibes and non-threatening complications: Sullivan’s Crossing seems to be filling a void left by Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias, which are both between seasons at the moment and are similarly in that «Hallmark Channel but make it a little more PG-13» category.
If you’re like me and you had never heard of Sullivan’s Crossing before it showed up on your homepage, and you love a show based on a twisty, dramatic novel, you’ll probably love it. And you’ll want to start binge-watching so you’re all caught up before season 3 arrives — Netflix has just confirmed that 10 more episodes are dropping on Aug. 11.
