From ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to ‘SVU,’ How Procedurals Became Must-Have Comfort TV

[feurioo]

“A good procedural is like comfort food: consistently satisfying,” says Erin Underhill, president of Universal TV.

The familiarity of the format makes procedurals easy to watch — even if the stories themselves are often dark and anxiety-inducing. NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU,” one of the most successful of its kind, revolves around detectives tasked with securing justice for sexual assault victims. In her role as Capt. Olivia Benson, Mariska Hargitay is a heroic figure on screen and off, given her 25 seasons (and counting) on the air.

“They are successful because our viewers see them as comfort television. They don’t disappoint you, and you want to keep coming back,” says producer Dick Wolf.

Full article over at variety.com.

Do you have a "comfort TV" procedural? What makes it special?

Comments

[jo]

I grew up on procedural shows because that was pretty much all there was in the early days of TV. But now I'm hard pressed to think of any that I watch -- I guess Silent Witness falls into that category, although they always take 2 episodes to solve things. Oh, and Star Trek Strange New Worlds, I guess. I used to be a big fan of the CSIs (mostly CSI:NY), and the early years of Law and Order (before it had any additional categories to it) but now I very rarely watch any US network TV shows. However, later this month, there is a new Law and Order series starting up that I will check out if only out of morbid curiosity: Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (apologies if the video is region-locked). Just to see my home town playing itself rather than standing in for "generic US city".

Also, a major problem (for me) with procedural shows is that they don't binge well. A few times I've heard about a series other quite liked, and was already 2-3 seasons in, so I'd start bingeing it to catch up. The sameness of each episode become really glaring and boring really fast.