Bingeing on comfort

Express Tribune

23-03-2025

Did you start watching the first episode of This Is Us for Milo Ventimiglia and stayed on for the story? Did you start watching Sweet Magnolias, Virgin River and Chesapeake Shores while doing chores, were drawn to the scenery and music, and started binging for the small-town shenanigans? Survey across the net show that people love to watch American family dramas because they offer a relatable reflection of everyday life experiences, allowing us to connect with characters facing familiar challenges like relationship conflicts, family dynamics, personal growth, and sometimes even societal issues, all within a setting that feels grounded and familiar, often providing a sense of comfort and emotional engagement.
I am too a sucker for pretty productions where I get to see breathtakingly beautiful scenery, gorgeous homes, good-looking people, an air of general well-being and comfortable storylines. It's what I need in the chaotic city life where basic, systemic issues drain you on a daily basis. I do deplore them for the cheesiness galore, but I can't wait for the next seasons to arrive, hope they do. If you binge-watched shows like Virgin River, Hart of Dixie, Gilmore Girls, Sweet Magnolias, This Is Us, and Chesapeake Shores, you will understand exactly what I am talking about.
The traditional one-hour family drama genre, once a staple of primetime TV lineups, in recent years might have been pushed to the backburner by darker, more provocative drama projects like You, for instance, but most family dramas like these depict situations that resonate with our own lives, whether it's dealing with parents, siblings, partners, or tackling career challenges, so you instantly fall in love with them and empathise with everything happening to them.
Ofcourse, the focus on family dynamics often leads to complex emotional storylines, allowing viewers to experience a range of feelings like joy, sadness, anger, and hope alongside the characters.
We devour the episodes that roll out in several subsequent seasons as the long-running storylines allow for deep character development, making viewers feel invested in the lives of the characters and their journeys. We love it if a birthday, anniversary or any other celebration is coming up, while weddings that belong to dreams, are the best.
Family dramas also provide a sense of escapism, allowing us to "live vicariously" through the characters' experiences. There is also a nostalgic feeling by depicting specific eras or family values, creating a comforting, familiar vibe.
Although the typical Hallmark Channel production is not my favourite, I prefer darker concepts, or thrillers but American family drama for lack of a better comparison, is like a good, old marriage! You can go back to it, night after night, it feels good, heartwarming, a tad predictable, a wee bit romantic, some light-hearted conflict that has a positive outcome. At least that's what a committed relationship should feel like. Who can handle dramatic highs and lows on a daily-basis after a hectic day! The darker, more sinister and pessimistic views of human nature and life as in You or Stranger Things is a different ballgame altogether, for when the season ends, the next-level thrill has drained you as though you have finished a tough bootcamp.
Ironically, shot mostly in Canada, the settings in cheesy American family drama invariably are small-town. The good-looking people are oh-so-good, their moral and human values high, and their homes so pretty. Usually there is one character who is a city sicker and has moved to a small-town where everyone knows everyone and has their nose deep into each other's business. But they don't judge, don't get jealous or envious, don't hate and even if a teeny bit of misdemeanour happens by anyone, they feel guilty, apologise and pledge to a stronger bond! Seriously, the people are angelic, optimistic and intensely feel for each other. They help and sacrifice for each other and say meaningful, sincere stuff to each other [that seems to come right off wall plaques, the Bible or sayings of great people] as a matter of normal conversation!
All of this happens against stunning scenery, unforgettable locations, peaceful, epic lakes, towering pine trees, plunging waterfalls. You gape at the sweeping drone shots of luminous green canopies, idyllic wood cabins in lush forests that could easily make a commercial film for a national park.
'There are a lot of great television shows out there but many are darker and edgier and have a supernatural twist,' says Michelle Vicary, Hallmark Channel executive vice president of programming. 'That's a great television experience on other networks, but we found that there's an audience for family dramas, if you do it right.'
Chesapeake Shores has the high-powered career woman Abby O'Brien, who left her hometown Chesapeake Shores and moved to New York. She receives a panicked phone call from her younger sister Jess, who has renovated the charming Inn at Eagle Point. She returns to the Maryland town her father built has many sad memories for Abby, thanks to her demanding career, divorce, and two school-age daughters, she hasn't had any time to spare. Saving the inn from foreclosure means dealing with not only her fractured family but also with Trace Riley, the man she left 10 years ago. Lovely visuals, great music, instantly hooked.
