Sometimes one episode of Frasier is enough to send you back.
Will & Grace
NBC
Whenever I watch Will & Grace, I'm reminded of the last couple of years I spent in the Philippines, and my first few years in America. It was sort of like my transition object, the thing I used to pretend my life was still the same when I moved from Manila to Las Vegas. It was also my bonding tool with my mother; we'd watch it in the evening on both sides of the Pacific. Whenever I watch reruns now, 10 years later, I'm compelled to call her now that she's gone back to live in the Philippines. But I'd fail to compute the time difference properly and end up waking her at some odd hour. One time she stayed on the line for an entire episode — the one where Will's mother is in a wheelchair and he has to take care of her. It was nice. —Matt Ortile
Felicity
The WB
I love Felicity. The show's first season coincided with my first year in university, and it felt very real to me at the time. Sure, it captured something of that sense of excitement and fear of leaving home and making the first steps out into the world as an adult-ish type, but in retrospect, I see now that I was attracted more to the show's sense of romance: the romance of following your desires and impulses and — I hate saying this — following your heart, come what may. That, and Scotts Speedman and Foley were hella cute and probably expedited my emerging homosexuality. Also, it made me wary of cutting my hair too short. —Declan Cashin