It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was the most in-demand sitcom in the US in January. It had 36.79 times the average series demand for the month, which ranks it among the top 0.2% of shows that reach this level of demand. Its 15th season wrapped up in December and was its first season in 2 years, so pent up demand for the popular comedy has likely driven it to the top of the demand ranking this month.
Ted Lasso, from Apple TV+, stands out as the only streaming original among the ten most in-demand sitcoms for the month. Network television is still the source for the most in-demand shows in the genre, even if these shows are ultimately finding success on streaming.
Demand for The Golden Girls surged in January following the death of Betty White at the end of the year. Other classic sitcoms that still rank among the ten most in-demand this month are Seinfeld, The Office, and Friends. It’s interesting to note that these classic sitcoms are all from NBC, but none of the newer sitcoms in the top ten are.
Looking at the trajectory of three of these classic sitcoms over the past year shows some interesting insights. Demand for The Office has remained high and held fairly steady. Friends saw a massive spike in demand in the lead-up to its much anticipated reunion on HBO Max. This did not translate to a long term increase in demand for the show however. By October 2021 Friends had the lowest demand of these sitcoms.
While demand for Seinfeld had historically lagged behind the other two, its move to Netflix in October 2021 boosted demand for the show. Its spike in demand was not nearly as dramatic as the Friends reunion, but so far it has proven more sustainable. Since moving to Netflix, Seinfeld has had consistently higher demand than both Friends and The Office.
