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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter.

In the modern day and age, people are constantly bombarded with floods of new content. New TV shows, movies, and other forms of entertainment are released daily on multiple streaming platforms—several that I have never even heard of. 

scrolling on netflix on phone
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

It’s definitely overwhelming to be faced with so much new content at your fingertips all at once. It’s convenient for sure, don’t get me wrong, but 99 percent of the time it just baffles me when all I’m trying to do is sit down and watch something comforting while I eat dinner. 

Here are my top five comfort shows that always make me feel better after a long day of studying and running around campus. 

  1. BoJack Horseman 

Maybe a little bit of a controversial take for a comfort show,but BoJack Horseman is one of if not my favorite TV show of all time. Though it certainly addresses darker topics throughout the course of the six seasons, watching an episode or two here and there when I’m feeling down reminds me that I’m not alone in my depression or my anxiety. Additionally, I feel like a lot of Her Campus readers would resonate with the characters Diane and Princess Carolyn—I certainly did. 

As for specific comfort episodes, I like to rewatch S4E9 “Ruthie,” and S5E2 “The Dog Days are Over.” Both episodes are focused on either Diane or Princess Carolyn, and I always have to watch every single second as soon as the opening sequence begins to play on my screen. 

  1. Derry Girls 

On a lighter note, Derry Girls never fails to tug at my heartstrings when I rewatch it. It’s a bittersweet mixture of laughing and crying as I reminisce on my teenage years and look towards the future, along with the characters. Especially towards the last season, I find my heart aching as I recall fond memories of childhood and the sorrowful joy that accompanies becoming an adult. 

I’m honestly not quite sure how the creator managed to fit so much emotion into just a few episodes (19 episodes across three seasons), but I have to applaud them for that alone. My favorite episodes include S1E1, S2E1, and S3E7—the beginnings, and then the end. 

  1. Anne with an E 

I have to thank my sister for introducing me to this masterpiece. I have never read Anne of Green Gables, which this series is loosely based on, but now I feel as if I must. Of course, I cannot speak about how accurate it is to the original book series, but I loved the retelling so much. My entire family ended up watching this show and absolutely adoring it, despite all of us having wildly different tastes in media! 

This is a show where I have to rewatch all three seasons all the way through. Watching the characters grow and flourish is truly beautiful, and it motivates me to better myself and learn from my mistakes, just like they do.

  1. Friends 

Perhaps another controversial choice, but I will always have a special place in my heart for this show. It’s the first TV show I remember watching with my parents that I actually understood and enjoyed, and I loved hearing old stories from their time in New York City that rivaled the multiple crazy plotlines of the Friends cast themselves. 

As an older show, there are definitely plenty of critiques from the modern audience, and I personally do not agree with a lot of jokes and sayings that they use. It’s important to acknowledge such details when consuming older content, but it also shouldn’t hinder you from seeking out or enjoying old content either—unless it’s wholly offensive or morally wrong, of course. 

I love any of the holiday episodes and the first few seasons are always fun to just binge-watch on a rainy weekend in! Sometimes, I just put it on in the background as I do homework or study—and it almost feels like I’m sitting at home with my parents again. 

  1. Disenchantment 

I was introduced to this show by a friend of mine, and we watched the entire first season together in a single night. There’s truly not a better bingeable show—in my opinion at least. The sarcastic humor mixed with truly emotional and heartfelt moments is a wonderful juxtaposition, and no matter what mood I’m in, I know I can watch an episode of Disenchantment and feel completely satisfied.

This is not to say that there is nothing good to come from watching new content—in fact, it’s a good thing to try new things! Watch that cooking show even though you’ve never cooked a decent meal in your life. Watch that reality show even though all of your friends and family find it corny. Watch that new scary movie that you wanted to see in theaters, but didn’t have the courage to. 

three movie posters side by side with \
Photo by Henry & Co. from Unsplash

Even I, a notorious re-watcher, have recently tried a new TV show. It was recommended to me multiple times by multiple people, and I finally gave in and began watching it with a best friend on a slow afternoon. Fleabag, starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is a fantastic addition to my official list of comfort shows—and it also showed me that trying new things isn’t always inevitably bad. 

The worst that could happen is that you don’t like it. If you happen to feel that way, you know that you can always return to your familiar comforts. 

Phoebe Ham

CU Boulder '26

Phoebe Ham is a current contributing writer and editor on the executive team at Her Campus CU Boulder (HCCU). Though she writes about a variety of topics, she mainly enjoys writing about skincare and books! Outside of Her Campus, Phoebe is mainly focused on her studies, though she hopes to expand her writing career further in the near future. She is a current third-year undergraduate at CU, and she is majoring in SLHS and minoring in both Linguistics and Education. Prior to her college career, she won an award for an original short story, and that was where she discovered her love of writing and posting her creations online. For several years, she ran a blog dedicated to her writing, which ranged from poetry and book reviews to short stories and novellas. In her free time Phoebe enjoys reading Asian-American literature, crocheting, and spending time with her friends. Recently, she has been into novels by Haruki Murakami, Min Jin Lee, and Ling Ma.