The Underestimated Power of an FML (Fold My Laundry) Show

Find yourself an anxious mess during Euphoria and Yellowjackets? You might want to introduce some low-stakes shows into the mix. Consider them TV’s version of comfort food.

By Tierney Bricker Feb 12, 2022 3:00 PMTags
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Somewhere between the mushroom-induced almost-orgy on Yellowjackets, two Peloton-aided deaths on different shows and the latest drug party on Euphoria, we had an epiphany: There is not enough fluff on TV these days. 

As of late, the comfort that our favorite series used to provide has slowly been replaced by an unexpected anxious feeling that has us hovering over the play bar on Netflix to see what is coming up in the next scene, like a monster waiting just around the corner. When did TV turn into our enemy?

Of course, dreading the unknown and grappling with feeling out of control is nothing new, especially since COVID-19 entered our lives in early 2020. Quarantine may have given us more time to dedicate to streaming without FOMO or guilt, but lately, even our safe space has felt more like a panic room. 

Take, for example, Showtime's teen trauma-drama Yellowjackets, which we were, to put it mildly, obsessed with like so many others. But as the episodes continued, our sense of anxiety heightened to the point where we were pulling a Harry Burns and watching the last scene first to alleviate the self-imposed tension.

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And then, immediately after watching, we would dive down a deep Reddit rabbit hole, reading theories, chuckling at memes and engaging in the discourse to the point where we were having weird dreams. Oh, the power of the antler queen!

Netflix; Getty Images; E! Illustration

Yellowjackets isn't the only show to captivate its audiences' attention and social media feeds. Mare of Easttown, The Undoing, You, [insert Marvel series here] are just a few of the series that dominated the pop culture dialogue during their respective runs and drops, taking over timelines with theories and speculation. 

On the other side of the spectrum are the shows that cause debate and discourse. Think And Just Like That...'s recent run that polarized the Sex and the City fanbase and nearly toppled Peloton, or the endless conversation over whether or not Emily in Paris is a good show and if that even matters. Or how about, "Is Ted Lasso too nice now?" And who can forget when we were all skipping to episode three, minute 19:50, of Sex/Life to weigh in on that penis scene.

And when it comes to reality TV lately, the Real Housewives franchise now has a mythology more complicated than the J.R.R. Tolkien alliterative universe and staying up to date with all things Bachelor Nation is harder than the keeping up with the Kardashians.

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If you are exhausted simply reading that list of shows, just wait!

According to FX Content Research, the estimated number of adult scripted original series that aired in 2021 was 559 across cable, broadcast TV, and streaming services. So the pressure to keep up with the latest obsession was just another item added to the to-do list. You don't need an office watercooler to discuss OMG moments if you have Wi-Fi. 

The devil may work hard, but a TV lover is forced to work harder these days just to keep up with the never-ending carousel that is the medium's vast landscape. But there is still one genre that still provides the all-too-rare escape we used to take for granted: May we introduce you to what we lovingly refer to as our FML (Fold My Laundry) shows?

The FML genre is not a new concept and more than a few have even become breakout hits. Gilmore Girls—a small-town charmer about a mother and daughter duo who are addicted to coffee, junk food and pop culture references—became the little show that could when it premiered in 2000, cultivating a cult-following and such strong goodwill that it led the revival trend, returning to Netflix as a limited series in 2016. 

Netflix

In the same vein, Hart of Dixie provided Southern comfort during its four-season run on The CW as Rachel Bilson's city doc embraced—wait for it—small town life.

Both shows have sustained a following even long after they ended, thanks to streaming, with fans often returning to them whether out of nostalgia or pure exhaustion from the bevy of options currently being presented. And just look at the everlasting popularity of sitcoms like The Office and Friends, both about a group of people viewers have continued to want to spend time with, outdated haircuts, questionable storylines and all. (Hey, no one ever said comfort food has to always be good for you.)

The common denominator among all of these shows? A sense of community, something we all have lost in one way or another in the pandemic. A morning sipping coffee in Central Perk with Ross, Rachel and the rest of the friends filled the gap left by the loss of a morning run to your go-to café. Watching Mel flirt with Jack over drinks on Virgin River caused the blush you missed from bantering with a cute bartender. A night spent drinking margaritas with the main trio on Sweet Magnolias helped alleviate the loss of a happy hour hang with your best friend.  

Even in this digital age, sometimes, you just want to go where everybody knows your name, not your social medial handle, which is what most of these shows provide: In-person connection and relationships. 

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Sheryl J. Anderson, the showrunner of Sweet Magnolias, knew right from the beginning of the series that she wanted the viewer to feel like a member of the titular trio of friends, who get together weekly to laugh and cry over chips and guac.

"I told Norman Buckley [our producing director] at the very beginning that at margarita night I wanted the camera to be the fourth Magnolia," Anderson told E! News in a recent phone interview. "And we actually do some of that in other scenes where the camera lingers on somebody even when someone else is talking."

RICHARD DUCREE/NETFLIX

Though they largely focus on tight-knit communities and friendships, it doesn't mean "FML" shows don't have stakes, cliffhangers or address serious issues. Ginny & Georgia has dealt with sexual abuse, racism and more in its first season alone (not to mention one of its titular leads has seemingly murdered almost all of her romantic interests!), while Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias have both had main characters struggle with infertility. 

But the difference between them and the prestige-drama-of-the-moment is that the tension is often much more grounded and relatable. And the lack of plot devices such as supernatural elements or a big murder mystery introduced in the first episode makes that a much more difficult needle to thread while also delivering the cozy, suburban fantasy viewers have come to expect. 

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"It's really hard because there are characters that we don't get to see every episode that we could write an entire episode about," Anderson explained of establishing the right tone of spectacle and small-town reverie. "I hope that part of the coziness is that they are reminding you of people you care about and everybody who is watching is seeing situations and people that they recognize and care about or maybe that they had wished has happened differently. There's that aspect of wish fulfillment."

Netflix

The other interesting commonality between these series is that while they often find themselves among the highest rated—Sweet Magnolias has held the No. 1 spot on Netflix's Top 10 list since its second season dropped on Feb. 4; and Virgin River was the fourth most-watched streaming show of 2021, according to Nielsen; and Hallmark Channel's When Calls the Heart just had its biggest audience, eight years in—they rarely dominate the pop culture conversation in the same way Bridgerton, Squid Game or even Ted Lasso, which is basically an FML show wearing a moustache, have.

But there's something to be said for a show that you can spend time with while doing something else—getting your kids ready for school, cleaning your house or, yes, even scrolling on Instagram—and not feel FOMO. Or that you have to do homework after an episode ends to figure out what the hell you just watched. (Anyone else have PTSD from reading endless novels featured in the background of scenes during the Lost era?)

Yes, there are cliffhangers and postmortems for these FML shows, but that rabid, insatiable demand for more, more, more just isn't there in the same way, which is honestly refreshing! How often have we seen a series gain a large, devoted fanbase that inevitably begins to wane, moving onto the next big thing? (See: Revenge, Scandal, iRobot, every show that as heralded to be the next Lost, etc.)

So, you can have your too-cool-for-school Euphoria and true crime dramas posturing as social commentary. Right now, we'll take our dependable shows on air-fluff, thank you very much.