What Is Newstalgia? The Latest Streaming Trend, Explained

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is a wildly popular show from the late ’90s and early 2000s, but it has truly endured in the more than 20 years since it originally went off the air. According to Lewinson, it found an entirely new audience on Tubi, likely in no small part because that’s one of the rare, truly free, high-profile streaming services out there. That success hasn’t gone unnoticed, as a “Buffy” revival series is currently in the works.

“We’ve done that with so many different shows. ‘Gossip Girl’ is another one,” Lewinson added before citing one of his favorite examples. “One that I find humorous, there’s a show called ‘Columbo’ […] a show from the 1970s, one of the best shows of all time, really brilliant writing and directing. When I went to buy it, my team said, ‘What is this and why are you buying it?’ I said, ‘Trust me, people will watch it.’ And people did.”

Starring Peter Falk in the title role, “Columbo” was a huge hit for NBC in the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s. Naturally, older audiences who grew up with it would seek the show out, with Tubi serving as an attractive option. But as Lewinson further explained, it wasn’t just older viewers who took to the adventures of Lieutenant Columbo:

“What surprised me, however, is ‘Columbo.’ Yes, it attracts older demos, it’s nostalgia TV, [but] it’s also attracting younger demos. In fact, there’s someone on Reddit who has a Reddit thread whose basically [saying], ‘I’m a Gen Zer obsessed with ‘Columbo,’ ask me anything.’ It’s a very lively conversation with this Gen Z person whose like, ‘I love this show and I’m really obsessed with it.'”

That’s at the crux of “newstalgia.” Streamers like Tubi can find an old show and license it, which is, in most cases, far cheaper than making something new. Yet, if that show is new to someone, it’s binge-worthy all the same. Gen Z has indeed discovered “Columbo,” in part because of Tubi. Lewinson is correct in that there are multiple Reddit threads from Gen Zers sharing their love of the series.