Multigenerational family drama Chesapeake Shores, and Virgin River are based on a novel series by Sherryl Woods and Robyn Carr's 21-novel series respectively. Chesapeake Shores was considered one of Hallmark's top-performing shows for a significant period, and was the most-watched original scripted series in network history. It finished as one of Hallmark Channel's youngest skewing series, drawing more 18-49-year-old female viewers than its other scripted content.
This Is Us, which follows a family of three kids — two siblings and an adopted child with the same birthday — throughout their childhood and adult lives, was a. surprise hit. Its viewership skyrocketed after landing on Netflix, boosting the NBC drama into Nielsen's Top 10 most-watched streamed shows.
Since arriving on the streamer, This Is Us logged 929 million viewing minutes across Netflix and Hulu in one week, becoming the eighth most watching streaming series of the week overall. The viewership exceeded the 756 million minutes viewed of 'NCIS' on Netflix and Paramount+.
Amy Winter, executive vice president and general manager of family-targeted network UP, believes that the success of This Is Us shows there is an audience yearning for more family dramas.
'While they do have a certain soapiness to them, I would say that some of the stickiest plotlines that you ever see out there do relate to love and family and relationships that exist within the family,' Winter says. 'Usually at the centre of those dramas are people that feel like family to you, and you want to root for, and you end up picking your favourites.'
According to Winter, the family-drama genre appeals to viewers at the older end of the millennial demographic, age 25-34, who are settling down with families and seeking programming they can identify as family viewing.
'Some of these noisier, darker high-concept shows are definitely in the zeitgeist right now, but shows like This Is Us are proof that when you have quality storytelling, word of mouth will travel and people will come to it,' Winter says. 'There's also a misperception that the cooler, edgier and darker you go, the more you capture the younger side of this audience, but the quality storytelling in these one-hour dramas goes beyond something that might be more gimmicky.'
Virgin River, about a nurse practitioner Melinda Monroe, who moves from Los Angeles to a remote Northern California town, bumps into the most good-looking bar owner/Iraq-war vet, falls in love with him and the pretty town with incredibly nice people has never disappointed when it comes to romance, small-town dramatic developments.
While season five of Virgin River briefly dethroned Suits as the chart-topper, season 6 is running and the season 7 officially confirmed.
The comfort show that The Guardian calls 'a superior soap' returned right before Christmas to deliver more drama, the wedding we've all waited for and numerous surprises. Very cheesy, with a reputation for overly sentimental storylines, predictable plots, and dialogue leaning heavily on cliche and happy endings, borders on saccharine, but it totally hooks. [True confession, my eyes teared at Jack and Mel's wedding when Doc Mullins gave his fatherly speech.]
Virgin River depicting the strangely dramatic life of a small, isolated American community is not prestige TV. It is not as slick as Succession, as smart as Better Call Saul, nor as big-budgeted or brash as Stranger Things. It's cosy, and homely, and despite occasional attempts at scandal, makes Call The Midwife look edgy. That said, it's endlessly charming perfectly comfortable in its own skin, which is perhaps why it's developed such a dedicated following.
Heartwarming for some, cheesy for others, the emphasis on family unity and reconciliation can sometimes feel overly simplistic and predictable but for those yet to be swept up in this intoxicating brand of fantasy entertainment, there is something substantial here too.
It is all too pretty to be true, people are too nice, too sweet, too sincere and understanding, apologies are generous, and misunderstandings short, these comfortable and easy-watching shows are incredibly de-stressing and decompressing. The implausible relationships and cliched stories do teach a thing or two about handling people and situations gently, and infact, living life gently. Not everything has to be loud and brash and dramatic, or scary and freak you out, does it?
In real life, there is illness and death, but in these shows, sick and dead have passed away a long time ago and only there in pictures that their loved ones are finally well enough to look at in their happily-ever-after lives. The world they depict is an immensely soothing feeling, although I must admit the cheesiness makes me barf quite a few times — we so desire a bit of wickedness, a bit of being a monster or a tint of evil!
But in the world of Sweet Magnolias, Virgin River, and Chesapeake Shores, evil hardly exists, at least it is not explicit. There is no murder, sexual assaults, not homicide, and nothing perverse, unlike real life.
What's wrong with living in such a world, even if it is for a few seasons?