I for one have succumbed to the grip of the comfort show multiple times with shows that I watched in the formative years of my life that have had profound effects on me. For me, there are two specifically… How I Met Your Mother and Pretty Little Liars. Arguably not the best representations of what the TV industry has to offer but that’s the thing about comfort shows… it doesn’t matter about how objectively good or bad the quality of them are, because they mean more. We find solace in comfort shows because they are familiar to us. We watch them so many times we know what plot line happens next, or what the characters in a scene are about to say and because of our repetitive viewing, we always know the ending of these shows. By knowing what will happen and what the conclusion of the show will be, the viewer is able to watch without having to actively engage with the material. There’s no need to rewind to catch a line of dialogue you missed, or quickly rush to google to try and make sense of some confusing plot line that’s just been introduced, because you’ve done that already. The shows familiarity becomes its main draw to previous viewers as these situations that have been repeated with so many watches create a comfortable aura, that in turn help submerge the viewer in the universe of the show, creating an escape from our real world lives and problems.
It's also important to acknowledge the currant climate that new television exists within. That of course being the era of cancellations. TV shows nowadays are so frequently cancelled and this often brings with it inconclusive endings. The comfort show avoids this. By rewatching the same few series repeatedly, we as viewers are able to avoid the disappointment faced when our favourite shows fall victim to cancellation. I for one know when I hit play on the first episode of Pretty Little Liars I will be able to sit and watch seven seasons worth of mediocre television that at least will leave me with a definitive ending that wasn’t cut short like new shows often are.
Today’s era of television has also had another major impact on comfort shows and how we become drawn to them and that is through the effect of instant gratification. Streaming services, particularly the rise of Netflix, have introduced the art of binging, in which a whole season of a series will drop on one single day, making all the episodes readily available to be consumed and enjoyed. Because of this, people have become more and more obsessed with this need for instant gratification, which means the wait between episodes or seasons can become unbearable, this is what I like to call ‘hiatus fatigue’. This fatigue results in viewers revisiting their favourite programmes so they are able enjoy a viewing experience uninterrupted by episode gaps and production breaks between episodes and seasons.
My favourite comfort show, How I Met Your Mother, says it best, “He watches it when he's home, sick with the flu. He watches it on rainy Sunday afternoons in the fall. He... he watches it on Christmas Eve! Ted watches Star Wars in sickness and in health, in good times and bad” and that’s the beauty of the comfort show. These shows that we watch repeatedly are like a companionship whenever you need it, with groups of characters that you have grown to know, love and cherish. I will always love my comfort shows, and I will watch them whenever I get the chance, but as a PSA I think it is also important to say that we shouldn’t get too caught up in rewatches and the past, otherwise you’ll end up missing some really great TV that’s coming out now. After all, that’s how you find new comfort shows to love.