Television is, by its very nature, something that we invite into our lives over an extended period. Unlike the movies we watch, TV shows are designed for you to develop some sort of familiarity with the characters on them.
Sometimes, that familiarity doesn’t necessarily breed love, but other times it does. The shows on this list will make you fall in love with their characters and leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. These are what I’ll call feel-good shows.
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For me, these shows have been helpful in good times and in bad, and are some of the easiest to watch. Some of them were awards juggernauts, but others were wrongfully underappreciated when they were first released. Consider these feel-good shows no matter your mood.
Schitt's Creek (2015)
6 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Stars
Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Levy
Created by
Eugene Levy, Dan Levy
Watch on Amazon
A gentle, kind sitcom that became something of a phenomenon a few years back, Schitts Creek tells the story of a wealthy family who suddenly loses everything they own except for a small Canadian town they bought as a joke. As they take up residence there, they have to come to terms with living much more average lives, with frequently hilarious results. Schitts Creek takes a minute to get used to, but once you’ve warmed up to the show, there’s nothing more comforting on all of television.
Abbott Elementary (2021)
5 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Stars
Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph
Created by
Quinta Brunson
Watch on Hulu
A deeply inspirational series in its own quiet way, Abbott Elementary turns the mockumentary format onto elementary school teachers working in urban Philadelphia. As these teachers work with each other and their students, they butt up against the realities of a public education system that doesn’t provide them with the resources they deserve. Abbott Elementary might sound dour, but the show is incredibly funny and also a moving portrait of a profession that doesn’t usually get nearly enough love on TV.
Ted Lasso (2020)
3 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Stars
Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift
Created by
Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Bill Lawrence, Joe Kelly
Watch on Apple TV+
Perhaps the show that the term “feel-good” was invented for, Ted Lasso is a surprisingly cuddly show about the idea of leading with kindness. The series follows a football coach from Kansas who is hired to coach a British football club because the club’s owner wants to tank the team. As he meets a bunch of grumpy Brits, Ted slowly wins them over by simply being open to their ideas and kind to those around him. Although Ted Lasso‘s reputation would get more complicated in subsequent seasons, it never stopped being a show about what happens when you start treating those around you like people.
Gilmore Girls (2000)
7 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Stars
Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Scott Patterson
Created by
Amy Sherman-Palladino
Watch on Netflix
A low-stakes show that nevertheless features plenty of interpersonal drama, Gilmore Girls tells the story of a mother and daughter living in a small New England town. As they deal with their quirky neighbors, the expectations of their family, and their relationship with each other and the men in their lives, they get in plenty of fights. At the end of the day, though, what we come back to Gilmore Girls for is the incredible pace of the dialogue and the myriad references contained in every line. It’s a remarkable feat of writing and performance.
The Good Place (2016)
4 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comedy
Stars
Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper
Created by
Michael Schur
Watch on Netflix
A hilarious, sometimes meditative show about what it means to be truly good, The Good Place starts with a high-concept premise and only gets more complicated from there. The show stars Kristen Bell as a person who finds herself in the good part of the afterlife, and almost immediately realizes that she’s there by mistake. As she attempts to cover up the error so she can stay, she ropes various other people into her scheme, and tortures the angelic being who made the small town that she’s living in.
Parks and Recreation (2009)
7 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Stars
Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman
Created by
Michael Schur, Greg Daniels
Watch on Amazon
Although it was certainly very of its moment (there are a lot of Joe Biden references that feel a little strange now), Parks and Recreation remains a show about what it takes to make small-town government work. The series stars Amy Poehler as an overeager worker in the Parks and Recreation office of Pawnee, Indiana, who is genuinely trying to improve the quality of life in her town. As she comes up against a variety of bureaucratic issues, she maintains a relatively positive attitude, and most importantly, she does what she can.
Friends (1994)
10 Seasons
Genre
Comedy
Stars
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow
Created by
Marta Kauffman, David Crane
Watch on Amazon
One of the great hangout shows ever made, Friends follows six attractive white people living in New York City in the 1990s. As they fall in and out of love, try to figure out what to do with their lives, and explore every corner of their shockingly lush apartments, they rely on one another for love and support. Friends is often described as a show about the time in your life when your friends are your family, and it is that. What’s just as important, though, is that over the course of 10 seasons, they also become your family.
The Great British Baking Show (2013)
1 Season
Genre
Reality
Stars
Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Mel Giedroyc
Created by
Andy Devonshire
Watch on Netflix
A show that will make you want to both binge and bake, The Great British Baking Show is a low-stakes baking competition show that is easier to watch than basically anything on the Food Network. The British contestants who occupy the tent through every season are often delightful, and rarely as cutthroat as your average contestant on any other reality series. The low-key judges and hosts are just as delightful, and the challenges will convince you that you know way more about dough and proving than you actually do. What could be better?
