There once was a USA Network legal drama known for its fast-talking lawyers long before it was known for Meghan Markle, aka Meghan Duchess of Sussex, who played a paralegal on the show.

Suits’ nine seasons began with a super smart kid (Patrick J. Adams as Mike Ross) with an eidetic memory who took LSATs for people to make money and support his grandmother. After nearly getting caught with marijuana, he finds himself going to work for the New York City’s self-proclaimed best “closer,” top attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). What ensues is the basis for any good drama: a very big secret (a faked law degree), a serious work crush (or two) and plenty of case-of-the-week, well, cases.

Setting up for success

You need one fantastic hook to set up 134 episodes, as well as characters to keep audiences coming back. The show did a couple of great things right from the top. It set up high stakes—if anyone found out Mike’s secret, everyone we come to know and love at the law firm could all go down hard. The show also featured very memorable characters, and most importantly, it emphasized Mike’s crush on Rachel Zane (Markle). Tough to keep a secret from the one person you want to spill your guts to.

Suits built out a rich world, one that featured a spin-off—the short-lived Pearson based on Jessica Pearson (the enthralling Gina Torres), one of the firm’s partners. From the same creators as Suits, Pearson followed Jessica into Chicago politics and lasted one season on USA. There are also Suits remakes in South Korea, Japan and Egypt.

Fun fact: Suits was co-produced by Bourne Identity, Swingers and Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s Doug Liman.

Based on a true story

Suits stood out from its fellow courtroom shows with that awesome hook, which might seem so screen-worthy that it couldn’t possibly be real. But they do say, write from experience. In the case of Suits, showrunner Aaron Korsh based many a fiction in the show on his truth from when he worked on Wall Street. When Korsh first pitched the show, his leads were investment bankers like him—not lawyers—and the format was in the vein of Entourage. Korsh even worked for a guy named Harvey, turns out.

It’s not what you say, but how

There was a lightheartedness to Suits despite some of the legal cases, personal dramas and thrilling moments. The characters were fast-talking, sharp and pretty. Everything had that glossy finish and a tone that, if you step back to look at the big network picture, makes sense. It all comes down to branding.

Suits was part of USA Network’s original programming line-up during its “Blue Sky” era, circa 2005 - 2016. Its compatriots Burn Notice, Psych and White Collar all had that over-arching optimistic vibe set in very distinct cities, featuring quirky characters that make it their mission to help people. It was fitting for the network’s slogan at the time: “Characters Welcome.” Note that these weren’t all comedies either. The approach was to contrast USA’s action and drama series with other mainstream cable outlets through a very specific strategy around tone.

Before Suits concluded, USA moved into its “We the Bold” campaign about “rich, captivating stories about unlikely heroes who defy the status quo, push boundaries, and are willing to risk everything for what they believe in,” Chris McCumber, President of Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment told Deadline in 2016 after Mr. Robot hit the scene.

Good characters will always be welcome

Aside from Mike and Rachel, Suits offered up other romantic relationships to balance the office drama—including the long, slow burn of Harvey and Donna’s (Sarah Rafferty) friends-to-lovers relationship that seemed to anchor the rest.

But the cast chemistry between Harvey and Mike, as well as pretty much everyone with Rick Hoffman (Louis Litt), was electric. Litt was the kind of character you loved to hate—and you really, really did at times. He was conniving, self-serving and terrifying in his methods of achieving what he wanted, which at times served the greater good and made it all the more infuriating.

Torres (9-1-1: Lone Star, Westworld), who portrayed Pearson, was awarded the 2013 NHMC Impact Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series while Adams (Mike Ross) was nominated for a 2012 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series SAG award.

In Retrospect

USA Network eventually shied away from rose-colored glasses dramas, as did the rest of the world, it seems. Suits came to its final conclusion in 2019 but lives on in streaming heaven. For its time, the show was a reprieve that dealt out juicy drama as much as it did happy endings, making it escapist fiction for an audience looking for a little less grit and a little more feel-good with their binge watch.