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Suits was 2023’s most streamed show, smashing the previous record for most hours watched set by The Office in 2019, according to media analysts Nielsen. The hit Netflix series, which first ran from 2011 to 2019, was streamed for 57.7 billion minutes viewed in 2023 with a total of about 83 hours.
The Office reached 57.1 billion minutes viewed in 2020 with a total of about 73 hours of content. Suits, a legal drama staring Meghan Markle, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty, Patrick J. Adams, Rick Hoffman, and Gina Torres first aired on the USA Network before it switched over to the streaming platform and saw a huge uptick in viewership.
Kelly Lawler, a TV Critic for USA Today said: ‘Suits hits a sweet spot. The plots are silly but never dumb. The dialogue may make you roll your eyes, but it’s clever just often enough.’ The popular children’s TV show Bluey came in second place with 43.9 billion minutes viewed streamed on Disney+ and 145 episodes. NCIS came in third with 39.4 billion minutes viewed and streamed on Netflix and Paramount+ in 443 episodes.
Grey’s Anatomy, the longest-running prime time medical drama in TV history, came in fourth place with 38.6 billion views in 421 episodes. During the 2023 Emmy’s Ellen Pompeo announced that the series will start their 20th season soon. Tress, who played Jessica Pearson in Suits, told People that the sudden spotlight on the show has been ‘kind of odd and wonderful.’ ‘It’s like, “Oh, right. They’re still here. They did incredible work,”‘ she said. ‘Everybody in the industry that may be relegated us to, “Oh, that’s that cute cable show”,’ she said.
Torres, Hoffman, and Rafferty recently teased reboot rumors in an upcoming Super Bowl commercial where they are set to star in a new, 30-second promotion for E.L.F Cosmetics that will air on CBS during the game on February 11. The teaser showed E.l.f. delivering summons to ‘some of courtroom entertainment’s most bingeable characters,’ including the three Suits cast members, as well as Jury Duty’s Ronald Gladden, musician Megan Trainor, RuPaul ‘s Drag Race star HeidiNCloset, and former footballer Emmanuel Acho.
During an interview with People, Hoffman, who played Lewis Litt in the show, said working with his former costars again was ‘peak happiness,’ while Rafferty, who played Donna Paulsen, described it like ‘coming home.’ They added that Adams, who played Mike Ross, couldn’t appear in the commercial because he was busy ‘shooting a film in South Africa.’ The Duchess of Sussex’s final appearance in the show came during season seven when her character Rachel Zane married Adams’ character Mike before they moved to Seattle to pursue positions at a new legal firm.
During the Golden Globes, Adams and Macht, who played Harvey Specter in the show, presented the best TV drama award before they were joined by Torres and Rafferty. In September, Adams sparked rumors that the show would be returning after he started sharing a slew of never-before-seen shots. The actor posted a carousel of throwback behind-the-scene images of himself and his fellow Suits stars – including many intimate shots of the Duchess of Sussex – which he captioned, ‘I miss my friends.’ One of them was a black-and-white portrait of Meghan, who turned to look at the camera with her hand resting against her lips.
At the time, however, many speculated that his posts were a clue that the hit series was going to make a comeback. In response to the show’s newest title, many social media users reacted online to the big news. ‘I’m part of that stat, seen the series over and over,’ one commenter said on X. ‘One of the best series of all time,’ another said. Another commenter simply said: ‘Suits suits everywhere.’ Cocomelon ranked in fifth place in the top 10 overall streaming programs, followed by The Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Heartland, and Supernatural in the final spot.
