A strange thing happened this past summer. Anyone who had some kind of passing interest in TV seemed to be talking about the show Suits. I watched the legal dramedy—starring a pre-royal Meghan Markle as an ambitious paralegal and Canadian Patrick J. Adams as an unlicensed lawyer with a photographic memory—when it first aired, from 2011 to 2019, hence my confusion about its relevance in 2023. But, sure enough, the show had recently been added to Netflix in the U.S., and it spread far and fast. As of early October, it had spent a record-setting 12 weeks on the top of the Nielsen Streaming chart—the longest a show has ever claimed the number one spot.

Suits’ rise to streaming domination is partly due to people discovering the show for the first time, but I know, anecdotally, that a fair share of its new-found popularity is because having it back in the conversation has prompted past viewers to revisit the series. Then it clicked: There are few things I find more comforting than rewatching some of my favourite shows. Am I overwhelmed and stressed? Let’s reunite with my friends in the New Girl loft. Feeling sad? Time to return to cozy Stars Hollow and the perpetually autumnal vibes of Gilmore Girls. Need a healthy dose of escapism? California, here we come, thanks to The O.C.

“[Rewatching TV] is very reassuring,” agrees Alan Sepinwall, chief TV critic at Rolling Stone and the author of a new book about the aforementioned series, Welcome to The O.C.: The Oral History. “It’s not just about feeling comforted by a thing you like. A lot of the time, it takes you back to an earlier moment. It’s nice and innocent.” Look at, say, Friends, which had a resurgence among millennials a few years ago. Part of its appeal, says Sepinwall, is that cellphones, modern technology and the doomscrolling of a 24-7 news cycle did not factor in at all, which is helpful when you’re spending multiple hours and days with a familiar tale. And in a world where streaming has completely changed our relationship with TV and offered up, frankly, too many options (according to John Landgraf, chair of the FX network, 599 English-language scripted shows were available in the U.S. in 2022—7 percent more than the year before), rewatching something you know you’re going to love is the easier choice.

What actually makes a show rewatchable, then? “It has to be good—but sometimes people rewatch crap, so maybe that’s not the thing,” says Sepinwall, only half joking. “It has to take place in an interesting world. Whether that’s the fabulous McMansions of Orange County or just a loft apartment in downtown Los Angeles, it has to feel like you’re being taken somewhere that either you’ve never been to or that you haven’t been to in a while. And it has to have distinctive characters you want to spend time with, because that, more than anything else, is what series television is about.” And it has to feel like classic TV, because while you might have enjoyed that atmospheric prestige streaming miniseries you watched three years ago, you’re not likely to return to it as you wouldn’t have formed the kind of connection you made with an episodic story you spent every week watching at one point in your life.

So, the next time you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through rows and rows of “content” in search of the next great thing that never seems to come, seek solace in an old favourite—it could just be the salve you didn’t know you needed. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of comfort food every now and then.

CANADIAN CREATIVES ON THEIR FAVOURITE REWATCHABLE SHOWS

RAKHEE MORZARIA, Actor, CBC’s Run the Burbs

“My go-to show to rewatch is The Good Wife. I love Kalinda Sharma—icon—played by Archie Panjabi. And it’s a really well-written and topical show. But mostly I just like to drink wine in my fanciest glass and pretend that I’m a lawyer.”
EPISODES TO (RE)WATCH: “I love any that have a good will-they- won’t-they moment between Alicia and Will.”

ANASTASIA BUCSIS, Olympian and CBC Sports host

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first show that made me feel like I had a place in this world because of its representation of queer characters and its ability to tackle coming-of-age stories through monster metaphors. It’s perfectly balanced and just plain fun. Even though it has been off the air for 20 years, it’s still some of the freshest, most thoughtful storytelling I’ve ever come across. Sarah Michelle Gellar is also a force, and her performance is sinfully underrated.”
EPISODES TO (RE)WATCH: “‘Hush,’ ‘Once More, With Feeling’ and ‘The Body’ are some of the greatest pieces of television ever created.”

KRIS COLLINS, TikTok content creator (a.k.a. @kallmekris)

“I love rewatching Game of Thrones because it’s so beautifully written and has so much incredibly detailed lore—I always find that there are small details I missed in previous viewings. This makes rewatching it enjoyable and fun. Plus, the character development and plot lines are the best in any series, hands down. Let’s just not talk about season eight.”
EPISODE TO (RE)WATCH: “My favourite has to be ‘The Dragon and the Wolf.’ So much comes to light. Even knowing what’s going to happen, I still feel satisfied every time.”

SASHA LEIGH HENRY, Creator of Bria Mack Gets a Life on Crave

“I love ’90s and 2000s sitcoms, and I go through phases where I’ll pick one and exhaust it for months, watching it on repeat every night. It’s really like picking a favourite child—I love Martin, Living Single, Seinfeld, The Office, Broad City and, recently, Abbott Elementary. I love to laugh, and it’s comforting to watch something I know is going to deliver on that— especially when I’ve had a hard day or the world is feeling a bit bleak. Comedy is my salve.”
EPISODES TO (RE)WATCH: Seinfeld’s “The Opposite” and Broad City’s “In Heat”

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