Netflix Added USA Network's Popular Legal Drama "Suits" To Its Platform

Netflix brought a nine-season legal drama to its platform from the USA Network, and it was an instant smash hit. Like the eponymous hippopotamus in “Hungry, Hungry Hippos”, each streaming platform is trying to gobble up as much of the viewing audience as possible, but there are only so many white balls in the bowl and shows on the air.

You can only make so many original TV shows, though, and so streamers like Netflix have to scour the networks to find out what’s popular and what will make some noise if it comes on their streamer. It can be a shot in the dark trying to figure out what people will be excited about, but Netflix struck gold in 2023.

That year, Netflix, along with Peacock, added USA Network’s nine-season legal drama, Suits, to its platform. This series follows Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), a college dropout who ends up working for lawyer Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), one of the best closers in NYC.

A successful series while it was airing, Suits enjoyed a massive boost in popularity and viewership when it ended up on Netflix and Peacock. It felt like we were back in the early days of streaming again, where originals were a nice treat, but people came to watch hugely popular network shows.

Suits Instantly Ended Up As One Of Netflix’s Most Watched Shows

All of a sudden, after Netflix picked it up, Suits was everywhere. It landed in the number 1 spot on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for 12 weeks, beating Netflix’s own Ozark for the most number 1 overall finishes (via Deadline). Since 2023, it’s remained firmly in the pop culture conversation.

The show racked up 57.7 billion minutes of viewing, the highest number of minutes that Nielsen has tracked since it began using that metric in 2020 (via THR). It’s an easily consumable show, with 134 episodes, all around 42 minutes, and plots that are fun but don’t require too much investment.

The Suits Spinoffs Could Not Capture The Magic Of The Original

Ted Black (Stephen Amell) sitting and looking serious in Suits LA — Stephen Amell sitting and looking serious in Suits LA

The series became so popular that NBC decided a spinoff was in order. In July 2024, Suit LA was ordered by NBC. The series follows Ted Black (Stephen Amell), a former NYC federal prosecutor turned LA entertainment lawyer whose firm represents powerful celebrity clients in California.

Suits Spinoffs
Show	Seasons	Years	Network
Pearson	1	2019	USA Network
Suits LA	1	2025	NBC

Suits LA premiered in February 2025, but was canceled after one season just a few months later. Though it has some of the trappings of the original, it’s strangely gloomy, and doesn’t have the fun atmosphere of Suits. It’s not the first Suits spinoff to fail either. Pearson premiered on USA Network in 2019.

Pearson follows Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) as she enters the world of city politics in Chicago. Pearson was also canceled after one season, and once again, misses the mark on the legal drama fun that makes Suits so appealing.

International Remakes Of Suits Have Proven Popular

The poster for the Mongolian remake of Suits with characters walking in front of a white background.

Despite the failed spinoffs, Suits has found a second life internationally. There are several international remakes of Suits. Jang Dong-gun and Park Hyung-sik star in a Korean remake. A Japanese version features characters played by Yūji Oda and Yuto Nakajima.

An Egyptian version starring Asser Yassin and Ahmed Dawood debuted in 2022, and a year later a Mongolian version premiered starring Samdanpurev Oyunsambuu and Chinzorig Erdenebayar. Clearly, there’s something special about Suits that people just can’t keep themselves from.