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Last week, I stumbled upon a piece in The Walrus titled, very clickably, “I’m Sick of Reboots and Rewatches and You Should Be Too.”
The article pushes back against the pop culture vortex many of us were sucked into during the pandemic. After years of trying to keep up with the hamster wheel that is Peak TV, we went for Comfort TV — the baby-blanket cocoon of nostalgia and anxiety-quelling predictability offered by rewatching our favourite shows.
It’s a good piece. But you can pry my rewatches out of my cold, dead hands.
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As I mentioned a few issues back, I have never needed a pandemic for Comfort TV, though it certainly hasn’t hurt. Last fall/winter, I did a full rewatch of ER — a medical drama seemed weirdly fitting for a pandemic but also there’s 15 seasons of it, which makes it the quintessential lockdown show. I rewatched both Parks and Recreation and The West Wing during the lead-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election; as I wrote at the time, “it’s telling, I suppose, that the unwavering optimism of Amy Poehler’s deputy parks director Leslie Knope, or the idealism and commanding oratory skills of Martin Sheen’s President Bartlet, should have such a gravitational pull during this time.”
CPAmy Poehler in ‘Parks and Recreation.’ (Colleen Hayes / NBC via The Associated Press)
But I do this every few years, anyway. I’ve seen ER beginning to end several times; ditto Gilmore Girls, which is the pumpkin spice latte of television. I’ve rewatched The Sopranos more than once, and other prestige shows such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I’ve done most of the NBC Must-See TV comedies.
My anxiety didn’t start during the pandemic — as a child I once gave myself a panic attack watching a rather dramatic 6 p.m. news item on panic attacks — so rewatches have always been a comfort to me. I always notice something new in the old shows and, besides, if you wait long enough between viewings, it’s like the first time.
So much of my job as an arts writer is to focus on the newest new, which is why I do Reading/Watching/Listening section in this newsletter. I watch a ton of new shows, too, and have recently begun rewatching some of those, too — mostly owing to the fact that, when you binge something and then have to wait a year for the next season, you tend to forget what’s happening.
But sometimes, I don’t want new. Sometimes, I just want to put on something I already know is good. Imagine if we listened to our favourite albums once. Sometimes I want to hear a hot new single, other times I only want to hear Pearl Jam’s Ten. (That record, by the way, turns 30 next week.)
In the years leading up to the pandemic, the ’90s were having a major pop culture moment. Kids born in 2004, the year Friends ended, were debating whether or not Ross and Rachel were on a break and wearing Central Perk merch. My theory about people’s fondness for the ’90s is that it was the last time anyone could really, truly unplug. We didn’t live on the Internet yet.
To that end, I can see why some of these ’90s sitcoms and dramas may hold particular appeal during the pandemic. Not only could we escape into a world with no COVID-19, we could escape into a world with no smartphones.
Reboots — which, not to nitpick, is a word often misused in place of‘ “revivals” — are not the same as rewatches. In fact, I believe most revivals of fan favourites fail precisely because they are not rewatches. Yes, the characters are familiar, but it doesn’t light up the same parts of your brain as a rewatch does. I don’t need to know what Lorelai Gilmore is up to in 2021; I want her to live in 2002.
When it comes to reviving those critically acclaimed hits, it’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice — and also, who needs two bottles of lightning? The thing you want to watch already exists — and now, it’s probably streaming. More isn’t always better. Often, more is just… more.
That said, I am pro-sequel. I’m even more pro-prequel — your girl loves an origin story. I’m also pro-spinoff — The Good Fight, a spinoff of The Good Wife, is one of the best, envelope-pushing shows on TV right now. I am already looking forward to rewatching it.
Were you a rewatcher before the pandemic? Did you return to any old faves during it? Tell me.
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