When meeting new people, one of the safest first topics of conversation is television shows. Of course, there’s the mandatory first five minutes of discussing the latest season of Sex Education, but then it gets into the real stuff: what is the one incredibly average television show that you’ve been watching on repeat since you were fifteen? What is the programme that you quote word-for-word, steal the best jokes from, and your mum doesn’t understand how you’re not sick of it yet? It seems that everyone in our generation has one, and it’s usually a sit-com that aired years before our time. So what is it that keeps us coming back to these comfort shows again and again? Of course, a key reason that it’s the younger generation that tend to rewatch shows is due to the popularity of streaming services.
Back in our parents’ day, the idea of watching any episode of any television show on demand was only possible if you recorded each one on tape, which was timely and expensive. Now, the sheer volume of universal television shows that are available at the click of a button is almost unbelievable. Perhaps it is this overwhelming selection that contributes to our tendency to return to our favourites – rather than looking for a new programme and risking wasting our time if we don’t like it, we can take a sigh of relief and watch something that we know we will enjoy, because we’ve laughed at it so many times before. It’s a reliable comfort and takes so much less brain power than searching for something new. And with the lack of attention span our generation has (thanks TikTok), we don’t have to pay too much attention to the plotline that we probably have memorised.
It's also true that as humans, we form emotional attachment to almost everything, so rewatching something often reminds us of the time in our lives that we first consumed it. This could be why lots of our ultimate comfort shows are ones we watched as children – when we feel homesick, anxious, or generally overwhelmed, rewatching a comfort show is like taking a metaphorical trip to our childhood.The main reason, though, that I have had How I Met Your Mother on a consistent loop for the past 9 years, is because if I’m watching something to unwind, I don’t want to have any uncertainty about the plotline. Life is demanding enough already without us absorbing the imaginary trauma and stresses of fictional characters. Knowing exactly what is going to happen, so that I can look forward to my favourite parts and won’t be emotionally jump-scared by a sudden death, means I can completely relax. Perhaps it is just that television has become synonymous with a way to wind down, rather than the exciting, new form of entertainment it once was. Now, we watch TV to get away from our stressful lives, whereas in the past, it was a way to add some excitement into the every day. Either way, I know I’ll never tire of my comfort show, because it’s like wrapping myself in a lovely warm memory blanket, and the fact that a TV show can provide that much familiarity and joy is truly amazing.