10 Most Rewatchable 2000s Shows (original) (raw)
Characters from Scrubs, The Office, and Lost
Image by Federico Napoli
Published Feb 4, 2024, 1:00 PM EST
Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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Everyone's likely familiar with the term "comfort show" by now. If not, then simply put, it's used to describe TV shows that certain viewers are willing to return to time and time again, with the predictability of the familiar narrative and/or jokes becoming charming or comforting. In a world where most shows are available on streaming, and some viewers may still have DVD or Blu-ray box sets, rewatching a show is easier than ever; both options sure beat trying to catch re-runs or record programs off live TV.
The following TV shows may sometimes be definable as comfort shows, but others prove worth revisiting time and time again for other reasons, be that because they have complex/subtle jokes or because they're drama shows that have many extra details one can pick up on a rewatch. What follows is a mix of easily digestible comedy shows and continually rewarding drama series, all notable for airing at least half of their episodes during the 2000s (so apologies to the very rewatchable Breaking Bad, which ended up being more of a 2010s show, despite its first season airing in 2008).
10 'Arrested Development' (2003-2019)
Creator: Mitchell Hurwitz
Image via Fox Network
While Arrested Development may have had a fourth and fifth season that both aired during the 2010s, it will remain a 2000s show in the hearts of many fans, considering its first three seasons – which aired between 2003 and 2006 – are certainly the best. On the surface, Arrested Development is admittedly another show about a wealthy and dysfunctional family living their chaotic lives, but it’s much smarter and more intricate than one might expect.
Arrested Development is beloved for how many running gags it featured throughout the show, as well as callbacks to past episodes and certain jokes that were set up and then not paid off until many episodes later. Watching it one time is still a blast, but it’s one of those great shows renowned for being even funnier the second (or third or fourth) time around, given one’s likely to discover jokes that went over one’s head before.
Release Date
November 2, 2003
Seasons
5
9 'The Wire' (2002-2008)
Creator: David Simon
Image via HBO
Okay, so first things first: while The Wire does have a good deal of humor (much of it relatively morbid), it’s certainly not the kind of thing most would describe as a comfort show. Across five emotionally intense and engrossing seasons, it painted a portrait of Baltimore by looking at criminal gangs, the justice system, politics, the school system, and the city’s journalists, among other institutions, all building up to one perfect and moving series finale.
It can be a gripping and occasionally funny show, but it’s also harshly realistic with very few characters emerging at the end of the show in a better position than they were at the start. It lays bare various real-world issues that plague America and much of the rest of the world, but is one show worth getting through on more than one occasion because of how densely plotted it is, and how many great characters there are. Even if you pay perfect attention, you won’t likely be able to appreciate every single thing on offer in just one sitting.
Release Date
June 2, 2002
Seasons
5
8 'The Office' (2005-2013)
Creators: Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
John Krasinski as Jim and Rainn Wilson as Dwight holding a "6 Days Since Our Last Nonsense" sign in The Office
Image via NBC.
On the other end of things to The Wire comes the U.S. version of The Office, which has eclipsed the original U.K. version of the show in popularity and quantity (nearly 200 episodes, compared to the original’s dozen episodes plus a Christmas special). The Office is indisputably a comfort show; maybe even the comfort show of the 2000s, as, like Arrested Development, it’s a sitcom where most of its more beloved episodes came out in the 2000s, rather than the 2010s.
It has a simple premise befitting the simple title, following a bunch of quirky characters who clash and cooperate while working tedious office jobs, all the while the mockumentary format gives insight into who they are, and what they do outside of work. For a good chunk of its run, it was very funny and very consistent without ever being too demanding, making it an easy show to zone out to and relax while watching, especially if you’ve already seen it one or more times all the way through.
Release Date
March 24, 2005
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
9
7 'The Sopranos' (1999-2007)
Creator: David Chase
Tony Soprano walking with his associates at a port in The Sopranos
Image via HBO
No matter how many terrible things Tony Soprano and his associates did throughout the duration of The Sopranos, it remained an utterly compelling show that continually rewarded attentive viewers. It ran for six seasons and had amazing consistency, considering there are next to no weak episodes and the show was always able to be dramatic, comedic, tense, exciting, surreal, and tragic, sometimes seemingly all at once.
It's about the life of a mob boss/family man, and how he balances those two aspects of his life while also attending therapy, kicked off in the pilot episode because he starts having panic attacks. That pilot episode and the first season may have aired at the very end of the 1990s, but season 2 onwards of The Sopranos came out during the 2000s. You could call it a 1990s show, given that’s when it started, but it’s also fair to call it a show of the following decade, considering that’s when most of its episodes aired.
Release Date
January 10, 1999
Main Genre
Crime
Seasons
6
6 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' (2006-2008)
Creators: Gorō Taniguchi, Ichirō Ōkouchi
Image via Sunrise
Anime movies are popular, sure, but it sometimes feels like anime series pick up more passionate fanbases, and the 2000s was a very good time for the medium of Japanese animation. One of the most popular series to air around this time was Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, which was a thrilling blend of action, drama, and sci-fi, all revolving around an ambitious and outcast prince inspiring a rebellion after gaining the power to target and control the minds of others.
