The rise, fall and eventual meteoric rise again of the cable drama Suits has been well-documented over the past few years—to the point that NBC dusted the franchise off for a splashy, LA-based spinoff anchoring its primetime lineup this spring.
It’s still incredible how a years-old show, which was never more than a modest hit chugging along on the basic cable USA Network for an eye-popping nine seasons from 2011-2019, captured the attention of the world when it hit Netflix as America was recovering from its Covid-era isolation. It probably didn’t hurt that it co-starred a pre-royal Meghan Markle.
Basically, the world was looking for something comfortable to watch, and a snappy, quippy, sharp-dressed drama with nine seasons in the bag was the perfect prescription for what ailed our battered psyches. In a sense, the Suits binging phenomenon was a way for society to create a shared experience when so many of us were isolated and not actually able to share many experiences.
We all needed a show to binge together, and Suits just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
The binge hype made the original stars arguably more famous in the show’s wake than when it was actually on-air, and brought Suits into the pop culture lexicon. And even though there were nine seasons (plus a short-lived spinoff focused on Gina Torres’ character Jessica Pearson) for all those new fans to enjoy, plenty were still left wondering… well, what’s next?
Seeing the massive success of the property, NBC was obviously asking that question, too.
The network got in touch with original Suits creator Aaron Korsh to see what they could cook up for something new in the Suits universe. Instead of a direct revival of the original series, which admittedly felt like a stretch (how much story is left to tell after nine seasons, after all?), they settled on a spinoff of sorts in Suits LA. Where the original was set in New York, the new series heads to the West Coast for a story following Los Angeles lawyers connected to the entertainment industry.
The newfound clout of the franchise also allowed the network to attract some veteran TV stars to anchor the project in Stephen Amell (Arrow, Heels) and Josh McDermitt (The Walking Dead), along with Bryan Greenberg (One Tree Hill, The Mindy Project) and Lex Scott Davis (Rebel, Florida Man).
But the real question is whether or not the LA version of Suits can recapture the magic of what made Suits such a hit—and exactly what was it that made the show work so well in the first place? The formula is certainly one part of it. The original Suits came about right in the sweet spot of USA’s “Blue Sky” programming strategy, which also featured breezy hit dramedies like White Collar, Burn Notice and Psych along the way.
Basically, they were shows that were high-concept and high stakes, but never took themselves too seriously. Sure, there would be some drama, but they were rarely the kinds of shows that would break your heart. Everything usually turned out alright for the proverbial heroes in the end (even if they do have a prison stint—looking at you Mike Ross—along the way). It makes sense that the world would coalesce around this kind of “Blue Sky” drama in the wake of peak pandemic. People were looking for a fun ride and a happy ending, and Suits fit the bill.
Which brings us to the question: can that legal lightning actually strike twice?
It’s not an easy needle to thread, but early on, Suits LA looks to be doing a lot of the right things to have a chance. The concept and setting is familiar but fresh, trading the skyscrapers of Manhattan for the sunny skies and palm trees of Los Angeles. The characters are new, but the archetypes are familiar to anyone who has watched a season or two of Suits, and they’ve already announced original Suits star Gabriel Macht (aka Harvey Specter) will return in a recurring role to provide some connective tissue between the “old” Suits and the new version.
Bringing the franchise to broadcast (as noted, the new series will air on NBC, while the original Suits was a USA Network cable original) is another interesting wrinkle, which if nothing else means the series will have to clean up its colorful language a bit to get past broadcast standards (though I’m sure they’ll use those limited cursing opportunities wisely). But at its core, Suits is the type of show that is broad enough to work on either medium, so that shouldn’t be too rocky of a transition.
If the world really is still hungry for more Suits, this certainly seems like it’s built to satiate the appetite. Looking at the wider cable and broadcast landscape, it’s also worth noting there aren’t many shows left that check the boxes of that “Blue Sky” formula, and it’s proven to be something audiences know and (clearly) still like even a decade or so after the heyday.
Now, the “Blue Sky” era is back—let’s just see if it can do enough to stick around.
Trent Moore is a recovering print journalist, and freelance editor and writer with bylines at lots of places. He likes to find the sweet spot where pop culture crosses over with everything else. Follow him at @trentlmoore on Twitter.
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