Benjamin Ashford|Rewatching 'Gilmore Girls' or 'The West Wing'? Here's what your comfort show says about you

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Delayed fall premieres and fewer shows as a result of monthslong actors and writers strikes might send you back to Stars Hollow for a rewatch of “Gilmore Girls” and a cup of conversation-quickening coffee, or Monk's diner for a reunion with “Seinfeld” pals Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer.

Rewatching is one way to be entertained until your favorite programs return, and it’s a popular choice. A survey in March by YouGov found that two-thirds of Americans had watched the same season of a TV show at least twice, and nearly half of respondents said they did so at least three times.

It feels like reuniting with old friends, says Pamela Rutledge, director of the independent Media Psychology Research Center, which advocates for media and technology with a positive influence. What you watch can also be a way to manage your mood, she says.

It can also give insight into who you are. Gideon Nave, associate professor for marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, finds that generally “the stuff that people watch is actually very telling about the typical way in which they think, feel and behave in real life, measured by their personality.”

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“Women, especially, watch true-crime (projects) for education, but it’s also another form of voyeurism,” Rutledge says, one where viewers can safely explore “the dark side of humanity.” Rutledge equates watching this genre to being entranced by a car wreck. “You’re just in awe that someone could be” like that.

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One reason people rewatch shows with ensemble casts is because they might pick up something they missed on the first watch, Rutledge says. For law drama “Suits,” which dominated Netflix's Top 10 list when it arrived on the streaming platform this summer, Rutledge speculates some viewers might have wanted to hone in on Duchess Meghan’s Rachel Zane, “because people will draw all kinds of conclusions about what she's really like, in that way that we, do from watching her on television."

“Other shows that people talk about that raise ethical and philosophical issues are ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The West Wing,’ where there are scenarios that that make you think about right and wrong,” Rutledge says. “They are shows that, for many people, were very intellectually provocative and challenging … (that) made them think about things. And if we don't have a lot of new content, then you have to find new meaning in the content that you already have.”

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Comedies like "Seinfeld" may lure you in for a rewatch because “People are usually driven by something they remember fondly,” says Cristel Russell, professor of marketing at Pepperdine’s Graziadio Business School. “You remember that there's a story about the low talker, but you don't remember if it was Elaine's boyfriend or Seinfeld's girlfriend … and it makes you laugh again because it’s like you’re discovering the joke again.”

“The thing about ‘Schitt's Creek’ and maybe even ‘The Simpsons’ and, to some degree, ‘Seinfeld’ is that it's a little bit like being a child again,” Rutledge says. “They're behaving like children, it's childish jokes and kid gags, almost. So in that sense, it can be a real relief or a release to just allow that inner child to tell potty jokes.”

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The reality of reality television viewing

Rutledge says reality shows satisfy our natural curiosity about others. She points out producers have found an addictive recipe mirroring “what any good melodrama does, which is that they don't spend much time in the middle. They go high and low.”

“Sometimes there's upward comparison, where you're like, ‘I wish I was as rich as the Kardashians,’” Rutledge says, “or downward comparison: ‘I'm glad I'm not as crazy as those people.'

“There's a certain amount of wanting to watch the rich and famous fall on their face in some of these reality shows. It actually makes you feel better in a bizarre kind of way. … It shows that they have foibles, which is reassuring because if they were really perfect and rich and beautiful and all that stuff, then it that would be super-depressing.”

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