In the streaming age, watching and rewatching shows has become a pivotal part of pop culture. While streaming has put seemingly endless amounts of content right at our fingertips, it has also led to a new formula for television shows. Shows tend to last three to four seasons maximum, if they don’t get canceled first, lasting a quarter to half of the length per season of shows that aired on cable television. These days, television shows are being produced to fit the busy lifestyles of consumers as well as cater to the attention spans of viewers as our capacity to pay attention deteriorates over time. One thing the viewers of the streaming age do have the attention for, however, is their favorite shows from eras past, extremely nostalgic series often referred to as “comfort shows.”
The concept of a “comfort show” is described as “any show that provides an aspect of escapism or can make someone feel better about their situation.” Often, “comfort shows” are programs that run during or just before the viewer’s adolescence and bring a lot of nostalgia to their viewing experience. Some of the most famous examples of these shows include Gilmore Girls, Suits, The Office, and Friends.
Gilmore Girls, for example, was moderately popular when it first aired from 2000-2007, but the show’s viewership has skyrocketed since then, specifically through Netflix. Six million people tuned in for the premier of the show in 2000 and 83% of those viewers watched the show in its entirety as it aired over the next seven years and that number has multiplied yearly since its addition to streaming giant, Netflix.
Suits, on the other hand, is a show that ended only four years ago and yet it has risen to extreme levels of popularity on Netflix and Peacock, reaching the number one spot for “most streamed acquired series” on Netflix and the second most streamed show ever across all streaming services. Suits, like Gilmore Girls, had trouble gaining popularity when it was on air but has reached new heights and new audiences through streaming.
The world’s most popular sitcom and one of the most streamed series is The Office, a documentary style sitcom following the everyday lives of the employees of a paper company. The reason for The Office’s popularity? People like humor and relatable characters. The Office struggled at the beginning, failing to take off after the first few episodes, but ultimately, caught the attention of viewers leading it to a nine season run. The popularity of The Office is similar to that of Friends, another one of the most popular shows in the world and a staple of the 1990’s-2000’s. Both Friends and The Office are considered classics of their generations, and their streaming numbers stay steady and high as viewer after viewer engages in rewatch after rewatch.
Similarly to the increased interest in nostalgic television aimed towards adults, shows that aired as the children of the Gilmore Girls and Friends eras were growing up are becoming “comfort shows” that bring them back to the days of their childhoods. Programs such as iCarly and Zoey 101 have bought into the idea that “nostalgia sells,” and have rebooted their shows into a spinoff series and movie, respectively. These spinoffs follow the characters into adulthood as the viewers also enter new phases of their lives. While many of these nostalgia sparked projects fail or never come to fruition in the first place, the idea of the characters from our childhoods keep viewers watching and keeps companies producing.