What Your Comfort Rewatch Says About Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type

After a rough day at work or one more bad date, nothing soothes quite like a go-to comfort show. You curl up on the couch and fall into a familiar world where the characters are relatable and funny, and most problems wrap up before the credits roll. Again and again, it becomes a kind of security blanket you can pull close while you relax or drift off to sleep.

Plenty of us have more than one comfort show, of course—I have four in my regular rotation for when I need a pick-me-up! Still, there’s usually one rewatch that rises above the rest, and your Myers-Briggs type might explain which one you gravitate to. 

Gilmore Girls: ENFP and INFJ

Set in the charming Connecticut town of Stars Hollow—complete with eccentric locals, quirky festivals and grumpy-but-lovable diner owner Luke—Gilmore Girls feels as warm and comforting as slipping into one of Lorelai’s stylish jackets. You can grab a stool at Luke’s for the best coffee in town or binge on junk food with Lorelai and Rory while watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Despite messy love lives and family drama, the mother-daughter duo faces it all with rapid-fire banter and sharp wit.

If you’re an ENFP, you’ll immediately find a kindred spirit in Lorelai Gilmore, because she’s one of you. She’s a creative ball of energy and boldly independent—the kind of person who makes you feel ready to take charge of your own story. The show’s mile-a-minute dialogue and constant pop culture references keep up with the pace of your own quick, connection-making mind. And because relationships matter so much to you, the quaint, character-driven world of Stars Hollow is the fictional place you’d most like to visit.

Being the rarest type (making up just 2.3% of the population), INFJs often feel misunderstood. Watching Lorelai and Rory—two people who truly get each other—allows them to enjoy watching what’s hard to find in real life. They'll definitely see themselves in Rory: someone who feels most alive in her own rich inner world of books and ideas, who can seem reserved to outsiders but is intensely passionate underneath. In her graduation speech, Rory says that she inhabits two worlds: the book world filled with characters like Anna Karenina and Huck Finn, and a second, superior one populated by her real-life loved ones. INFJs love how books can help them to better understand people and crave deep relationships like Rory has with her family and friends.

Both of these types are drawn to Gilmore Girls because it treats emotions with depth and intelligence without tipping into melodrama. Intuitive Feelers (NF types) long for connection and insight into what makes people tick, and the show delivers exactly that through its complex relationships. 

Also for: 

• ISFJs, who see themselves in the way Lorelai takes care of any Stars Hollow resident who needs her help, and appreciate her and Rory’s traditions like candy cane coffee at Christmastime. 
• Though they might be put off by the show’s sometimes immature and emotional characters, ENTJs are drawn to Rory’s career ambitions and Logan’s storylines that involve the high-stakes business world, where he needs to use his wit and leadership skills to get ahead. 

Schitt’s Creek: INFP and INTJ

2020, peak Covid, was a rough year for all of us, myself included. My fellow INTJ boyfriend and I were stuck at home, desperately looking for a show to cheer us up and break the monotony. Then we found the perfect cure: Schitt’s Creek. As many of the best comedies do, it presents characters that shouldn’t be likeable but are and, like Gilmore Girls, a town that’s another character. Plus emotional gut punches that had me reaching for the tissue box.

INFPs are idealists who always want to believe the best in people, but reality often lets them down. With Schitt’s Creek, they get to follow a story where the cynical, selfish, shallow Rose family actually do the inner work and become worthy of their happy endings. There’s some debate over whether David  (“DAY-vid!”) is an INFP or ISFP, but no matter what, INFPs can relate to his sensitivity and wildly unique fashion sense. If you’re an INFP, you know how tightly you hold onto your feelings. Schitt’s Creek creates space for the catharsis you don’t always let yourself have, like the big emotional payoffs in David and Patrick’s relationship.

INTJs like myself have no patience for a show that wastes our time. That’s why we find Schitt’s Creek’s sharp writing and fast pace so appealing. The character arcs are set up beautifully and the writers actually pay them off instead of abandoning them halfway through. The idea that the right small community can matter more than wealth or status also resonates with INTJs. While we are independent and skeptical of social convention, many of us search for a tight-knit group where we can lower our guard, and have real relationships without all the pretense. 

