Vanessa Williams on nostalgia, rewatching, and the power of comfort TV

The Independent

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00:00Halloween's over, and it's not quite Christmas. Try though the supermarkets might.

00:03It's dark when you go to work, dark when you come home, and the only rational

00:07response is to retreat under a blanket with something familiar on the screen.

00:10I think we can all agree that it's time to throw on Ugly Betty and quietly

00:14ferment until spring.

00:15I am a monster!

00:16And it's not just me. According to a recent poll, half of American audiences rewatch shows

00:21they've already seen at least once a week, citing comfort and reliability as

00:26the main reasons. It's no secret that we're living in an age of nostalgia.

00:30Almost half of young people say they wish they'd grown up without the internet.

00:34So it makes sense that our favourite reruns feel like a portal back to a simpler time.

00:37We're having a laugh, Jeremy. A bloody good laugh.

00:41I caught up with the queen of some of my all-time favourite comfort shows.

00:45The original diva herself, Vanessa Williams.

00:49Why is it so tempting to keep going back into these stories that we already know and love?

00:53Yeah, I think it's like your favourite songs. You've got your playlist and sometimes just

00:59want to tap into what makes you feel good, especially when you've had a day that's kind

01:04of challenging and you just want to escape and know you'll be guaranteed the laugh.

01:08It's actually quite jarring meeting you because I'm currently on my fourth rewatch of Ugly Betty.

01:12My fourth rewatch? Wow.

01:13I literally, to the point where I know, I almost know it inside and out.

01:17Wow, you know it better than I do, probably.

01:20So I may have briefly lost my cool, but I grew up watching Vanessa's characters,

01:26back when TV was a collective event. And now those shows live on streaming platforms,

01:31it means I never stopped watching them. I mean, this kind of speaks for itself.

01:34With a Desperate Housewives revival in the works, I had to ask if we might see

01:39one iconic role back on the lane.

01:41I have no idea. I have not gotten a call. I know it's a completely different team.

01:46Yeah.

01:46So I'm sure they'll go a completely different route. I mean, I'm 62, so it's a different,

01:53you know, Wisteria Lane, they probably will do a much younger group of gals.

01:58I've got a lot of catching up to do with my old, old friend.

02:02If they call to have me do a quick cameo, possibly, but I've not gotten any word from anyone yet.

02:09The irony is that Vanessa Williams has made a career out of playing women

02:12that are anything but comforting.

02:14I have never realized what tiny features you have.

02:19So why is she drawn to playing the villain?

02:21And why are we obsessed with coming back to them time and time again?

02:23Well, the villain is always interesting to play and to watch.

02:28So, and those are always the ones that kind of leap out on the page to me.

02:33I did a movie called Soul Food and it's about three sisters and I was offered the sister with

02:40the children. And I read it, I go, no, no, no, I want Terry. And they're like, really? Oh yeah.

02:44She takes no prisoners. She has an acerbic wit. Being likable is not what is exciting to me.

02:52Doing something that's unexpected always turns me out as an actress.

02:56Rewatching is big business. Netflix paid $100 million in 2018 to keep streaming the rights to

03:03Friends. Warner Bros paid $425 million for the rights the following year.

03:10The Office? NBC paid an incredibly low-key sum of half a billion dollars for the streaming rights.

03:18It seems our obsession with nostalgia isn't slowing down. Just look at 2025 alone. Oasis and Pulp made

03:24dramatic comebacks. And the box office looked like a time capsule.

03:29If you're looking to hunker down for the winter, here are some of the greatest comfort shows of

03:32all time and where you can find them. First up, New Girl.

03:35Zooey Deschanel stars as Jess Day, a relentlessly upbeat and quirky teacher who has to move in with

03:41three single guys following a rough breakup. It's endlessly charming, full of heart and still makes

03:53me belly laugh on my third rewatch. Heartbroken? Watch New Girl. Doomscrolling with Housemates?

03:58Watch New Girl. Rough day at the office? Watch? Well, you get the idea.

04:02Our next pick really needs no introduction.

04:07Creators David Crane and Marta Kaufman pitched Friends to NBC in 1993. It was originally meant to be

04:13called Insomnia Cafe, which is not the catchiest title, but a show about six friends navigating love,

04:19relationships, sex and careers in unrealistically gorgeous Manhattan apartments clearly had universal

04:25appeal. And it was streamed almost 60 million times in December 2024 alone. Its significance is hard to

04:32overlook, inspiring a generation of choppy layers and unrealistic expectations of your mates. I'll be

04:38there for you. I mean, I can barely get mine out of the group chat. Even if you haven't seen this next

04:42one, you will have experienced it through osmosis. And by that, I mean memes.

04:46The Office follows the mundane and absurd day-to-day at Dunder Mifflin. Now, I recently had a, uh,

04:52meltdown about The Office. Please stop putting looking for the pounds in my gym on your dating

04:58profile. I don't retract this statement and I still think that Parks and Rec is the better show,

05:02but I know I'm in the minority. Before Netflix lost the streaming rights, it was the platform's most

05:07streamed show, with Americans cumulatively streaming more than 57 billion minutes of it in 2020 alone.

05:14All nine seasons are streaming on Prime. Next time you're working from home, mute your team's meeting

05:19and blissfully disassociate into a world where your colleagues make you laugh, not scream.

05:24What's your all-time favourite comfort show? Drop it in the comments below and we'll be back with

05:28with more recommendations next week.

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