Anti-heroes were big on live-action TV around this time, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion showed that such a character could be the protagonist of an anime series, too. It was a show that had plenty of plot twists and shocking moments (some executed better than others, sure), but was the kind of thing that was so compelling it was borderline addictive, and it all moved so fast narratively and had so many characters that rewatching it proves immensely beneficial.
Release Date
October 6, 2006
Seasons
2
5 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (1997-2003)
Creator: Joss Whedon
Buffy holding Spike down by the arm in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Image via The WB
Okay, so calling Buffy the Vampire Slayer a 2000s show might be controversial, because the earlier seasons do admittedly scream 1990s. But it did divide its seasons across the two decades, airing 66 episodes before 2000 and 78 during the 2000s, meaning that mathematically, it’s arguably more of a 2000s show. Either way, the fact remains that it is an iconic series, regardless of how you want to classify it decades-wise.
It's a show where the main character – a teenage girl with supernatural powers destined to fight vampires, demons, and other evil creatures – and her friends were in high school for several seasons, and then eventually graduated. Season 4 onwards (indeed, most of the 2000s episodes) gets thematically darker and more realistic, in many ways, looking at the struggles young adults face and tackling some heavy subject matter in the process. The later seasons still have a lot of fun moments, with the show a continually rewarding one to revisit both because it’s entertaining, and because it might take some time for viewers to appreciate the more mature episodes.
Release Date
March 10, 1997
Seasons
7
4 'Lost' (2004-2010)
Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Image via ABC
For better or worse, Lost is the kind of TV show that can be a lot to handle. It starts simple enough, centering on a group of people who live through a plane crash and are forced to survive and get by on a mysterious island. As the episodes go on, the mysterious aspects of the survivors’ new home get more and more pronounced, and as the seasons continue, there are new characters, more science fiction elements, and progressively more head-spinning concepts introduced.
Some would say it doesn’t stick the landing, but so long as you’re okay with Lost not answering every single question it once asked, it does ultimately rank among the greatest drama shows of its decade. Rewatching the show probably won’t answer everything, but certain aspects of it do make more sense with repeat viewings, and it’s undeniably fun to get swept up in all the mysteries and crazy plot twists for a second time.
Release Date
September 22, 2004
Seasons
6
3 'Firefly' (2002-2003)
Creator: Joss Whedon
Image via 20th Century Fox Television
Firefly is the kind of TV show that has to be rewatched, because the only other option is just watching it once and then feeling sad there was only one season (plus a 2005 movie called Serenity). It was regrettably canceled before it could go on to even bigger and better things, but what fans got was still pretty remarkable overall, and a key example of a show cut down in its prime.
Firefly follows the exploits of a group of flawed yet lovable characters, all of them passengers on board the Serenity, with each having different goals and backstories while also cooperating with and learning about each other when needed. It’s a show with a fascinating world that got explored quite thoroughly, considering the show’s brief run, and it’s an entertaining blend of action, sci-fi, comedy, and drama that’s worth continually returning to as the years go on.
Release Date
September 20, 2002
Seasons
1
2 'Death Note' (2006-2007)
Creator: Tetsurō Araki
Image via Nippon Television
While the 2017 live-action movie should be avoided at all costs, the original anime series of Death Note was one of the most popular of the 2000s, and still holds up to this day. The premise is intriguing and capable of hooking viewers almost straight away, given it centers on a high school student who obtains a book that can kill anyone instantly; all he needs to do is write their name in it.
He starts out eliminating criminals he believes got sentences that weren’t harsh enough, but when he becomes the target of a manhunt, he has to start grappling with the idea of killing to protect his identity. Death Note has a complex, flawed, and fascinating main character put in a novel situation, and the thrill of seeing all the show’s twists play out again can be almost as exciting the second time around as the first, making it pretty rewatchable overall.
1 'Scrubs' (2001-2010)
Creator: Bill Lawrence
Zach braff, Donald Faison, and Judy Reyes looking confused in Scrubs
Image via NBC
Doing for the 2000s what M*A*S*H did for the 1970s and ‘80s, Scrubs is an oftentimes perfect blend of comedy and drama, following a group of medical staff working at Sacred Heart Hospital. It’s a show that ran for eight largely great seasons between 2001 and 2009, and then received an awkward and not particularly well-received ninth season that aired partly during 2009, and then concluded in 2010.
So, you can’t go wrong with most of the Scrubs episodes that came out in the 2000s, and it largely defined what sitcoms were capable of at the time (with the drama and more emotional parts of the show making Scrubs more than “just” a sitcom). Scrubs is now old enough that much of it – especially the earlier seasons – can feel strangely nostalgic, and the humor and heart inherent in the show still proves resonant when watched today, more than two decades after the first season initially aired.
Release Date
October 2, 2001
Seasons
9