5 Sitcoms That Gained A Second Life On Netflix In The Last 5 Years

After their debut on cable, many sitcoms encountered something new in TV history: a resurgence. With streaming services becoming the predominant facilitator in our television consumption, older shows that used to be banished to the occasional rerun are gaining new & younger viewers. This has offered up the opportunity for many international shows, particularly those across the pond and the border, to see a second life in the US & gain new fans since they wrapped their time on the air. Sitcoms like The Office and Arrested Development were the first to reap the benefits of the Netflix bump but many others have followed in their wake. Here’s a closer look at 5 now popular comedy series that have gained a new life since being put on Netflix!

A.P. Bio joined the Netflix canon recently and has made its way to the top 10 shows in the US on Netflix. The show follows the bigheaded Harvard philosophy professor Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton) who fails to get his dream job and reluctantly moves back home to Ohio to work as a High School A.P. Bio teacher. The quirky but loveable class is desperate for a legitimate A.P. Bio teacher that wouldn’t throw out their textbooks the first day. While he doesn’t offer up any sort of knowledge about Biology, he encourages his class to grab life by the horns and see the big picture. But really, he learned as much from his students as he taught them.

Before there was a Netflix top 10 list, there was Community’s re-release on Netflix in the height of the global pandemic. Community originally debuted in 2009 but was added to Netflix on April 1, 2020 but left exactly four years later, March 31, 2024. Over the course of its residency on Netflix, the show gained a whole new audience. The kids who would have been too young to watch the show during its original release have now grown up and had nothing better to do when locked in their parent’s house than watch the hilariously quirky show. Community was a little ahead of its time given the show’s absurdist and reference heavy humor & how it perfectly embodies what Gen Z finds funny. The show follows a group of unlikely friends who study together at Greendale Community College where the dean has a pension for flashy outfits and the logo looks suspiciously like a butthole. 

Derry Girls was doing perfectly fine on its own when it released its first and second seasons on Britain’s Channel 4 as it became the most-watched series in Northern Ireland since modern records began in 2002. However, it was Netflix that was able to bring the show to the world stage and explode across the US. The show follows teen girls who are growing up in a Northern Ireland town called Derry as The Troubles are underway. As they fight the everyday battles of being a teenager, the backdrop is filled with new anchors reporting on yet another bombing. The relentlessly hilarious cast takes a hold of the grim backdrop and brings joy to an otherwise dark situation. The premise is based on the experience of the show’s creator Lisa McGee growing up in Derry.

Workin’ Moms began on Canadian television for its first two and a half seasons before being released globally on Netflix in 2019. The show was subsequently renewed for four more seasons with the seventh and last premiering in 2023. Bringing this Emmy nominated series to Netflix during the pandemic was a strategic move as it follows the lives of women in the workplace, a circle of life almost non-existent for those who had to turn to remote work back in 2020. Workin’ Moms follows Kate Foster (Catherine Reitman), a successful PR consultant, and her best friend Anne Carlson (Dani Kind), a therapist and aspiring author, as they navigate raising kids, workplace drama, and doing it all in time for dinner.

Schitt’s Creek began the relationship between Netflix and Canadian television shows as its acquisition was incredibly successful. The show follows an upper class family as they are stripped of their wealth and left with their only remaining asset, the town of Scitt’s Creek which Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) bought for his son, David Rose (Dan Levy), as a joke. Laughter abounds as the Roses are fishes out of water as they learn to live in the decrepit Rosebud Motel. Soon even Alexis Rose (Annie Murphy) must find a job and Moira Rose (Catherine O’Hara) has to sell her wigs. Somehow the show makes you empathize with these egregiously wealthy yet hilariously clueless characters.