INFPs and INTJs arrive at Schitt’s Creek from totally opposite directions—one through the heart, and the other through the head. INFPs get the heartfelt moments and authentic relationships they crave, while INTJs enjoy the clever character growth and the way the show slowly turns chaos into something meaningful. That it works so well for both is probably why it holds up as a comfort rewatch across such different personality types. 

Also for:

• ESFJs, who enjoy the show’s harmonious sense of community and the deep, evolving relationships between characters.

• ENFJs, who love to watch people grow into their best selves, and find the character transformation arcs like David's journey from self-absorbed to loving partner very satisfying.

The Office: ESTJ and ISTJ

The Office is a show that has had two lives: one while it was on the air, and another years later on streaming services, where a new generation discovered it and made it their own (“That’s what she said” now belongs as much to Gen Alpha as it ever did to Millennials). The show mixes grounded, relatable coworkers with characters so OTT as to be almost cartoonish, yet who somehow still remind you of that one person you’ve definitely worked with. 

Michael Scott is basically the anti-ESTJ—lazy, inappropriate, possibly the worst boss in the history of TV bosses. Knowing how to be the right kind of manager makes Michael’s antics all the more hysterical to an efficient, hardworking ESTJ. They can also find characters to root for, like Dwight Schrute (a fellow ESTJ) and Jim Halpert, who are both deeply competent in their own ways. The show repeatedly demonstrates that chaos, poor leadership and a lack of accountability create real dysfunction, validating everything ESTJs have been saying about their own offices for years.

Just one letter away from the ESTJ, it’s not surprising that an ISTJ would turn to the same show for their comfort rewatch. Fans of predictability and routine, ISTJs are one of the most likely types to rewatch, period, and The Office is a show whose timeless jokes never get stale. Though it features its share of slackers, the show respects the quiet determination of characters who show up to an awful job each day and do the work (except for Kevin, who may not even be able to count). ISTJ Angela Martin gives this type a chance to laugh at their own inflexibility and judgmental tendencies and enjoy her awkward but ultimately very sweet romance with Dwight.

ESTJs and ISTJs care deeply about the workplace, and their place within it, and there are few workplace comedies as well executed as The Office. A sitcom set in a place they love is the height of comfort.

Also for:

• ENTPs, who love the show’s witty banter and Jim Halpert’s ingenious pranks (like when he put all of Dwight’s stuff in the vending machine).

• ESFPs, who see themselves in a performer like Michael—he’s basically them in the extreme!

The Great British Baking Show: INTP and ISFP

Though The Great British Bake Off began airing in the UK in 2010, Americans didn’t get a hold of it until 2014, rebranded as The Great British Baking Show. It’s a reality competition show, but with none of the sniping. Contestants actually help each other and seem legitimately nice, as are the judges and many hosts over the years. Getting to see so many delectable desserts isn’t bad, either.

INTPs can't stand the cutthroat nature of most reality shows. But they do appreciate the wholesome nature of this show with its sweet-as-pie contestants and hosts that are always close by for a laugh or a shoulder to cry on. They also enjoy The Great British Baking Show’s dry, quirky, slightly naughty humor with jokes about “soggy bottoms” for days. 

ISFPs arrive at The Great British Baking Show from a completely different angle. This show is a feast for aesthetic-loving ISFP eyes, from the showstopper displays to the gorgeous English countryside surrounding the tent. They value the clever craftsmanship behind an “illusion” cake that looks like something else entirely. Many ISFPs enjoy baking as it serves as a creative, sensory outlet for their artistic nature. Seeing the bakers’ efforts celebrated on screen feels validating and every rewatch is an opportunity to return to a beautiful place.

What draws both types in, and keeps them coming back, is the warmth. Both INTPs and ISFPs prefer genuine connection over the fakeness they often find in everyday life and the tent—and the community inside it—is just a sweet, cozy place to keep returning to.

Also for:

• ESTPs, who thrive on competition and are drawn to the (gentle!) pressure of the tent, where bakers have to think on their feet and adapt in real time.
• ISTPs, who love to watch hands-on creativity and the show’s utter lack of drama.